With the introduction of Craft Conundrum, owner Richard Easterby Jr. aims to put beer lovers in a quandary. With more than 100 beers on tap alone, which should you try this time?
Easterby and his wife Karen opened in late June to rooms full of eager craft brew-seekers. “Ten years ago, you got great beer from Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. The U.S. has surpassed all of those in taste and quality. This store is our salute to the American push of great beer,” says owner Richard Easterby, Jr. Craft Conundrum is staffed by the Easterbys and Emily, a growler customer who is now earning her Cicerone, the Sommelier of the beer world.
On tap, there are more than 100 options available. Right now the best-selling beer is Greenville’s Quest Imperial Stout. Easterby says that there is no etiquette to beer: the pale varieties aren’t just for spring and summer, nor are the darker brews just for fall and winter. As long as it’s craft, it’s all good.
Customers of Craft Conundrum see South Carolina brands on tap from their barstool, but the other 90-plus are behind the wall; this is Easterby’s patented “Frankenstein” system.
The Frankenstein system was created in 2009 at the James Island Piggly Wiggly. Back then, customers would step up and say, “I’d like an IPA but it doesn’t look like you have one on tap right now.” Easterby would counter with, “Actually, I have five, check out this printed list.” Inevitably the customer would say, “Gee, I thought I knew what I wanted, but now I have to think about it some more.” This frequent predicament is what inspired the name Craft Conundrum.
The logo is also a reinterpretation of the logo Easterby created at The Pig, a drunk little pig with X’s in its eyes. “I take a small amount of information and run with it,” Easterby says. “Everyone knows Stone Brewing’s gargoyle. Even if a logo is a little goofy, it still works. I saw the James Island Piggly Wiggly growler in photos of a brewery in Michigan.”
When customers enter, they are greeted by empty growlers in two sizes: the half-growler is 32 ounces, enough for two pints. Full-size growlers are 64 ounces, or enough for four pints. Behind the growlers are shelves of bottled ciders, Belgian ales, and unique flavors like sours, meads (an ancient honey-based brew), old ales, fruit beers, scotch ales, and spiced beers.
On the opposite wall, on a freestanding shelf, and along the front window are bottled beers in four packs, six packs, and liter-sizes. Brands on the shelves run from San Diego’s Green Flash through Pennsylvania’s Victory, and everything in between.
Over the bar, an 80-inch screen is hooked up to Netflix, airing classic Cheers episodes. Occasionally, there are special screenings, like the hit series The Walking Dead over Fourth of July weekend. Another 80-inch screen is mounted at the back of the store, airing sports like the recent World Cup tournaments. There is also free Wi-Fi available.
Craft doesn’t just mean “beer” at the Conundrum: it’s a way of doing business. Easterby built the bar, the tables, the flight paddles, the tap handles, and used any scrap left over to make the bottle openers. These openers flip the bottlecaps without creasing them. Karen fashions earrings from the bottle caps, and she also crochets growler satchels. There are also wooden growler and beer carriers with retro-toolbox flair. Most wooden accessories are emblazoned with a handcrafted branding iron: either the store’s trademark stunned little pig framed in hop flowers, or the store’s initials.
Easterby is the nephew of Ronnie and Donald Easterby, the creators of the storied local restaurant of the same name. His uncles got their start working for Bessinger’s, and similarly, he learned the ropes by working for major grocery chains Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo. Before its shocking departure last year, Easterby had been a part of the Piggly Wiggly family for 20 years.
Easterby says Craft Conundrum is going to introduce brew kits and brew classes in the future, and the Conundrum will be a meeting spot for aspiring brewers to meet potential backers. They would also like to open a brewpub down the road, but more beer legislation has to pass to make that possible. For now, they are meeting their new West Ashley neighbors and introducing them to craft brews from all over the country.
“Craft Conundrum is our dream come full circle,” says Easterby. “I never in a million years thought this is what would come out of what I was doing with the Piggly Wiggly, but I love breweries and the stories behind them.”.
Craft Conundrum is open Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-1 p.m., and Sundays 12-5 p.m. It is located in the Quadrangle Shopping Center, to the left of anchor Bi-Lo. For more information, call 277-2256.
