07/17/2026
The South Carolina Brewer’s Guild (SCBG) is proud to announce that nine South Carolina breweries have won 17 total awards, including Hartsville’s Wild Heart Brewing Company winning Brewery of the Year (501-1,000 Barrels), at the 2026 U.S Open Beer Championship, held in Oxford, Ohio.
Jerry Rivers, Head Brewer at Wild Heart Brewing in Hartsville said, “We’re incredibly honored to receive Brewery of the Year for our production size. We’re proud to represent South Carolina and be part of such a great craft beer community. Thank you to everyone who supports Wild Heart Brewing and SC beer and congratulations to all of the breweries recognized in this year’s competition.”
The U.S. Open Beer Championship, one of the premier celebrations celebrating American brewing excellence, has announced its 2026 medal winners and Breweries of the Year. As the third-largest beer competition in the United States, this year’s event drew over 8,000 entries spanning more than 180 categories and subcategories from breweries across the country and around the world.
Two of the winners came in collaboration categories, with Savage Craft Ale Works (West Columbia) partnering with DSSOLVR (Asheville, NC), and Wild Heart working with Southern Hops Brewing Company (Murrells Inlet). Each, too, had an added layer of collaboration — the malt used for brewing was donated by SCBG Allied Trade member Riverbend Malt House of Asheville.
Brandon Evans, Head Brewer at Savage Craft said, "Mortal Composure was an awesome collab experience. We took two of our favorite DIPA’s and blended the recipes to push boundaries on what an IPA can be. Shout out to Riverbend Malt for making the base a beautiful palate on which new and experimental hop products could truly shine!”
“Weight of Sound is a collab with Riverbend Malthouse & Southern Hops,” Rivers said of his award-winning collaboration. “We originally brewed it November 2024 as a ‘Pouring for Neighbors’ NC Brewers Guild initiative to raise money for Hurricane Helene damage. It was very popular in our taproom so we brought it back this year. I love brewing this beer and looking forward to brewing it at Southern Hops soon!”
