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Columbia’s Peak Drift Brewing starts production on drinks

Posted on17/03/202307/12/2022Author

A large-scale brewery project in north Columbia has up production and running on some of its drinks.

Peak Drift Brewing Company, which is developing a multi-faceted production brewery and entertainment facility at 3452 North Main St. in Columbia, has launched its inaugural run of beer and hard seltzers, which will start popping up in select Midlands bars, restaurants and stores as soon as this week.

“Peak Drift is committed to celebrating everything that makes the Southeast special — the mountains, the oceans, the rivers, and most of all, the people,” Peak Drift co-owner Sara Middleton Styles said in a release. “Through our innovative production facility, award-winning products and new brewery coming to the North Main area, we are dedicated to industrial collaboration and strengthening our local communities.”

The Peak Drift Brewing project is a nearly $50 million deal that is still under development on North Main. The building at 3452 North Main was originally built in the 1940s and was operated for years by Stone Manufacturing. It was a garment factory for decades. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

Aside from the now up and running production side, the Peak Drift site on North Main will also eventually include restaurant space with indoor and outdoor dining options, a members-only gym, an entertainment stage, a duckpin bowling alley, a merchandise shop and much more. The larger complex is expected to open in 2023.

There are a number of launch events for Peak Drift drinks at local bars scheduled for this week. Those include events at 5 pm Dec. 6 at WECO Bottle and Biergarten, 5 pm Dec. 8 at Craft and Draft Irmo, 5 pm Dec. 8 at Green’s Beverage Warehouse on Fernandina Road, and 6 pm Dec. 9 at The Grand on Main. For a full list of launch events, visit www.peakdriftbrewing.com/events.

Some of the Peak Drift drinks debuted in area restaurants and stores, per a release, including NEIPA, Golden Ale, a rotating series of Red IPAs, Berry Crumble Fruited Sour Ale and a rotating series of Fire Pit Dark Ales. A number of hard seltzers are also part of the initial run.

Peak Drift is being developed by siblings Greg Middleton and Sara Middleton Styles, whose family has been a key player in the Columbia hospitality scene in recent years, particularly in the area of the 1600 block of Main Street, where the family owns the tony Smoked restaurant and Grand on Main restaurant and bowling alley. The family also runs The Venue dueling piano bar, which this month has been transformed into a Christmas pop-up bar for the holiday season.

Ashley Kinart-Short is the master brewer at Peak Drift, and is one of the few female head brewmasters in the nation.

“Between the support and collaboration from others in the industry, as well as the cutting-edge technology, this has truly been a special project. We can’t wait for the public to enjoy the great products we’ve been brewing,” said Kinart-Short.

Peak Drift keg — Peak Drift Brewing Company, at 3452 North Main St. in Columbia, recently launched production on its inaugural offerings of beer and hard seltzer. The overall Peak Drift project is still under development. Photo provided.

Peak Drift production — Production of the drink is up and running at Peak Drift Brewing Company on North Main Street in Columbia, with some beers and hard seltzers hitting shelves this week. Provided photo by Lynn Luc

Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 18 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of numerous South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, election coverage, social media and more.

Richmond restaurant cancels conservative Christian group’s reservation

Posted on17/02/202307/12/2022Author

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A restaurant in Richmond last week canceled a reservation for a private event being held by a conservative Christian organization, citing the group’s opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

“We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision,” read an Instagram post from Metzger Bar and Butchery, a German-influenced restaurant in the Union Hill neighborhood whose kitchen is helmeted by co-owner Brittanny Anderson, a veteran of TV cooking shows including “Top Chef” and “Chopped.” “Many of our staff are women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community. All of our staff are people with rights who deserve dignity and a safe work environment. We respect our staff’s established rights as humans and strive to create a work environment where they can do their jobs with dignity, comfort and safety.”

The group, the Family Foundation, was set to host a dessert reception for supporters on Nov. 30, the group’s president, Victoria Cobb, wrote in a blog post describing the incident. About an hour and a half before it was slated to start, one of the restaurant’s owners called to cancel it, he wrote. “As our VP of Operations explained that guests were arriving at their restaurant shortly, she asked for an explanation,” Cobb wrote. “Sure enough, an employee looked up to our organization, and their wait staff refused to serve us.”

The Family Foundation is based in Richmond and advocates for “policies based on biblical principles.” It has lobbied against same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

In an interview, Cobb said that since he posted about it, he has heard people alarmed by the story and from other dining establishments making it clear they would be welcome. “A lot of people are outraged that a restaurant wants to make a litmus test at the door,” he said. “Everyone should be concerned that people are being denied service based on their politics.”

In her blog post, Cobb liked the restaurant’s move to establishments that refused to serve Black customers in the 1950s and ’60s, and she declared what she called a “double standard” by liberals who think a Colorado baker should not be allowed to refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Legal experts say neither of those are apt analogies. While it’s illegal to discriminate against someone because of their race or religion, the restaurant’s refusal has to do with the group’s actions, said Elizabeth Sepper, a professor at the University of Texas. “It’s about the overall positions and policies the group has taken — it’s not about Christian vs. non-Christians,” she said. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, DC, Seattle and the Virgin Islands specifically protect people from being refused service because of their political affiliation or ideology.

Reached by phone, Metzger co-owner Kjell Anderson said the owners had no comment beyond the Instagram post.

Restaurants have made news for taking issue with their patrons’ politics. Sarah Sanders, then the White House press secretary and now the governor-elect of Arkansas, was asked to leave the Red Hen in Lexington, Va., in 2018. The owner of the restaurant, Stephanie Wilkinson, wrote that she thought Sanders was “ a person whose actions in the service of our country we feel violated basic standards of humanity.” And a judge in 2018 sided with a New York bar that ejected a customer for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat in support of President Donald Trump.

If past is prologue, Metzger’s move — which was first reported by Virginia Business — is likely to bring it both criticism and support. Wilkinson described the aftermath of the incident with Sanders — which made headlines around the world — as intense. Her phone lines were hacked, she and her staff had private information about them posted online, and many of them received death threats. People took to Yelp, leaving fake negative reviews, and made reservations they had no intention of keeping. But Wilkinson said people also showed their support by driving in from miles away and by donating to local charities.

As of Tuesday, Metzger’s Yelp page was frozen and an “Unusual Activity Alert” was added. “This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news,” the notice reads. “While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we’ve temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events.”

The restaurant and the foundation used interest in the event to fundraise. Metzger on Saturday posted an image of a bourbon-based cocktail dubbed “Cracks in the

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly wants a food tax axed next legislative session

Posted on16/01/202307/12/2022Author

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) – Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has called on the legislature to completely eliminate the state sales tax on groceries, diapers, and feminine hygiene products when they return for the 2023 session.

Last year, the legislature passed a bill that would drop the tax to 4% and 2% the following year. It would be completely gone in 2025. The plan will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Currently, the state has the second-highest sales tax on groceries, sitting at 6.5%.

“We have ‘Axed the Food Tax’ and are putting money back in Kansans’ pockets,” Kelly said in a statement. “Kansans will see the savings very soon, but we can do more. When the Kansas Legislature comes back in January, I will push again for the complete and immediate elimination of the state’s sales tax on groceries.”

The Kansas Department of Revenue (KDOR) published its notice to initiate those changes.

The informational notice can be found here, and the sales tax publication can be found here. Retailers with questions about implementation can contact the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Tax Assistance Center at 785-368-8222.