2017 to be 'year of beer' in Chattanooga [photos]

Owner's Bryan Boyd, left, and Jay Boyd stand amidst all new stainless steel beer equipment in the brewing room at OddStory Brewing Co. on M.L. King Blvd.
Owner's Bryan Boyd, left, and Jay Boyd stand amidst all new stainless steel beer equipment in the brewing room at OddStory Brewing Co. on M.L. King Blvd.

New breweries on the way:

› Oddstory Brewing Co. at 336 E. M.L. King Blvd. opens today› WanderLinger Brewing Co. in the first floor at 1208 King St. opens in the spring› Mad Knight Brewing Co. in the basement of 4015 Tennessee Ave., to open Feb. 15› Heaven & Ale Brewing Co. at 304 Cherokee Blvd. to open this summerExisting companies:› Big Frog Brewing Co., 2122 Dayton Blvd.› Chattanooga Brewing Co., 1804 Chestnut St.› Hutton & Smith Brewing Co., 431 E. M.L. King Blvd.› Big River Grille and Brewing Co., 222 Broad St.› Moccasin Bend Brewing Co., 3210 S. Broad St.› McHale’s Brewhouse at 724 Ashland Terrace› Terminal Brewhouse, 6 E. 14th St.

You might call 2017 the "year of beer" in Chattanooga, because four new microbreweries are due to open here.

When the newcomers are added to the area's existing seven small breweries, it brings the total to 11 microbreweries - almost a doubling.

Chattanooga has enough fans of craft beer to absorb the additional flow of local brew, those in the business say.

They point to other brewery-rich cities nearby in the Southeast as examples for Chattanooga to follow, including Asheville, N.C., which some call the U.S. capital of craft beer, and Nashville and Atlanta.

"I think Chattanooga is an emerging craft beer market," said Marc Powell, the co-founder with brothers Joe and Brian Winland of Heaven & Ale Brewing Co.

Heaven & Ale first opened three years ago as a tap room at 304 Cherokee Blvd., on Chattanooga's North Shore, and this summer the business will start brewing its own beer in a refurbished 8,000-square-foot building at 301 Cherokee Blvd. behind the tap room. The new brewery will be able to make 1,500 barrels a year.

"I think Chattanooga could turn into a craft beer destination," Powell said.

That feeling is shared by Bryan and Jay Boyd, the father-and-son team who at 5 p.m. today will hold the grand opening for Oddstory Brewing Co., an "indoor beer garden" with the capacity to make 1,200 barrels a year at 336 E. M.L. King Blvd. near the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

"I'm hoping so," Bryan Boyd said of Chattanooga's potential as a beer mecca. "With the advent of a couple of new craft breweries I think it could be very nice, like Asheville."

The name Oddstory pays homage to Chattanooga's history, he said. It was inspired by the flooding downtown years ago that caused building owners to abandon their first floors and move their entrances up a floor, and city streets followed suit.

Mad Knight Brewing Co. plans to hold its grand opening on Feb. 15 in the basement of a building at 4015 Tennessee Ave. in St. Elmo, in a space that previously housed Moccasin Bend Brewing Co., which has moved nearby to a new home on South Broad Street.

While a typical microbrewery may offer a dozen beers, Mad Knight will only offer two at first: a saison, or seasonal Belgian-style farmhouse ale, and a pale ale.

"We really believe in quality over quantity," said Connor Choate, the 24-year-old who co-founded Mad Knight with Greg McCourt, the 40-something who owns the space and its beer-making equipment.

The business partners have sank about $50,000 into remodeling and updating the brewery and tap room, Choate said, which he said is a bargain.

"If you could ever open a brewery on a shoestring budget, this is how you do it," said Choate, a native of Kentucky who found out by word of mouth that McCourt had the space available.

He thinks competition among local breweries is a good thing.

"It's going to force a lot of brewers that are here to really step up their game," Choate said.

Meanwhile, Michael Dial, his wife, Mandy Dial, and brother Chris Dial are opening WanderLinger Brewing Co. on the first floor of what's now a multi-story brick storage building at 1208 King St. that's being refurbished into office and commercial space by local developers.

"We're going to have a beer garden outside," Michael Dial said. "It's going to have a pretty sweet tasting room."

The brewery will be able to make 1,500 barrels of beer a year. He said there will be a dozen beers on tap, and the flagship will be Stumpthumper Pale Ale, an American pale ale.

The Dials will invest about $500,000 in their microbrewery, which they raised through a federal Small Business Administration loan and through 18 friends and family investors.

Michael Dial thinks Chattanooga has room for the new microbreweries.

"We've got a lot of beer drinkers and a lot of bars here," he said.

Calvin Cummings, who's in charge of the beer department at Imbibe liquor store on Chattanooga's trendy Southside, said appreciation for craft beer has grown markedly in Chattanooga over the past five years.

For example, Cummings recently bought 12 cases of Homestyle IPA, made by Nashville's Bearded Iris Brewing Co., that sells for $14 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans. The store's supply almost sold out in a week, he said.

"As far as 2017 being the year of beer in Chattanooga, we are expecting continued growth [in craft beer demand]," he said. "There's not any sign of it slowing down."

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.

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