Tasting room opens at Columbia’s newest distillery
In the near future, brewery tours may end up taking pit stops at distilleries and everyone will be winners.
Columbia has swiftly become one of the hot spots in the Southeast for local alcohol producers with four local breweries and soon to be two local distilleries.
On May 2, Crouch Distilling will open its doors to the public to show off its brand new small batch craft distillery and tasting room.
Phil and Jessica Crouch started the distillery in 2014 after a private venture in home brewing beer and later, whiskey.
“I worked at a grain mill and milled corn in Columbia and went from milling grains to working with them at home,” Phil said.
The couple’s reasoning for going the liquor route was simple.
“There were already four breweries in town and I was having fun distilling whiskey and seeing the flavors come out of the grains. You are pretty much just making beer without hops.”
Crouch said that they will be having two of the products on show for the opening and the tours and tastings will be free for the first month.
“Every tasting comes with a tour and you get to see where we mash and distill,” Crouch said. Eventually they might end up charging a small admission fee, but for now it’s just about getting Columbia familiar with the new liquor.
Patrons can attend and try their two products that they are currently producing – the Carolina White Whiskey and the Carolina Raw Rye.
“The Carolina White Whiseky will be the one people will be familiar with,” Crouch said. “The Carolina Raw Rye however is the one that will stand out. It’s distilled from 100 percent malted rye, and there is only one other distillery in the country that I know of that does that.”
The distillery was set up at the Indie Grits pre-party and received rave reviews.
If you go: 1-7 p.m. May 2, 947 South Stadium Road Bay No. 3; www.crouchdistilling.com; (803) 764-6839
Aaron Ransdell
This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Tasting room opens at Columbia’s newest distillery."