Top Draft Picks

In compiling its annual list of “America’s 100 Best Beer Bars, 2015,” DRAFT magazine editors and writers say they spent the last year “zig-zagging around the country, drinking pints, chatting with bartenders, and spinning around in bar stools.”
No doubt lots of research has gone into this list and what makes it even more impressive that not only did Oak Barrel Tavern again make the list (2014, 2015) but West Ashley newcomer Craft Conundrum also found itself on the “South” section of the esteemed list.
That means two of the three bars from South Carolina that made the esteemed list are right here in West Ashley! The other bar from the Palmetto State that made it was downtown’s Closed for Business.
Many in Charleston were surprised that downtown’s highly-rated Edmund’s Oast did’t make the list. But the editors of DRAFT explained online that some places, like the fancy downtown beer hall and the famed Mekong in Richmond, Vir., which was named “America’s Best Beer Bar” in a Brewers Association survey, are more “restaurant” in nature. For this list DRAFT sought after true beer “bars” that offered “inspiring selections, well-versed bartenders, and perfectly poured pints.”
When it comes to “inspiring selections” no one can touch Craft Conundrum, which opened its doors in 2014 in the Quadrangle Shopping Center, off Savannah Highway. The popular bar and retail store currently has 158 beers on tap and has the capacity to have up to 180 on tap. “We drain 50-60 kegs a week, so it’s hard to keep that 180 capacity,” says Richard Easterby, owner of Craft Conundrum.
Being named to the DRAFT list in his first year in business was confirmation for Easterby and his wife Karen that what they’re doing is appreciated. “It definitely kind of struck us as … not as surprising, because we strive to be the best we can be. But it was a pleasant surprise,” he says.
For Gavin Lyons, co-owner of Oak Barrel Tavern, located at 825 Savannah Hwy. in the Avondale Business District, making the list for a second straight year was also confirmation that they’re doing something right.
“It feels great to have others recognize that you truly care about beer and that you want others too as well,” says Lyons. “It’s nice that a national publication recognizes the little guy in a very fast growing industry where there’s a beer bar on every corner now. Hopefully they realize we put a lot of thought and care into it and enjoy the culture.”
So what does landing on the list mean for the businesses themselves? Being named one of America’s 100 Best Beer last year meant a definite rise in business for Oak Barrel Tavern. “We had a lot of folks from out of town stopping by. People on vacation here that read the magazine and like to hit as many bars on the list as they can,” says Lyons. “I imagine that will continue. It definitely put us on more of a national map.”
Easterby says even though the January/February issue of DRAFT just came out, they’ve already seen the impact at Craft Conundrum. “We’ve seen people who we’ve never seen before who are curious what makes a top 100 beer bar,” says Easterby who equates it in the beer world to when a particular beer receives a 100 point ranking. “People want to seek it out, just to see what it’s all about,” he says.