E-Malt.com News article: USA, TN: Round 6 Brewing to welcome first public to its main taproom on July 29

A new family- and dog-friendly craft brewery is coming to Maryville, the Maryville Daily Times reported on July 20.

Round 6 Brewing, 427 Whitecrest Drive, will open its main taproom to the public at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 29.

Will Wesselman, who owns the brewery with his wife Kathy, said the craft beer establishment’s two-acre parcel, which formerly served as Ready Mix Concrete’s showroom and warehouse, will eventually consist of a production room, beer garden and plenty of outdoor seating on the patio, courtyard and deck.

“There’s a lot of property here, so it might take a while for it to come to its full potential,” Wesselman told The Daily Times this week. “Some more engineering has to be done because we’re turning an old industrial space into a commercial space and trying to make it accommodating for everybody.”

Wesselman said the brewery will even include a grassy area for dog walking and a kids corner with toys, books and games available for use in the taproom.

Local food trucks will also be utilized at lunch and dinner on a rotational basis to provide an “eclectic menu” that’s different every day.

“The idea is to have something for everybody,” he said, giving a tour of the 15,000-square foot, two-building property. “It’s basically supposed to be a place to relax and drink great beer.”

Named to reflect his “sixth career,” Wesselman, a licensed electrical engineer and general contractor who previously served as a nuclear-trained submarine officer for the U.S. Navy, said a majority of the renovations have been completed by himself since he first purchased the premises in September.

“This is the sixth thing I’ve taken on, and it’s big. I actually pulled the permit and have been doing this all myself,” he said, pointing out the taproom’s energy-efficient direct-current-powered ceiling fans and motion-activated LED lighting. “This building uses less energy than any building I’ve ever worked in.”

Due to the historic nature of the Whitecrest Drive property, which was crucial to Blount County in the 1960s, Wesselman said, as it provided much of the area’s concrete infrastructure, a good amount of the space’s former charm has been preserved in the remodel, including the taproom’s exterior siding that was formed using rocks that came from Cold Springs.

“We’re trying to use what the building already has because the building has history,” he explained. “We want to keep a very strong connection to Maryville and East Tennessee.”

In addition to the taproom’s draft, canned and bottled selections, Wesselman said Round 6 also plans to launch its own beer productions in the coming months.

“We have a third of our brewing vessels right now and are anticipating making our own beer by the end of the year,” he said. “It might come sooner because the craft beer world is really booming, but our intent is to never sell beer before its time … Now days, you can make any kind of beer you want, but it’s a process and there’s a science to it all.”

These brews will likely be packaged in-house, Wesselman said.

“There’s plenty of room to put in a bottling or kegging line,” he added. “We can also use a contract cannery, which is how most craft beer is canned right now, and the reason is because the canning line is almost as expensive as the brewery.”

Round 6 Brewing’s official grand opening will then take place after all the remaining brewing equipment has arrived and the beer production has begun.

“It will be interesting to see what tourism we can pull,” he said, noting Blount County’s countless nearby tourist attractions and the brewery’s prime location between Home Depot and Crest Bowling Lanes in Maryville. “It’s a great location with a fair amount of traffic.”

And for being in the middle of everything, it’s very peaceful and quiet, he said.


20 July, 2017