Local homebrewers headed to the big league

Just two years ago, Hank Hanna and Pearce Fleming, both residents of Daniel Island, were in the beginning stages of what would become a passion for home brewing beer. Earlier this year, in a May issue of The Daniel Island News, Hanna explained the home brew process and why it had become much more than just a hobby for the duo. Having entered and won some awards at several competitions over this past year, their passion has surpassed what they could have imagined and quite possibly may bring their brew to the national level.

“Two competition wins made us eligible to team up with a commercial brewery and send one of our award winning beers to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Colorado in October,” said Hanna.

Deemed to be the largest (and most prestigious) beer festival in the country, the GABF competition will likely receive more than 7,000 entries in the commercial brewery competition. Hanna and Fleming will be entering the Pro-Am competition, where the odds of winning are much better.

“The Pro-Am portion of the competition, however, is even more prestigious (than the commercial portion). The Pro-Am gives home brewers (the AM) the opportunity to team up with a commercial brewer (the PRO) to brew their homebrew on a large-scale system. There are only 96 entries accepted and to be eligible as a homebrewed you must have won first place in a Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) sanctioned homebrew competition, and you must be asked by a commercial brewer to participate,” explained Hanna.

And that is just what happened. Ryan Coker, owner and Head Brewer at Revelry Brewing Co., located in downtown Charleston, invited them to brew with Revelry for the Pro-Am.

When Hanna heard the news, it was a no-brainer.

“We knew the guys at Revelry very well and jumped at the opportunity. We were very excited to say the least,” Hanna said.

Currently the duo has been fine-tuning their beer hoping that it will stand out at the competition.

“Our beer is called Wise One and is a Bavarian wheat beer. Pearce and I first brewed Wise One earlier this year for the American Homebrewers Association National Competition. I had spent a lot of time researching the style and tasting several different commercially available options to try and figure out which one I liked best and how to create a beer that was consistent with the standards associated with the style. Hefeweizen is known for having almost no hop presence, but instead a subtle clove character with notes of banana…. (Wise One) has a very slight clove presence, but the banana character is in your face. With that being said, teaming up with a professional brewer like Ryan Coker meant that we would also be blending our styles with his expertise. The beer that we brewed with Revelry is much more complex in that the banana aroma is the first thing that you will notice, followed by a subtle hint of clove character in the initial taste, and then just a kiss of banana flavor as you finish the sip,” said Hanna.