At 16 years old, Coast Brewing Co., owned and operated by Jaime Tenny and David Merritt, has seen its fair share of ups and downs in the world of craft beer. From its auspicious beginnings in the mid-aughts, when Tenny successfully led the Pop the Cap campaign to allow high-gravity beers in the state, to a brief 2022 taproom shutdown, the brewery has weathered sea changes in, at times, a fickle industry.
You can’t talk about Coast without mentioning its role in the growth of craft beer in South Carolina; that 2007 Pop the Cap campaign changed the way people consumed beer.
It was illegal to operate a taproom when Coast opened in 2007. Today its year-old, brand new taproom addition features a walnut countertop bar, a full kitchen and a wraparound porch.
While the addition of a new taproom, built out from the existing brewhouse, is notable, it’s the spot’s new offerings, like a full food and cocktail menu, that have attracted new customers.
“Obviously, we do see a good bit of the people who have been supporting us for 16 years, so that’s cool to see,” said Tenny of Coast’s current clientele. “But there’s also people who have stumbled upon us and said, ‘We had no idea you were here.’ So I’m always surprised at how many people don’t know anything about us. And I think it’s because we were a brewery for so long. And if that’s just not their world, they wouldn’t know we [now] have cocktails.”
Coast’s cocktail program is thorough, featuring a rotating list of seasonally inspired bevs (sip on a vintage eggnog this winter) and classics like the Coast Old Fashioned, made with beer barley simple syrup. You can also order wine by the bottle or glass, as well as a variety of non-alcoholic options (Tenny said Coast is fully behind offering high quality N/A drinks) and juice boxes for any kids you may have in tow.
All the drinks and dishes are inspired, Tenny added, by things she and her family like to eat and drink. You can keep it light with blistered shishito peppers or get a little more indulgent with a grass-fed burger, fried crispy potatoes or Kolsch-brined chicken wings. Everything is fried in tallow. Tenny is passionate about not using seed oils, and she said that sourcing a pricier fat is worth it.
Coast doesn’t plan on tapping out with just new cocktails and food, though. Tenny said she would love to be able to offer more styles of beer and maybe put in a small batch brewing system. And she has another 2024 resolution, one that may be just a tad more difficult: Post more on social media. “How do people know if we have a new dish out? Osmosis?” she joked about Coast’s lack of frequent Instagram updates. “I just expect them to know. So I’m like, I need to rework my approach.”
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