USA, TN: Hook Point Brewing Co. to open Collierville’s first brewery in 2020

Hook Point Brewing Co. hopes to open Collierville’s first brewery in the spring of 2020, The Daily Memphian reported on October 1.

The business will begin brewing beer soon at its location, but it will be several months and multiple town approvals before opening.

The space is near the Town Square at 184 S. Mt. Pleasant Road.

“The building fit our brand as far as how it looks and what we want our tap room to look like,” founder Mike Sadler said of the 17,000-square-foot space operators found last fall.

“There is nothing (like a brewery) out this way,” Sadler said, noting there is only one other brewery outside Memphis proper. “We felt like this area needed it.”

He said with the growth and liveliness of the square, the town is trying to build an experience for nightlife and weekends. Hook Point could add to that atmosphere, giving suburban residents a place to go and have a glass of beer without driving Downtown or to Midtown.

Sadler is a former U.S. Navy pilot who moved from Florida to Collierville and wanted to open a brewery. He liked the name Hook Point, which is an aircraft term.

Sadler brought Jay Marchmon to Memphis after Marchmon spent nearly 20 years in western Kentucky. He helped open a brewery in Paducah and helped another expand. Marchmon wanted to move to Tennessee to be closer to family, and he will serve as the head brewer.

Beer drinkers may already be enjoying the brewery’s well-known American Ale – Flat Hat, which has been around for about three years.

Flat Hat is sold and on tap in various places in the Mid-South but made in Atlanta. It was served in Collierville’s Taste of the Town. A few of the company’s beers will also be at Cooper-Young Beerfest in October.

Soon, Flat Hat will be made and distributed from Collierville, making it a truly local beer. Flat Hat won the bronze medal at the 2019 U.S. Open Beer Championship.

Another beer, Inky Barley, will launch Oct. 5, when Inky Barley debuts at Collierville Square’s Highlander Restaurant and Pub.

“It’s almost like a launch for the brewery,” Marchmon said.

With Sadler’s past in airplanes, he said the brewery will have many aviation themes. Some beers will have aviation names.

“The spirit of adventure and some aviated decorations” will be present throughout the space, Marchmon said.

“We will have six core beers we’ll continue to serve on a regular basis, and hopefully to distribute all of those,” Sadler said. “Then we will start to develop seasonals and one-offs, and those will change.”

They also will develop a gluten-free, a non-alcoholic beer and some soda. They want to sell growlers but also will allow people to bring their own growlers to fill if they prefer.

Collierville’s beer ordinance requires food options. At least 50% of gross revenue has to come from food, according to Town Administrator James Lewellen. Sadler is talking with a local chef to fulfill that role.

The space is in the middle of renovation. While the ceiling has been painted black, the sounds of hammers and drills were heard recently in the building. Drainage and a lot of infrastructure work remains to be done, Sadler said.

But he hopes things will move forward soon, and he said he feels support from the community.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm and support from the town,” he said.

06 October, 2019