DI couple's love for craft beer leads to creation of new Charleston breweries 'field guide'

After returning home from a craft-brewers conference in the spring of 2017, Daniel Island resident Pearce Fleming, co-founder of Octohops Homebrew and the recently opened Commonhouse Aleworks in North Charleston, noticed that the Charleston area, a craft-beer destination with over 28 breweries, lacked something that many other similar communities had. There wasn’t a comprehensive “field guide” documenting the Holy City’s plethora of offerings, explained his wife, Nicole.

“This past spring when Pearce came back from a big craft brewers conference, he said that there were so many brewery publications and that we really needed that here,” she said. “He told me I should look into it because I have experience in marketing and advertising. So, I did!”

After numerous conversations among fellow area brewery friends, Nicole reached out to the creators of a brewery guide in Asheville, N.C., known as the “Asheville Ale Trail,” in hopes of a partnership.

“I asked if there was any chance that [Asheville Ale Trail] wanted to come down and do some sort of partnership, which they were very excited about,” she said. “Right about the same time, there was another group here in Charleston that was thinking along the same lines and we had mutual friends that connected us. We connected with the Asheville Ale Trail, all of us, and were able to create a partnership, which is such a great fit because there are such similarities between Charleston and Asheville.”

With this partnership, the first edition of the Charleston Ale Trail was soon ready to be printed.

In November 2017, the company released their inaugural publication, printing over 25,000 copies and distributing them amongst the community to restaurants, breweries, hotels and even the Volvo Car Stadium.

In addition to the printed copy, the “Charleston Ale Trail” can also be accessed online at www.charlestonaletrail.com. Soon, it will even be accessible through a smart phone, added Nicole.

“We have a website that has an interactive map where you can map out different breweries you want to go to around the Charleston area and then it will give you drive times,” she said. “If you only have a two-hour window, you can type in the main breweries you want to make sure you get to and map it out. We’ll have our app come out this spring, when our second edition comes out.”

The printed publication, which has a six-month shelf life, will be released in the fall, winter, spring and summer, she continued, with the next edition to be released spring of this year.

“Our goal is to highlight that by the end 2018, Charleston will have almost 30 breweries here, which is amazing,” said Nicole. “We want to really highlight that Charleston, just like it is a food and wine destination, it also could and should be a craft beer destination. We want to get the word out there to people that we have all of these great breweries and that while they are here visiting they should check us out.”

Although Nicole is the mastermind behind the Charleston Ale Trail, her husband Pearce is the true craft beer connoisseur. After more than a year and a half of planning with his brewing partner and former Daniel Island resident Hank Hanna, the two founded Commonhouse Aleworks, which is now up and running in the Park Circle community.

For the grand opening, which was held last weekend, the brewery featured four of their own beers on tap, including their award winning “Wise One” Hefeweizen, as well as various guest taps from other local breweries, explained Pearce. “Park Circle Pale Ale,” a new recipe from head brewer Shane Cummings, was also on the menu for the festivities.

“It’s going to be one of our core beers that we’ll endeavor to always have on tap for patrons,” said Pearce. “We will have ‘Pierce the Night,’ which is a chocolate stout that we’ve brewed locally as well. A lot of folks on Daniel Island that had come out to the Concert in the Park in years past have enjoyed that beer. We will have our ‘Oleander Pale Ale,’ which is a tropical, hazy pale ale that will be a special beer on tap for us moving forward. We also anticipate having a couple of guest taps from friends of ours around town that we have worked with in the past.”

Not a fan of beer? No problem, Pearce continued. Commonhouse Aleworks also features a tap Rose Cider, as well as house red and white wines curated uniquely for the brewery by Stems and Skins in Park Circle. In addition, the brewery offers a selection of small plates in house.

“We will offer small plates in house and will also be allowing outside food from the Park Circle community restaurants to be brought in,” said Pearce. “We want to endeavor to support the larger Park Circle community. We also want to have regular pop-up food vendors from our kitchen and food trucks.”

For more information on Commonhouse Ale Works, visit their website at www.commonhousealeworks.com/ or their Facebook page.