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Woo woo – all aboard! This brewery is located in an former train station in the heart of downtown. It has an old caboos parked out front and even has a working train track right next to it. Several trains rolled by while we were here. If you like trains and beer, this is your place. We were pleasantly surprised with the abundance of beer choices. With so many good beers to choose from, why not do two flights? We sampled the Little Miss Thang blonde ale, Lagertha The Viking Hop Maiden czech pils, California Dreamin’ west coast pils, Can You Read Minds ESB, Midnight In Prague dark czech, Brown ‘N Out english brown ale, Evolutionary Therory hazy IPA and Save The Princess peach hazy dbl IPA. Believe it or not, every beer was very good. When doing flights, there is always one or two that doesn’t really work but this is not the case here. And to top it off, they also have excellent food.

We were reluctant to stop at this place because their beer menu looked like all visitor taps & seltzers and no beer of their own but the beertender at the last brewery said their stuff was good so checked it out. He was wrong and we were right – not really our style but we stayed for a round since one of the beers was a commemoration to their late brewery pup, Maggie. It was the Sacred Ground Chocolate Brown ale as she was a chocolate lab. It was a little light for a brown (only 4.5%) and could have used a shot of nitro but the Ivory Light was right on spot even though it was 4.8%.

The door was locked when we arrived so we waited in the parking lot until 2:00p when the beertender opened the door. We ordered the German Pilsner & the Barrage hazy IPA and he proceeded to tell us this place has the best beer in town. We informed him that after over 700 breweries, we have some pretty high standards. The beer was good but not top 20 even though who remembers all the great ones, right?

Our last day in town puts us in this low-budget, no frills brewery in the heart of downtown. We came here for lunch and had the Miami Cuban sandwich with fried potatoes. OMG – that was one of the best cubans we’ve ever had and that says a lot considering we ate our share down in Miami when we lived there for 3 years. The potatoes were also the bomb. They actually smoke their pork onside and they also serve brunch on the weekends. Oh, and the Pepper Panda pale ale and Young Nathan Jr. ESB were great as well. Don’t let the outside or neighborhood scare you – you must stop at this place if you are ever in Knoxville.

So the last time we got outside our box and tried fruited sours was back in Knox, Indiana so we thought why not try them again in Knoxville, Tennessee? Well, we weren’t disappointed again. When we first tried fruited sours in Indiana we were pleasantly surprised and were once again today. This place is known for their sours so we tried a flight of the PB&J Mix Tape, Betty’s Peach Cobbler, Everybody Loves The Sunshine (lemons & vanilla) and the Sci-Fi Matinee (dragon fruit & passon fruit). OMG! We know it’s not techincally “beer” but we see why the younger crowd really like them especially since the ABV is at least 6%. We took a four-pack of the peach cobbler and matinee to go.

Daddy like!! This brewery is much more our style: not a mega-brewery like the one we just left. In fact, there is only one building, we sat right next to the brewing operations and there is only 6 other people here. The Scruffy City lager and the Big Boi Map hazy IPA was so good, we took a couple of 4-packs to go.

Can you say “mega-brewery”? This must be where all the college kids come to hang out. The place is huge – multiple buildings, onsite kitchen, large stage, private event rooms and we counted at least 3 bars. There are a couple hundred people here on this Saturday afternoon. The beer menu has two-dozen offerings but over half are seltzers or sours with only really about 8 actual beers. Only 4 are brewed onsite – the others are brewed in their Johnson City location. This place definitely caters to the kids, who probably don’t like beer but want to be part of the scene. We had the West Coast Pilsner and the Mic Check IPA which we rated a 5 out of 10.

When you have visited over 700 breweries, chances are, you will find something out of the ordinary. This is that place: a brewery with glass-blowing. Ajoined with Pretentious Glass Co., you can sip your craft beer and watch the skilled gaffer do his thing. The beer menu was a little thin so we tried the Cargo Shorts pale ale and Prismatic Joy juicy IPA. The pale was pretty hoppy but the juicy was spot on. The brewery also had sort of an alternative and “inclusive” vibe but was still a true tasting room where you sit amongst the vats of beer and brewing operations.

Happy Friday! It’s finally the weekend and we plan on hitting 6 or 7 more breweries here in Volunteer land. Our first stop is just on the edge of campus and we kicked things off with a Little River west coast IPA and Chonker’s Ale ESB. It was a mild, breezy day so we sat outside and enjoyed our beer in the sun. Their logo reminded us of the now defunct Allis-Chalmers logo.

This brewery has 3 locations and the one we are at is not the brewering operations but offers the same beers. Located in an old church complex called Baker Creek along with several other small businesses, we ordered a couple of the Tessellation IPA and the 42 hazy IPA then went next door to the 71 South restaurant and had their spicy chicken sandwich. After dinner, we came back here and finished things off with the Main Squeeze hazy IPA and the Picklebier. Yes, pickle beer. It was actually pretty decent with only mild hints of sour and dill. Not as bad as expected.