Knoxville Ale Trail
Expiration: Must start using within 365 days of purchase
Your Passport to Knoxville Beer
Knoxville boasts an exciting and ever-expanding craft beer scene. The city offers an opportunity to relax with some of the country’s finest beers and finest people. This Ale Trail Passport, produced in partnership with Knox Area Brewers Association (KABA), is an exciting way to explore Knoxville’s breweries. Visit them all for the first time or again for the 100th!
The process for using the passport is easy:
1: Visit any KABA brewery on the Ale Trail.
2: Enjoy a pint brewed by the brewery.
3: Ask your bartender for their code to “stamp” your passport and document your visit.
4. Win Prizes!
Once you have a stamp for all the breweries on the Ale Trail, take your map to Knox Brew Hub at 421 Union Avenue, and ask the staff for your prizes!
The Knoxville Area Brewers Association (KABA) is the largest association of professional brewers and craft beer industry professionals in East Tennessee and exists to promote and develop the greater Knoxville craft beer culture. To learn more, visit knoxvillebrewers.org
Included Venues
See locations on an interactive map.
Brewing all of our beer on site, we pride ourselves on curating a menu that encompasses as much beer culture as possible. From traditional to cutting edge, our staff is sure to help you find your new favorite!
Head brewer Adam Ingle and his staff are known for creating clean, fun brews and hosting a lively environment once the brewing day is done. Their lineup includes tons of IPAs and ales – and they make an especially popular kölsch. Look for their collaboration beers with other brewers in the city the taprom, a Neo-Scandinavian industrial room with lots of warm wood, 90° angles, steel and concrete.
College students love the weekend brunch, where they mix and mingle with young professionals over mimosas. The location attracts downtowners and suburbanites alike, and hosts a weekly sponsored run on Mondays with the Knoxville Track Club. The restaurant menu rotates often and features plenty of locally-sourced ingredients. In addition to the bar and dining area, there’s an expansive patio with picnic tables, shade and televisions available.
Jeff and Sherri expanded the Pub into the Blackhorse Brewery and Pizza Kitchen in the building next door in 1995. We began brewing handcrafted ales in 1995 as one of the first craft breweries in the state.Our wealth of experience in the craft beer business is one of our defining characteristics as a brewpub. Our second Blackhorse opened in Western Plaza, Knoxville in the late 1990s. We closed it in 2000 following a tornado that decimated downtown Clarksville so that we could focus on rebuilding the original Blackhorse Pub & Brewery.Blackhorse reentered Knoxville in 2013 at the same location that we had in the ’90s. With our history as one of the first Tennessee craft breweries, we were well-positioned to tap into the craft beer wave that has been sweeping the country. We began distributing our beer to the outside world in 2014 and have since become one of the premier craft brewers in the state.The brewery operations outgrew our location in Western Plaza, so the Knoxville branch of the Blackhorse Pub moved downtown to Gay Street, and the brewery moved to a new 15,000 sq. ft. facility in Alcoa. We recently opened a small restaurant and beer garden for enjoying the outdoors there. Soon, we will open the brewery for guided tours.Being part of downtown Knoxville and downtown Clarksville is integral to our identity. These resurgent downtown areas are the heart of each community. We are proud that our buildings are on the National Historic Register and that the building in Alcoa is in the process of being added to the Register. We want to contribute to the core of each community where we are located. Preserving and utilizing historic structures is an important aspect of that goal.
Visitors to the brewery include adventure seekers, outdoor enthusiasts, fishermen and fisherwomen, craft beer lovers, hikers, bikers (both on bicycle and motorcycle), horseback riders, local folks and far-flung out-of-towners, families and friends. The fish pond is great place to enjoy a beer and some food after a little time outdoors, on a ride, or after fishing or paddling in the nearby Clinch River.
Our original location and production brewery is located in that magical area between Downtown Knoxville and the Fourth & Gill neighborhood.
tempting menu, and fine craft-brewed beers,
it’s a relaxing setting to explore Knoxville’s flavorful past.
Our focus is on uniting our excellent beers with the exquisite flavors of open-flame mesquite grilled steak, seafood, and chicken. With a menu ranging from pastas to Mexican cuisine to seafood to the finest steaks.
Marty began brewing in 1978 after a trip to Czechoslovakia exposed him to world-class beer. In 1986, working as an aerospace engineer in his native California, he traded for a career in professional brewing when he signed on with the first microbrewery in Southern California, Alpine Brewing Co. In 1989, he was sent by Alpine to Southern Bavaria to complete a journeyman-ship at the Hofbräuhaus Traunstein.
Beers at Pretentious reflect flavor and balance. Unusual ingredients can be common at Pretentious but the beers remain approachable. A beer garden with picnic tables and ping pong greets visitors in the back of the brewery, which is adjacent to a glass-blowing studio where all the brewery’s glassware is made. It’s one of the places where other brewers in town are known to come hang out after brew days. Live music from regional and national touring acts frequently is featured on the outdoor stage.
The rotating beer menu includes eight barrel-aged sour beers, a selection of IPA’s and lagers from our brewpub, and some barrel-aged stouts and quads you will find only at The Oak Room! Our food menu features toasted sandwiches & flatbreads, a fresh house salad, weekly specials, and an amazing charcuterie board that really highlights the tasting experience.
It might make you think of something you heard from a classic 80’s movie or a 90’s computer game. Urban Dictionary defines it as “bad in a cool kind of way” or “cool in a baaaad kinda way.” To us, it’s all of this, and more:
Xul gives us a chance to push the limits and do our thing…
Xul is a creative outlet for our dark and mysterious side (sometimes we like to have fun too)…
Xul allows us to be nostalgic…
Xul is an opportunity to craft a meaningful conversation…
Xul is the mysterious aura that lets it be what you want it to be…