Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb2016

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The guys at ghost Monkey and
Two Blokes breweries looked all over the
Charleston area for a place to set up shop,
but, in the end, they all settled on Mount
Pleasant.
“It’s got the perfect demographics for
craft beer,” said Jim Leonard, one of two
brewers for Ghost Monkey.
Like Ghost Monkey, Matt Symons and Sean Geddis
of Two Blokes looked at Mount Pleasant and saw an
undertapped market, and now they are looking to open shop
nearby on Long Point Road.
With craft beer exploding in Charleston, Mount Pleasant
has developed an impressive scene in its own right, with
dedicated craft beer bars, a home brew shop and now a second
and third brewery set to open sooner than later.
Westbrook Brewery has been the only brewery in Mount
Pleasant since setting up shop off Long Point Road in late
2010. But soon, Ghost Monkey will be their neighbors in a
2,800-square-foot facility with a three-barrel brew system.
Meanwhile,Two Blokes will be nearby in a 4,500-square-foot
building with a seven-barrel brew system.
To put that in perspective, Holy City Brewing in North
Charleston has a 15-barrel brew system.
It’s no coincidence that both new breweries will feature a
2,000-square-foot taproom. State law requires brewers to go
through a distributor to sell their beer to bars and stores, which
squeezes profit margins, so the taprooms will be the one place
they can sell directly to the drinking public.
“It’s a way to get in front of the folks who matter most,” said
Geddis, who handles the sales and public relations side of things
for Two Blokes. “And it’s also a revenue thing.”
As such, you might expect the breweries to view each other
as competition, especially being in such close proximity, but
the opposite is true.
“All the small brewers don’t view each other as competition
because, as the waters rise, we all come with it,” said Leonard.
Westbrook also has a taproom in its brewery, with 12 of its
beers on tap and a selection of bottles and cans.
“I think we’re going to attract a certain amount of beer
tourism,” said Symons, the head brewer for Two Blokes.
“Whenever I go to a new city, I look up the craft bars but also
the breweries.”
About 75 percent of Two Blokes’ volume will go out the
door and be distributed, as will some of Ghost Monkey’s.
When it does, there are more than a few places in town where
Left to right: Josh Parker, John
Kosky, Jim Leonard and Patrick
Davis enjoy a brew at Ghost
Monkey. Below: John Mutter
adds a yeast starter to the wort
of his Mount Pleasant IPA.
Photo courtesy of Ghost Monkey Brewery.