Revelry Brewing Co. brings award-winning ales and lagers to Folly Beach
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
At the very beginning of the craft beer boom, The Folly Brewing Company opened a tiny spot on Center Street. And for a short stint, it did technically brew small batches of beer from a home brewing system in the back of the bar. But it was never truly a brewery and after a short while, the brewing stopped altogether. The “Brew Pub,” as it was affectionally known amongst locals, became just that, a small pub that served craft beer. Eventually, the Brew Pub closed altogether and Jack of Cups took over the space and quickly became an island favorite. Now, for the first time ever, Charleston has a legitimate brewery at one of its beaches. Revelry Brewing Co. has set up shop at 13-B Center St. down the alleyway between Coconut Joe’s and Palms Beach Store.
If you haven’t been to Revelry’s new Folly Beach location, it’s hard to imagine how a business could exist down an alleyway. But that’s part of the allure to the place. You almost have to know it’s there or seek it out to find it. And that is exactly how Revelry co-owner Sean Fleming intended it to be.
“The last thing we wanted to do is blow it out with a tourist heavy spot. But this place, it’s got a little mystique to it,” says Fleming. “You’ve got to work for it to find it. I don’t even have a social media location tag for it. It’s about striking the balance with a place where both visitors and locals want to go.”
It’s impressive to see what they did with this unique space, which was just an alley and a small residential structure. It’s both stunning and unexpected to find this craft beer oasis down an alleyway that has gone virtually unnoticed for years. The existing residence was split up and incorporated into the space.
“Pretty much the whole bar was the living room, and our brewing space is in what was a bedroom,” Fleming explains.
Despite its somewhat covert locale, Revelry has been bustling since it officially opened at the very end of 2023. Fleming says he had intended to open during the busy season, but inevitable delays pushed it back to the winter. They got the Certificate of Occupancy two days before Christmas and quietly opened on Christmas Eve.
“It’s already proven to work pretty well in the off-season. I didn’t really expect it to, you know, it’s 48 degrees by 5 o’clock, and the locals are still coming,” says Fleming. “And we’ve actually had a really good success with, retirees and the older crowd out here, because if you don’t out-price them and you actually take a second and connect with them, they have a lot of appreciation for that.” Fleming says it was important to make their beers affordable, without undercutting other bars that might be serving their product.
The Folly location has been in the works for about six years, according to Fleming, who was born and raised in Charleston and grew up surfing on Folly Beach. In fact, Folly is where he first met co-owner and head brewer Ryan Coker.
“I’ve been coming out here basically my whole life. That’s all I know. I’ve lived out here several times, I’ve owned on Little Oak. So it just made the most sense to open out here,” says Fleming. “The other beaches are great, they’re fine, there’s probably more money out there (on Sullivan’s or Isle of Palms), but this just made sense. We just wanted to create a place where we would actually want to hang out.”
Fleming and Coker’s third partner in the brewery is Jay Daratony. All three are very hands-on with the company and can be found working at the place or sitting at the bar sipping one of their award-winning beers. Revelry’s trophy case is stacked. Not only do they have three gold and one silver metal from the Great American Beer Fest, but they have countless other awards from the U.S. Open Beer Championship, Best of Craft Beer Awards, South Carolina Beer Awards, L.A. International Beer Competition, and the World Beer Cup.
According to Fleming, the Folly location will focus more on brewing more beach-friendly offerings, like the Beach Haus pilsner.
“It’s been a wildly popular beer since we’ve opened. We’re actually canning it and releasing it here at the beginning of March,” says Fleming. “And then we have another one that’s a tropical lager called Tourist Trap. Honestly, it might be a little too unique of a beer to be called Tourist Trap, but the name is just funny.”
Both Beach Haus and Tourist Trap will feature original designs from local artist Chris Kemp, who has been the artistic visionary for all of Revelry’s branding. You will recognize Kemp’s work on the cover of The Folly Current each month as well as throughout the beach on various logos and designs.
Revelry have teamed with neighboring The Bounty Bar, who has designed a custom menu available to order while enjoying beers. Fleming says it was a natural partnership because the downtown Revelry and The Bounty Bar’s sister bar, The Royal American, are neighbors and often work together for block parties and other events.
Revelry Brewing Co. is located at 13-B Center St. For more information, visit www.revelrybrewingco.com or follow them on social media.
