HB: Newsletter: April 1999: Ken Colson: Smoky Brews

Hogtown Brewers Newsletter

April 1999

Smoky Brews
Ed Wolfe

In March, Carol, Isaac, and I took a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. We found three beer-related sites of interest there. If you’ve never been to Gatlinburg, it’s at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. Unfortunately, with the opening of Dollywood, this area has become extremely tourist oriented. If you don’t like crowds and traffic, we suggest going during the off season and avoiding weekends. Regardless, if you are in the area, the following three attractions are well worth the trip.

For the two brewpubs we review below, we use the following rating scale.

1 = Yuck! I wouldn’t feed this stuff to my dog.
2 = I can choke it down, but I wouldn’t have a second one.
3 = Very good. Although it isn’t world class.
4 = Outstanding! Bring a growler with you.

Rocky River Brewery & Grill, Governor’s Crossing, Sevierville, TN. (423) 908-3686. Average rating: 3.72.

This brewpub, with a rustic, country lodge ambiance, is about 20 miles northwest of Gatlinburg. The beer is outstanding, and the food and service are both good. There were nine beers on tap during our visit. The Ten-Point Ale is a Kolsch with a dry, malty, clean flavor with good bittering. We rated it a 4. The Golden Eagle Lager was a Dortmunder. For this style, it was a little bland and bitter, rated as a 3.0. The Festbier, an Oktoberfest, had a great malty/toasty sweet flavor with a noticeable bitterness. As Ed’s favorite, it was rated 4.0. The Copperhead Red was an amber ale with a light Cascade hops flavor and a strong malty sweetness with low bittering–3.5. The Mad Wolf India Pale Ale was the weakest of the lot with an oddly sweet fruity maltiness and low level of hop flavor and aroma (although very bitter), rated as a 2.5. Carol’s favorite was the Heidelberg Hefeweizen. At first, we were a little put off when it arrived with a lemon on the edge of the glass, but that disappointment soon faded as we tasted the strong sulfury, bubble gum and clove yeast character coupled with the dry wheat flavor. This one deserved the rating of 4.0 that we gave it. The Winterfest ale, a winter warmer, had a noticeable alcoholic kick that was hidden behind a strong malty flavor–rated as a 3.0. The Panther Porter was a brown version of the style with a nice chocolate/roast flavor. Because it didn’t finish as sweetly as most brown porters, we rated it a 3.5. The Bear Bottom Stout was a little disappointing, given it’s gold medal in the Great American Beer Festival. It had a strong diacetyl flavor (probably used Guiness yeast) and had a very subtle flavor for this style. We rated it as a 3.0.

Smoky Mountain Brewery, 1004 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN. (423) 436-4200. Average rating: 3.08.

This brewpub, with a snow lodge décor, is in downtown Gatlinburg. The food and service were both good. The Smoky Mountain Brewery offered six beers while we were there, although they offer four brews regularly, four seasonal brews, and four brewmaster’s specials at different times during the year. All of the beers were good, but none were outstanding. The Old Thunder Road, a Bohemian Pilsner was the best brew we tasted. It had a nice hoppy flavor and aroma. We rated it 3.5 on our 4-point scale. The Mountain Light Beer was an American Lager. It was clean and tasteless, like most American Lagers, so we gave it a 3.0. The Cherokee Red Ale was an amber ale. It had a malty and mildly hoppy flavor, and we rated it 3.0. The Black Bear Ale was a brown ale with a slight hoppy flavor, but the emphasis was on malt. We rated it 3.0. The seasonal selection was a Winter Warmer, which was malty and slightly high in alcohol and body–rated a 3.0. Finally, the Tuckaleechee Porter was the brewmaster’s special. It was a bit on the light end of the range of porter flavors, but rated a 3.0 for good flavor.

Smoky Mountain Winery, at Winery Square (just off of Highway 321 N), Gatlinburg, TN (423) 436-7142.

This winery makes wines comparable to homebrewed wines from local fruits (none grown at the winery). They have an impressive assortment of wines ranging from a very weak Cabernet Sauvignon to fruity Sangrias and Peach Blushes. They also have a "self-guided tour" that allows you to walk past the 20 or more fermenters, hundreds of cases of unfilled wine bottles, and a woman reparing the labeling machine–she’s a regular "fix"-ture at the winery (that’s the tour), and they have a video that was not working the day we arrived. It’s not a great winery, but worth the trip for the free samples.

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