USA, TN: Geezer Brewing approved to join Knoxville’s beer scene

Another brewery may be joining Knoxville's beer scene, Knoxville News Sentinel reported on June 9.

The Metropolitan Planning Commission approved a use-on-review request on June 9 for a craft brewery in part of a building at 213 E. Fifth Ave., near Central Street.

The brewery is identified as Geezer Brewing on documents filed with MPC and plans show the brewery to be operated in a building adjoining Carmichael Auto Repair.

Geezer will join a growing number of breweries in Knoxville. According to its Facebook page, Schulz Brau Brewing Co., 126 Bernard Ave., joined the list on June 9 with a grand opening at 6 p.m. Schulz Brau features authentic German beers like those head brewer Nico Schulz enjoyed in his native Germany.

No one with Geezer Brewing could be reached for comment on June 9, but a website for Geezer Brewing identifies it as an effort by a group of people involved in home brewing beer and riding motorcycles.

The group bills itself as BikesNBeers and since 2010 has been brewing beer for events it sponsors, its website says.

Documents filed with MPC show an operation that will occupy 7,500 square feet on two levels of the building. It will include a brewing area and a future tasting room, although the tasting room is not included in the current request.

MPC approved the matter without discussion, as part of a consent list. The MPC planning staff had recommended approval, with some parking and landscaping requirements to screen the site from the view of residences to the south.

"The applicant has indicated that the overall property may be renovated and the site improved sometime in the near future," MPC planner Mike Reynolds wrote in a review of the proposal.

When they are not brewing beer, members of the group are scouting out beer festivals, interesting microbreweries, trail runs and more, the BikeNBeers website says. Geezer Brewing would be added to some 16 breweries in Knox and surrounding counties listed on the Knoxville Area Brewers Association's Ale Trail.

11 June, 2016