Brewery to open to new members
By Iva Butler | (ivab@thedailytimes.com)
Bluetick Brewery, Maryville’s first approved brewery, expects to open this spring near Five Points.
The craft brewery is the brain child of owner/operators Christopher and Sarah Snyder of Maryville.
Sarah Snyder said they plan to open to club members in the spring in the old L&M Printing Building at 2013 E. Broadway Ave., Maryville.
It is a very old building and the opening will depend on what kind of renovation they must do, she said.
They currently have 70 members. The cost is $200 for a lifetime membership and special privileges at the business. After they open, the life membership will increase to $250.
Bluetick Club membership benefits will include two pints per week at their tap room in the brewery, voting rights for favorite beer and help determine the set “house beers” that are always on tap. They would like to have 400 members.
Plans are to open to the general public this summer. Anybody then can pay an annual fee of $40 per month. The plan is to have a maximum of 1,000 shareholders at one time, she said
A Bluetick party held earlier this month at The Market on High Street in Maryville drew 120 craft beer aficionados.
The names of the beers reflected the culture of the Smoky Mountains and bluetick coonhounds.
The Snyders named the business for Old Blue, a bluetick hound the couple adopted from a shelter in Boone, N.C. They thought the name of the breed that originated in America gave the brewery a local flavor.
The five craft beers available for party goers to sample were Honey Speckled Hound American Cream Ale, Hopalachia Black IPA, Rebel Within Pre-Prohibition Pilsner, Seth Roggenbier and Mt. Pleasant Smoked American Amber.
Christopher Snyder is a Minnesota transplant who fell in love with the tight-knit community of Maryville.
The Snyders moved to Tennessee more than three years ago when he took a job at Blackberry Farm in Walland. The Snyders and their small son Charleston later moved to Maryville.
Christopher Snyder is now a chef with Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend, which is affiliated with Blackberry Farm.
