Beer, Wine & Spirits in Chattanooga

While working on inventive lagers and ales as members of the Barley Mob Brewers home-brewing club, Chris Hunt and Duncan Guy had an epiphany: we need to share this stuff with the public. So, in 2006, they teamed up with award-winning brewer Courtney Tyvand to start Moccasin Bend Brewing Company. 

Today, they brew about 10 beers at any given time. Their menu could include an Irish red prepped with American hops and a pale ale made with juniper berries one day, or their signature smoked porter the next. No matter what the beer, creativity remains integral to the production process, and the brewers often add culinary twists such as watermelon or coconut juice to surprise palates that are used to tasting only cotton balls. All the magic happens inside a 100-year-old building, where rustic granite walls and cedar timbers set the backdrop for brewery tours and beer tastings.

Tom Brown's first wine didn't quite make it into a barrel. Instead, it aged inside a pickle crock in his mother's kitchen, finally flowing forth in the year 1976. Today, Tom heads up a slightly more sophisticated operation as owner of Beans Creek Winery. Sourcing grapes from eight Tennessee counties, Tom and his team of vintners have created 31 wines, including dry reds, sweet and spicy muscats, and three types of sparkling wine. His concoctions have earned 38 medals in the Indy International Wine Competition, where they were also chosen Best of Class three times.