Growers in South Carolina are forming partnerships with craft brewers and wineries for some of the state’s leading fruit and vegetable crops and expanding sales while making their value-added products available year-round. Craft beer is the leader of the pack. Blueberries, cucumbers, ginger, honey, peaches, peppers, persimmons, rice and watermelons are some of the produce used to make beer, brandy, molasses and wine.Angela O’Neal, president of Coosaw Farms in Fairfax, SC, in front of blueberry bushes. Coosaw’s blueberries are being used in wine and beer produced by the growing number of craft breweries and wineries in South Carolina.

Craft breweries have expanded in South Carolina over the past two years. Until 2012, the Palmetto State had just seven breweries; the oldest, Palmetto Brewing Co. in Charleston, dated back to 1993. Then came changes in the laws, and there were 45 craft brewers in operation in 2014. North Carolina, by contrast, with more welcoming laws, had 120 breweries and brewpubs in 2014.

”We are so excited about the farm-to-barrel movement,” said Angela O’Neal, president of Coosaw Farms in Fairfax. “When Island Winery tasted the first of the fruit wine made from our blueberries, they said it was the best blueberry wine they’ve ever crafted. We truly believe it has something to do with the fact we’re only an hour down the road. Likewise,” she said in an interview Oct. 20, “we were thrilled with Walt Trifari’s wheat ale over at Southern Barrel that included some of our berries.”

Coosaw Farms is working with both Island Winery and Southern Barrel to find unique ways to incorporate the farm’s fresh fruit — blueberries and watermelons — into wines and craft beers.  

South Carolina’s first “food hub,” GrowFood Carolina in Charleston, has 75 small farmers in South Carolina supplying more than 200 customers, from local grocery stores to restaurants and foodservice firms, and a growing number of microbreweries and pubhouses. Palmetto Brewing has crafted a farmhouse ale using 60 pounds of persimmons from GrowFoods supplier Brickyard Point Farms of Lady’s Island.

“This is a good example of how GrowFood operates,” said Sara Clow, general manager of GrowFood. “The persimmons from Brickyard Point Farm had been wasted because the farmers didn’t realize there was a market for it. By providing the connection for small growers to the Charleston-area market, we’re able to sell everything from the farm, which provides the financial capital for the farmers to keep farming.”

A sampling of other beers made with produce grown by small farmers and sold to microbreweries and pubhouses through GrowFood Carolinas: Horchata Stout made with brown rice by Frothy Beard Brewing Co. of North Charleston; Smoked Blueberry Kush and Carolina Uncommon Peach Shandy, both by Palmetto Brewery, and Kiwi-Peach and Blueberry Sourlina made with organic local fruits by Freehouse Brewing Co. in Charleston.

Southern Barrel Brewery Co. in Bluffton, has been making craft beers with blueberries from Coosaw Farms and ginger from Spade and Clover Gardens in Charleston. At Island Winery in nearby Hilton Head, Southern Passion wine, made with Carolina peaches and Florida oranges, is popular, along with wine flavored with Coosaw blueberries.

Freehouse Brewery in North Charleston offers Kiwi Peach Sourlina, peach fruit ale made from organic peaches grown by Watsonia Farms in Monetta.  Titan Farms in Ridge Spring began making peach puree last year and selling it to craft breweries. J. W. Yonce & Sons in Johnston began processing frozen sliced peaches in 2009, and R J Rockers Brewing Co. in Spartanburg, uses them to produce its popular Son of a Peach beer, now a year-round product. Ponce Saison is a summer beer made with cucumbers and jalapeno peppers by Quest Brewery in Greenville.  

Even watermelon gets into the act in Bocat Watermelon Wheat beer, made by Palmetto Brewing using locally grown watermelons from Legare Farms on Johns Island. High-Wire Distilling Co. in Charleston made watermelon brandy and chefs from McCrady’s Restaurant in the city made watermelon molasses, all from a historic variety of South Carolina watermelon called the Bradford.