It seems like breweries are popping up everywhere across the South Carolina landscape, and Lexington County is no exception. Breweries like Steel Hands Brewing in Cayce, Savage Craft Ale Works in West Columbia and Hazelwood Brewing Company in Lexington are thriving, offering original adult beverages and food specials to bring in the hungry and thirsty folks of Lexington County.

But food and drink isn’t all these breweries are offering. They all have an extensive calendar of live entertainment and community-based events to entertain and enrich the people they serve. Here are just a few of the events that our local breweries have coming up:

Hazelwood Brewing

711 E. Main St. in Lexington, favors a combination of regular weekly events and occasional musical performances. Singer and songwriter Eric James and the popular bluegrass band, The Blue Iguanas, have both performed at Hazelwood recently, and the local rockers, Civil Remedy, will play in April. But their calendar also features regular events like their Tuesday night game of music bingo (think regular bingo with information about music and artists) and trivia on Wednesday nights, accompanied by a different local food truck every week. 

The Old Mill Brewpub 

711 E. Main St. in Lexington, doesn’t emphasize live music, favoring a wide ranging program of activities and unique performances. Over the past few years, Old Mill has hosted events like the Lexington County Chili Cookoff, a Halloween blood drive, and perhaps most notably, their “Comedy + Beer” nights, which features a slate of local comedians doing standup.

Savage Craft Ale Works

430 Center St. in West Columbia, is the local brewery that relies most on live music to fill out their schedule, particularly on the weekends. A quick glance at their schedule shows a wide variety of artists scheduled to perform over the next couple of months, acts that cover just about any genre people may be interested in. 

There’s Schoolboy Johnny, a tribute act that pays homage to the 1970s classic rockers, Bad Company, some fresh country from the Upstate’s Abbey Elmore Band and singer and songwriter Trey Duncan, the straight ahead rockers, The Novatones, and even a tribute to the smooth, polished pop-rock of the ‘70s from Yacht Rock Schooner. Of all the breweries on this list, Savage Craft Ale Works is where you’re most likely to get a live music fix on a Friday or Saturday night.

Steel Hands Brewing

2350 Foreman St. in Cayce, probably has the most varied and community-minded schedule. In April alone, in between live performances from singer and songwriter Mac Leaphart and the Jeremy Short Band, Steel Hands has an open-mic benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society scheduled in April, and there’s even a tie-dye-heavy, Woodstock-themed session of baby goat yoga waiting in the wings on May 25. 

So when you’re looking for a fun weeknight activity or looking to have a weekend date night destination, consider Lexington’s breweries. They’ve got more going on than just high-quality beer.