SMOKY MOUNTAINS, TENNESSEE
Eastern Tennessee’s Appalachian Mountain range is home to Dollywood and Country & Western-influenced arts & craft resort town, Gatlinburg, visited August ‘08.
Just up the main road in Pigeon Forge at Old Town-styled mall, Waldens Landing, lies freestanding two-storied ivory-bricked sportsbar, SMOKY MOUNTAIN BREWERY.
Peculiarly, neighboring eatery CALHOUN’S RIBHOUSE (with a second location at Knoxville’s riverfront a half-hour west) also sold middling craft brews from this post.
A green neon light leads customers into Smoky Mountain’s spacious high-ceilinged fortress, where huge beer mugs surround the central bar. Multiple TV’s adorn all sides as booths and tables crowd the right side. A rear stage area featured karaoke for proper party atmosphere.
Pizzas, burgers, and calzones went well with ineffectual light fare such as tart lemon-candied, yellow apple-sweet, light-grained Windy Gap Wheat, phenolic, soft-hopped, lemon-tinged Velas Helles Lager, and musty, cooked veggie-fronted, corn oil-drenched, green apple-soured, lemon-molded Mountain Light Lager.
Peat-malted spice-hopped red-orange-fruited Cherokee Red Ale and robust black chocolate-roasted hop-charred licorice-laced Tuckaleechee Porter fared better.
Bottled selections of these and other Smoky Mountain beers are listed in Beer Index.