Denver’s annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) came with some exciting news for the Lowcountry this fall. With tens of thousands of beers submitted from all over the country, Charleston breweries brought home four medals.
We sat down with the winners to taste the award-winning beers — and get to know the people behind these world-renowned ales a bit better.
Gold: Holy City Brewing’s Washout Wheat
Holy City is no stranger to bringing home medals when entering beer competitions, winning this category for the second time. The brewery has taken home more than 50 awards from various festivals around the country. A medal for a beer that has been around as long as Washout Wheat speaks to the consistency that Holy City brings to the table.
Lead brewer Jack Pitts, who has been with Holy City for more than a decade, is one of the brewery’s longest standing employees. Pitts is a Mount Pleasant native and Citadel graduate. With a degree in Biology, Pitts started as a passionate home brewer and, after joining Holy City, ran the ranks from bartending to production.
A traditional south German–style Hefeweizen, Washout Wheat is one of Holy City’s core beers. It has hints of banana and cloves; this beer is a classic.
Silver: Hobcaw Brewing’s Mercy Cloud
Ram Khalsa, head brewer of Hobcaw Brewing, hails from the small town of Espanola, New Mexico. Hobcaw, which won a silver medal for its Mercy Cloud American wheat beer, is the youngest of the Charleston area’s winning breweries. Khalsa has been in the Lowcountry for just over a year.
The voyage into the beer business was a natural evolution for Khalsa, who at age 20 started on the packaging line at Santa Fe Brewing Company, New Mexico’s largest brewery. A year later, Khalsa was the lead cellarman.
Soon after, Khalsa found himself spreading his wings and moving to Albuquerque. His time in “The Duke City” is where Khalsa worked his way up the ladder at some of the most decorated breweries in the southwest, including La Cumbre Brewing Company, where Khalsa was able to hone his skills and master the craft of brewing.
He spent eight years in Albuquerque before moving to Charleston. With New Mexico nestled in the midst of the heavy hitters of craft, Khalsa is no stranger to the challenge of standing out.
Mercy Cloud definitely stands out in the American Wheat category. This Belgian wheat ale brewed with oranges and coriander is predominantly a pilsner malt. The citra hop gives this beer lovely notes of zesty lemon and passion fruit. With a thick fluffy head and a beautiful deep orange hue, this beer will not disappoint.
Bronzes: Munkle Brewing’s Gully Washer WIT
and Munk Lager pilsener
Coming off of the company’s 7th anniversary, these medals are exceptionally special for the brewery. Lead brewer and co-founder of Munkle, Joe Bowden, grew up in Summerville and studied horticulture at Colorado State University. From professor to bartender to production, Bowden took the skill and art of horticulture and applied it to brewing. Making his way through the Fort Collins beer scene and working with some of the culture’s most influential brewers, Bowden checked all the boxes and needed a change. After ten years in Fort Collins, Bowden got the call to return home and work on a new project that ended up being Munkle Brewing.
Co-founded with Palmer Quimby, the Belgian-style brewery gave Bowden the challenge he was seeking. With his time in Colorado filled with big, bitter IPAs, this vision Quimby had was fresh and new and just what Bowden wanted.
The Munk Lager, with a focus on malt character and hop presence, is the hand-crafted version of an American light lager. Corn-based, with Munkle’s house lager yeast, it is crispy and crushable; this is beer-flavored beer, and we’re here for it.
The Gully Washer Wit is a Belgian witbier and an ode to Allagash White. Dried lemon and orange peel give this beer a bright and acidic punch and the coriander and chamomile give it beautiful, soft, floral notes.
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