The 10 Best Charleston Breweries in South Carolina

If you’re looking for a local’s guide to the  Charleston breweries, this is the perfect guide for you. Our family has lived in Charleston for over a decade now and they have made sure to take us to all the breweries. 

While there are several breweries in and around Charleston, we chose to focus on the breweries located in or near the downtown area (no crossing the bridges to get to them – aka we aren’t going into the Mount Pleasant area in this article).

We have listed the breweries in order from downtown and moving outwards so if you are staying in downtown Charleston, you will know which are the closest. 

Most of these are clustered in the Brewery District just north of downtown Charleston, so the last several are grouped together in one area which makes for easy brewery-hopping!

Short on Time? Here are the key takeaways:

• There are only 10 breweries in the “Downtown” Charleston area. We have excluded the surrounding areas (such as Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, etc.)
• Most breweries have a food option or you can BYOF
• During warmer months, you can take a FREE shuttle that runs between all the breweries
• According to our ranking below, Edmund’s Oast and BrewLab are the top breweries to visit

This post was originally published in June 2020, and was updated in February 2024.

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How many breweries are in Charleston?

There are over 30 breweries in the greater Charleston area with many outside the downtown area.

Map of Charleston Breweries

Click below to view the interactive map!

The Best Charleston Breweries (Ranked)

Rather than trying to explain our pretty strong views on what makes a brewery the best, we’ve designed our own formula to objectively tell you what’s literally the best.

We’ve devised our own ranking system based on 4 factors:

1. Public ratings (sites such as Google and Yelp)
2. The brewery’s rating on Untappd
3. Popularity
4. Our personal rankings averaged

The middle two rankings showcase how loved they are while our personal opinion also plays into the overall ranking.

In the end, each brewery receives a score out of 5, but a brewery can score higher than five based on the bonuses for Untappd ratings at 4 and above and how popular it is. We will break ties using the total number of reviews. In general, the higher the score, the better!

Here is our ranked list of which breweries offers the best Charleston breweries:

If you want to learn more, read our ranking formula.

Ready to learn about each of these breweries and choose your own favorite brewery in Charleston?

1. Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co. 

• Hours:
  • Sunday – Saturday: 11AM – 9PM
  • Happy Hour: Everyday 4PM – 5PM; Half Off Food & Drink
• Food Available: Yes, full kitchen

Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co. offers a wide variety of beers on tap, including many IPA’s and sours, as is the norm these days.  This Charleston brewery has 26 total taps, but they also have cocktails and wine too if you have a friend who doesn’t like beer. (Find a new friend…just kidding). 

It’s also a restaurant with very good food available. They actually have a restaurant-only space less than a mile from the brewery, but you can get food at the brewery as well. Both restaurants come highly recommended from our local family members and we’ve had numerous snacks at the brewery operation as well.  

We absolutely love Edmund’s Oast and typically visit multiple times when we are in Charleston. You can pick a flight of 4 to try multiple styles. Sam loves sours and stouts and theirs do NOT disappoint.

When we visited, Sam tried their Cereal for Dinner and Cereal After Dark in a side-by-side comparison. Cereal for Dinner is a blonde ale that has incredible notes of cinnamon and vanilla that remind us of the milk leftover after a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (anyone still crave this?). As the name implies, their Cereal After Dark was a stout with notes of toasted coconut, vanilla, cocoa nibs and milk sugar.

Chris loves the hoppier stuff and thoroughly enjoyed Lost in the Forest, an IPA with Spruce Tips; Bound By Darkness, a black IPA; and Arcade, a classic APA with toasty malt notes.

2. The BrewLab Charleston

• Hours:
  • Monday – Thursday: 4PM – 9PM
  • Friday & Saturday: 12PM – 9PM
  • Sunday: 12PM – 7PM
• Food Available: Yes, via a partnership with Buena CompañÍa

New to the renovated Charleston brewery district as of September 2020, Brewlab has quite an impressive beer selection, experimenting with funky and fresh styles.

With 32 taps, BrewLab is shaking up traditional styles by adding experimental twists with each brew. We hate to say the phrase “something for everyone”, but the numerous options here can make any beer palate happy. If you find a brew you love, be sure to get a growler (or sit and drink more). Due to the small batches and experimental nature of the brewery, once the keg is tapped, you might not see it again for a while, or at all.

In addition to the beer, there is a food menu for when you get hungry AND both wine and liquor for those that go against the grain (hehe!).

We were very impressed with our beers and will be making this a regular stop when we visit Charleston breweries in the future.

3. Munkle Brewing Co

• Hours:
  • Monday – Thursday: 2PM – 9PM
  • Friday & Saturday: 1PM – 9PM
  • Sunday: 1PM – 8PM
  • Happy Hour: Weekdays from 4PM – 5PM
• Food Available: Yes, via rotating food trucks

Most of the Charleston breweries will have an abundance of IPAs on tap. But Munkle Brewing is not that type of brewery.

Munkle Brewing will make you a believer in Belgian-style beers. Of all the breweries in Charleston, Munkle has the most robust selection of traditional beers to try – like the Brugge City Brune, a brown Belgian ale, and the Gully Washer Wit, a citrusy wheat beer.  They also have different pilsners, lagers, stouts, dark ales, and table beers.

And you’ll get to drink them in what kind of feels like an old-time beer hall with lots of warm colors and textures and big communal tables.

The brewery is named after the founder’s uncle (born only three months apart), who learned the tricks of the trade during his time at a Benedictine monastery – hence, Munkle.  So, this stuff is the real deal!

4. Revelry Brewing Co.

• Hours:
  • Monday – Thursday: 12PM – 10PM
  • Friday & Saturday: 12PM – 11PM
  • Sunday: 12PM – 8PM
• Food Available: Yes, full kitchen

Sought out by locals, Revelry Brewing has a great view of the city with a rooftop patio option, in addition to the original tasting room downstairs (which has more beers available). This is usually the first stop we make when visiting the Charleston breweries. 

Locals hang out here after their kickball games, which take place right across the street. Revelry is revamping their food section and promise elevated food offers expected to relaunch in March 2024. They also just opened a new location down on Folly Beach so you can still get your Charleston breweries beer while hanging at the beach.

They are known for their sours and IPAs and we were shocked to see they didn’t make the top 3 of our rankings.

5. Palmetto Brewing Co

• Hours:
  • Monday – Thursday: 4PM – 10PM
  • Friday & Saturday: 12PM – 10PM
  • Sunday: 12PM – 7PM
• Food Available: Yes, via a partnership with GobbleGobble (not on site)

Palmetto Brewing Company was Charleston’s first brewery and tasting room and they have, in our opinion, one of the most diverse selection of beer to choose from.

From ales and pilsners to sours and IPAs, no matter what type you drink, it will be here.

You can get to Palmetto’s tasting room/bar from Huger Street (pronounced “you-gee”) where you’ll enter their large garage area with picnic tables and cornhole that serves as an overflow room to the main tasting room.  

Also a good note, their sister brewing company, Catawba (in between Charlotte and Asheville, NC) is on draft as well as some cider options.

With 30 taps, you can’t go wrong! (Unless you try all 30 at once, which is really not recommended as there are more Charleston breweries to try…and because, you know, liver capacity!) 

6. Fatty’s Beer Works 

• Hours:
  • Monday – Thursday: 4PM – 9PM
  • Friday: 4PM – 10PM
  • Saturday: 12PM – 10PM
  • Sunday: 12PM – 6PM
• Food Available: Yes, rotating food trucks (check their Facebook to see what days)

Established in 2014, Fatty’s Beer Works has a neat backstory, like many of the Charleston breweries, and a comical reason for the name.

When the founder, David McLain, went to college, he put on a little more weight than just the “Freshman 15”, and his friendly fraternity brothers gave him the nickname of “Fatty”.  Over time, David lost the weight…but you don’t just lose a nickname!

After college, nickname in tact, Fatty moved up to one of our favorite states, Montana, and really got interested in brewing beer.  At the time, domestic beer was really the main beverage of choice with no good craft brews, so he decided to come back to South Carolina and explore his love of craft beer even more.

While his wife was pregnant, he knew he needed a hobby – enter homebrewing.  In between his day job and helping around the house, he still found time to brew in his garage, and after a few years, he produced his first small batch beer, First Shot IPA, which is now the flagship beer at Fatty’s.

The draft list has the First Shot IPA, the Lazy Hazy IPA (another flagship), as well as numerous other beers and styles (pilsners, sours, sour IPAs, stouts, lagers, and more) to enjoy in the small, laid-back tasting room. If you’re lucky, you might even show up on a night when Fatty himself is playing music at the brewery.

7. Bevi Bene Brewing Co.

• Hours:
  • Tuesday – Thursday: 4PM – 8PM
  • Friday: 3PM – 9PM
  • Saturday: 12PM – 9PM
  • Sunday: 12PM – 7PM
  • Monday: Closed
• Food Available: Yes, rotating food trucks

Opening in June 2022, Bevi Bene Brewing is the newest brewery to the downtown Charleston area.

Inspired by their adventures in Colorado, Beve Bene Brewery was conceived by a dynamic wife-and- husband dream team and is a testament to their passion for blending the worlds of kombucha and beer brewing.

The brewery exudes a captivating blend of sleek, modern design and a touch of bohemian charm.

Helmed by the former head brewer of Asheville’s renowned Wedge Brewing Co., Bevi Bene is lager-focused but is also introducing craft hard kombucha to the Charleston alcohol scene.

In Italian, bevi bene means to “drink well” and is not just a philosophy here but a way of crafting excellent beers.

8. Tradesman Brewing Co. 

• Hours:
  • Tuesday – Thursday: 12PM – 8PM
  • Friday & Saturday: 12PM – 10PM
  • Sunday: 12PM – 6PM
  • Monday: Closed
• Food Available: Yes, via stationary food truck El Saman

Tradesman Brewing is an independently-owned, family nano-brewery. As is the case with the beginnings of most breweries, they were homebrewers to start.  After their friends drank them dry for the last time, they decided to go all-in and open up a brewery.

In 2014, they opened a small spot on James Island just outside of Charleston, but today have a much bigger location on King Street heading into downtown from North Charleston.

They offer crowd favorite staples like the Circuit Breaker IPA, the Jorts & Boots cream ale, the Welders Wheat, or the incredibly interesting Shift Change white stout.  They also have a diverse selection of seasonals with a huge patio where you can come and enjoy a refreshing cold one.

9. Cooper River Brewing Co. 

• Hours:
  • Thursday: 4PM – 8PM
  • Friday: 4PM – 10PM
  • Saturday: 1PM – 9PM
  • Sunday: 2PM – 7PM
  • Monday – Wednesday: Closed
• Food Available: No

With most of the Charleston breweries being located in the Brewery District, Cooper River Brewing is no exception to this HOP-ping area (get it HOP-ping, like hops?). If full-bodied beers are your thing, Cooper River Brewing will not disappoint.

Hitting the Charleston brewery scene in 2015, their top brews are the Orange Infused Blonde Ale and Golden.  Their bar is always packed with their brewing equipment as a backdrop. 

While we’ve had their beers out and about, we’ve actually never visited their taproom. The beers themselves were basic, true-to-form style. When we asked our family members and even local bartenders, none of them have ever visited either. Some were surprised to learn that they even had a tasting room. All that to say, go check it out for yourself!

10. Lo-Fi Brewing 

• Hours:
  • Tuesday & Wednesday: 4PM – 7PM
  • Thursday & Friday: 4PM – 9PM
  • Saturday: 2PM – 9PM
  • Sunday: 2PM – 6PM
  • Monday: Closed
• Food Available: Yes, rotating food trucks on the weekend only

Last, but not least on this list, is Lo-Fi Brewing. While it’s the “farthest” away from downtown Charleston, it’s only 1 mile from Tradesman Brewing and definitely worth a visit.

A unique and quirky atmosphere in a refurbished warehouse, Lo-Fi Brewing is a chill place to come knock one back with friends.  Think OG breweries in the early 2000s mixed with some heavy musical influence.

We tried their Glitter Pony Triple and Rally Cat IPA which are bomb AF! Their venue is large so they have events often, especially live music or trivia nights.

On a separate, yet equally important note, they have a brewery cat named Kit Kat.

The FREE Charleston Breweries Shuttle

Every Saturday, there is a free shuttle that will take you to the breweries in the Charleston Brewery district. It runs every Saturday from 2PM to 8PM.

The shuttle runs on this schedule every hour:

This shuttle runs seasonally so be sure to call one of the breweries before you plan to use it to see if it’s running.

No reservations are required and the best part, it’s FREE. You can hop-on and hop-off at your leisure which is a great way to get around without drinking and driving.

Note: animals and “roadies” (aka open alcohol) aren’t allowed on the shuttle.

Boozy Tours in Charleston

If you are looking for a unique way to hop around to the breweries, there are a couple different walking and drinking options via Viator!

• Charleston History and Hops Tour: If you ever thought, I love history and I love booze, this tour is for you. It’s essentially a historical bar crawl in the heart of downtown Charleston. Note: no breweries are visited on this tour.
• Charleston Boo Hag & Brews Walking Ghost and Bar Tour : If ghosts + history and bar crawls are your thing, you’ve got to check this tour out.

Psst: Looking for more Charleston info? We have a few guides! Browse them here:

• What to do for a weekend in downtown Charleston
• A Local’s Guide to the Best Breakfast in Charleston, SC