The story of Smoky Mountain Brewery (SMB) began like the story of many great beers—with a lot of passion and trial-and-error.
SMB is the oldest craft brewery in East Tennessee. Our Gatlinburg location opened in 1996 when the idea of local microbrews served fresh was, well, unpopular. People would order a Miller Lite or a Budweiser. When we would tell them we only served beer brewed in house, they would get upset.
The U.S. craft beer movement was still in its infancy. Jim Koch, of Sam Adams and Boston Beer Company notoriety, didn’t purchase the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery in his hometown of Cincinnati and start scaling up production until 1997. Yet, there we were in the Smoky Mountains, perfecting our own beer recipes and serving a very, very limited menu of sandwiches and wood-fired pizza on paper plates.
We had the upstairs closed and only sat people downstairs for lunch. The beer taps ran into the kitchen, and that’s where we had to pour the beers.
We had no entrees or servers. Our guests had to walk up to the counter and order food. But that setup wasn’t working. Our old wood-fired oven couldn’t keep up with all the pizza orders, and plastic forks and knives just weren’t cutting it (pun intended).
Before long, we had to grow up and invest in silverware and regular plates. And hire servers. And invest in a conveyer pizza oven, which freed up the wood-fired oven. We finally had a place to cook steaks and other full-fledged Italian entrees.
Those early years were crazy, and it’s fun now to remember how the menu evolved. Once we reached the point where we could serve a pizza in 20 minutes, instead of 45, and give our guests the quality of service they deserved, consistently, the restaurant grew in popularity.
And as the craft beer movement picked up steam, we at SMB found ourselves ahead of the curve. We had invested in our own recipes and spent years evolving and perfecting them. The craft craze is one of the main reasons we have been successful.
We decided to open a new location in Pigeon forge in 2004, and when that restaurant took off, we decided to try Turkey Creek in West Knoxville in 2008. With our Maryville location opening a couple of years later in 2011.
SMB still has those four locations in East Tennessee—Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Knoxville (Turkey Creek), and Maryville—and are proud to be part of the Copper Cellar Family of Restaurants.
SMB is the oldest craft brewery in East Tennessee. Our Gatlinburg location opened in 1996 when the idea of local microbrews served fresh was, well, unpopular. People would order a Miller Lite or a Budweiser. When we would tell them we only served beer brewed in house, they would get upset.
The U.S. craft beer movement was still in its infancy. Jim Koch, of Sam Adams and Boston Beer Company notoriety, didn’t purchase the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery in his hometown of Cincinnati and start scaling up production until 1997. Yet, there we were in the Smoky Mountains, perfecting our own beer recipes and serving a very, very limited menu of sandwiches and wood-fired pizza on paper plates.
We had the upstairs closed and only sat people downstairs for lunch. The beer taps ran into the kitchen, and that’s where we had to pour the beers.
We had no entrees or servers. Our guests had to walk up to the counter and order food. But that setup wasn’t working. Our old wood-fired oven couldn’t keep up with all the pizza orders, and plastic forks and knives just weren’t cutting it (pun intended).
Before long, we had to grow up and invest in silverware and regular plates. And hire servers. And invest in a conveyer pizza oven, which freed up the wood-fired oven. We finally had a place to cook steaks and other full-fledged Italian entrees.
Those early years were crazy, and it’s fun now to remember how the menu evolved. Once we reached the point where we could serve a pizza in 20 minutes, instead of 45, and give our guests the quality of service they deserved, consistently, the restaurant grew in popularity.
And as the craft beer movement picked up steam, we at SMB found ourselves ahead of the curve. We had invested in our own recipes and spent years evolving and perfecting them. The craft craze is one of the main reasons we have been successful.
We decided to open a new location in Pigeon forge in 2004, and when that restaurant took off, we decided to try Turkey Creek in West Knoxville in 2008. With our Maryville location opening a couple of years later in 2011.
SMB still has those four locations in East Tennessee—Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Knoxville (Turkey Creek), and Maryville—and are proud to be part of the Copper Cellar Family of Restaurants.