Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Actually I had just noticed this place several weeks ago, and thought to myself that sitting outside on the patio would be nice on a sunny fall afternoon, but like all too many places, I waited too long.

Iron Hill Brewery was a 29 year old company according to USA Today, with 19 locations along the east coast. There were signs of trouble recently as the company closed its original store, and two others. The trouble came home on 25 September when they closed the remaining 16 stores, and filed for bankruptcy. The USA Today story does not specify what chapter was filed, but the company's closing note made hopeful noises about a return someday.

Interestingly, I see from the closing list that they had opened a location in Geenville at 741 Haywood Road, the site of a former favorite place of mine, Don Pablo's, although I don't believe I ever did a closing on it.

You can check WIS, WLTX, or The State for (some) details on the local closure, which is a bit of a blow for The Bull Street District.

When I went by on Sunday, there were definitely people inside the place, I don't know if they were packing up, or evaluating the building, but it seems like a pretty nice one, so hopefully something new will come in before too long.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I never made it to this building in any of its other incarnations besides Swensen's, but I did make it to Hunter Gatherer a few times. As I recall, I had pizza and some sort of porter or stout, both of which were pretty good, but not enough so to become a regular and deal with driving down there and parking.

I have been pretty skeptical about the ongoing work on South Main which sounded to me like it was designed to make the street even less convenient to drive and park on, and the news that Hunter Gatherer lost their lease, presumably due to plans for the area does not make me any less so. (And also makes me worry a bit about Cool Beans which is in a similar situation).

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

As I go to add this to the Alphabetical Closings, I notice I did a post on HG before, when it shut down for the Pandemic. I think this final closing is newsworthy enough that I'm not going to merge it into that earlier post.

UPDATE 22 January 2025:

I believe that of the local brewpubs, I've only hit Hunter Gatherer and the Old Mill in Lexington (if you don't count Aiken as local), but I would notice the River Rat from time to time driving by and think it might be somewhere to go on a nice evening. As usual, I waited too long.

It appears that market saturation & changes in local laws hastened the closure. As the owner told The Free Times:

You'd think that would've equated to more business at places like River Rat and, in some ways, it did. What started as a production brewery became a brewpub, offering things like trivia and Sunday brunch. But it meant that businesses like Tourville's and ones like Swamp Cabbage, which had built their facilities in less-busy areas were fighting an uphill battle to get customers to their side of town. The idea had been that they'd focus more on production and distribution and less on outfitted taprooms and food offerings.

"The Stone Bill changed everything because it just meant everyone wanted to get into the business, everyone wanted to open up a brewery. Everybody saw it as a cash cow," Tourville said. "You just don't have that revenue stream without being a restaurant and getting people in your door... it's just not a sustainable business plan to be a production brewery and a brewpub."

There have been a lot of changes on Shop Road lately -- we'll have to see what happens to this location next.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)