USA, SC: Bierkeller Brewing Company to make beer in former River Rat Brewery space in Columbia

Bierkeller Brewing Company, a locally-owned German brewery, will make and distribute beer in the former River Rat Brewery space near Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, the company's owner told The State.

The move to distribute across the state is a first for the brewery, which has been in operation since 2015. For years, locals showed up to pop-up pours events along the riverwalk and, after Bierkeller opened its first brick-and-mortar location in 2023, came out to the riverfront location in the Canalside Lofts off Taylor Street. But those looking to pick it up at the store were out of luck.

Scott Burgess, the brewery's owner, told The State he'd waited for "the perfect opportunity" to distribute his beer. He said the partnership with Advintage Distributing, which also distributed River Rat's beer, is that opportunity.

"It allowed us to feel like, for the first time, we can go into distribution with a product we want to go in with, with the quality we want to go in with and with the quantity we want. We wanted people across South Carolina to be drinking our beer ... but we wanted to make it accessible," Burgess said.

Cans of Bierkeller's beer are anticipated to hit shelves in October, Burgess said, and by next year the brewery plans to distribute 1,500 barrels before scaling up to 2,500 barrels over the next few years, which is what River Rat was producing at its peak, Burgess said.

The announcement comes months after a "coming soon" sign went up outside the former location of River Rat at 1231 Shop Road. That brewery closed its doors after brewing beers for a decade at the end of 2023. The sign identified Bierkeller as being featured as part of a forthcoming development in the River Rat space called "Finn's Farm."

Bierkeller will be distributed to stores across South Carolina, Burgess said. The initial focus for expanding into other markets will be on Greenville and then on other cities across the state like Rock Hill, Charleston and Hilton Head.

"There's a natural market in Greenville with its concentration of German companies and families," Burgess said.

Bierkeller began gaining popularity in Columbia around 2018, when it started hosting pop-up events on the Columbia Canal riverwalk, just around the corner from its current spot in Canalside. On Tuesday nights, people exchanged purchased tokens for large mugs of beer from taps attached to the side of a van. At the time, Burgess was brewing beer out of the Swamp Cabbage Brewing Company's space, which closed in December 2022.

Bierkeller is the second locally owned production brewery to open in recent years, after an initial boom of craft breweries hit the area in the mid-2010s. At the beginning of 2023, Peak Drift Brewing, which was initially set to open a production facility and taproom, opens a production brewery at its massive North Main facility.

Bierkeller's new production facility, which it's calling Ratskeller, will only operate as a production facility for the time being, but Burgess teased that the brewery could hold pop-up events or live music in the future. The Ratskeller will host a free-to-attend launch party for the brewery's push into distribution on Sept. 20, showing the Gamecocks football game on the big screen and serving beer alongside grub from local food trucks.