New brewery heading for the Vista

There’s a new brewery landing in the Vista.

Columbia Craft Brewing Co. is renovating a long-empty warehouse on Greene Street between Pulaski and Huger streets. It is across Pulaski from the sprawling Greene Crossing private student housing complex and a half block from the Palmetto Compress apartments.

The 5,200-square-foot warehouse is in the heart of the University of South Carolina’s growing Innovation District.

“We looked at a number of locations around town and on the edge of town, but decided we wanted to get close to downtown,” said Richard Strauss, a retired CPA whose family now invests in and manages vacation properties in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tenn. “We’re on the edge of the university and (student) housing in this mixed use urban district. It was about being centrally located.”

Columbia Craft is the most recent in Columbia’s booming brewery scene. It will join River Rat, Conquest, Swamp Cabbage and Twisted Spur.

In addition, Hunter-Gatherer Brewery and Ale House owner Kevin Varner plans to open a brewery in the historic Curtiss-Wright Hangar at Jim Hamilton-L.B. Owens Airport near Rosewood Drive.

Strauss and his sons Andrew and Justin are installing a 15-barrel brew house capable of turning out about 1,500 barrels a year. They have contracted with head brewer Shaun Piggott of the Tampa Bay area in Florida.

The Strausses plan to brew an IPA, pale ale, porter, red ale, lagers, sours, “and from there we can have different extension,” Richard Strauss said.

The brewery, expected to open in September, will have a tasting room. The family also purchased and demolished the old Flag and Banner retail store fronting Assembly Street, which is adjacent to the warehouse, and will use the lot for parking, a beer garden, a patio, and space for two food trucks.

“We were very patient in choosing our location,” Strauss said. “We think it will pay off.”

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 3:08 PM with the headline "New brewery heading for the Vista."