A toast on the coast: Here’s to suds and spring

With February winding up and winter winding down, it won’t be long until your favorite places on the coast will be sprouting visitors as thickly as crocuses. So soon? Consider: The Can-Am Days Festival, which kicks off the tourist season in Myrtle Beach, starts three weekends from now.

That may be why several prime seaside destinations are easing into the busy season with late February beer festivals: Feb. 27 is the Wilmington Wine & Beer Walk, and Charleston is staging Brewvival. And Feb. 26-27, Port Royal, S.C., is hosting Bands, Brews & BBQ.

The Wilmington event is a beery browsing of its beautiful downtown, and tickets go on sale Monday. On Feb. 27, take your ticket ($16, $27 for two) to Ziggy’s by the Sea at 208 Market St. You’ll get your Wine & Beer Walk ID and a map showing the location of participating establishments. At each, from 1 to 6 p.m., you can receive two samples of a selected wine or beer. (You must be 21 or older; bring age identification with you.)

Venues include Calico Room, Front Street Brewery, Slice of Life Pizza, BAR LoCAL, The Husk, Beer Barrio and Front Street Optometric Care (all on a couple of blocks of Front Street); MeMa Lounge & Eatery (inside Chandlers Wharf), InnerBanks Wealth Management (Grace Street) and Costello’s Piano Bar (Princess Street).

Charleston’s Brewvival showcases that city’s burgeoning craft beer scene. It will be noon-5 p.m. in the field across from Coast Brewing, 1250 N. Second St., North Charleston. It’s co-sponsored by that micro and by the Charleston Beer Exchange. Admission – $75 – includes beer samples and live music. The event, in its seventh year, does more than tout local suds: Though organized by Charleston breweries, there will be beers from other states and various nations. Collectively, organizers say, the products will point up a variety of styles that will range from “semi-common to impossibly rare.” In past years, some 40 breweries have participated.

There will be food trucks at the site; there will be $5 late morning and afternoon shuttles between there and the Charleston Visitors Center, downtown on Meeting Street (details: http://brewvival.citypapertickets.com). It is recommended that you also bring a lawn chair and bottled water to sit and enjoy the tunes.

Just down the S.C. coast, and also in its seventh year, is Port Royal’s Bands, Brews & BBQ, a family-friendly hospice fundraiser outdoors on Paris Avenue, with a cook-off sanctioned by the state’s barbecue association. Admission – $15; $5 for 12 and younger – includes three tickets, each for a food serving. Friday features a 6-9 p.m. Wing Throw Down and music from the Cluster Shucks; Saturday hours are noon-4 p.m., with barbecue cooking-team samples and music from Cranford Hollow.

Wines and eight varieties of beer are offered. There will activities for kids, too.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A toast on the coast: Here’s to suds and spring."