Craft Beer Crawls in Knoxville and Asheville

Knoxville and Asheville are home to many craft breweries and beer fans. If you’re over 21 and looking to get a taste of the area, a craft beer crawl would be right up your alley. We’ve picked several locations to visit, along with some businesses that offer beer crawls/brewery tours.

Knoxville

Knox Brew Tours

This bus ride will take you to four breweries on every tour with twelve brews sampled. Tours start Thursday evening, with options through Saturday. Private tours are also available for those interested. If you’d like more information about the tours, including which breweries are visited on the tour, pricing, and more, visit their website at https://www.knoxbrewtours.com/.

Alliance Brewing Company

https://alliancebrewing.com/

This Knoxville brewery was founded in 2012. Their taproom on Sevier Avenue in Knoxville is open Tuesday through Sunday and sports 12 taps. They have eight core beers, ranging in IBU (International Bitterness Units) from 15 to 50. Visitors who appreciate beers with a rich flavor profile will enjoy their Coffee Brown, Saison, and Oatmeal Stout.

Crafty Bastard Brewery

https://craftybastardbrewery.com/

Open Tuesday through Sunday, Crafty Bastard Brewery is only a few minutes from downtown Old City on Emory Place (they also have brews available at Echelon Bicycles in West Knoxville). The three-barrel bath nanobrewery, which opened in 2014, specializes in IPAs and hop-heavy beers, topping out at 10% ABV and 120 IBU with their Barleywine (a collaborative beer with local brewer Nathaniel Sears). Their on-tap selection rotates, so keep a lookout on their website for what is available when you visit. Besides beer, they offer some unique merchandise like handmade pottery mugs by Shauna King and coffee soap using their Epiphany Coffee Porter.

Schulz Bräu Brewing Company

https://www.schulzbraubrewing.com/

If you are a beer purist, check out Schulz Bräu for Bavarian and German style beers. These beers have no chemicals, GMOs, or preservatives, and use German imported malt and hops. These are beers brewed the Reinheitsgebot way. The brewery, which opened in 2016, offers plenty of space to drink a few. Their great hall can seat up to 130 people with 20 beers on tap, and their outdoor Biergarten can seat 250 people. The brewery offers entertainment throughout the week, such as live music, trivia, and movies. They are open daily.

Asheville

LaZoom Band & Beer Bus Tour

This tour features a live band that will rock the bus as you head to Highland Brewery and the Wedge Brewing Company for a visit. Tours run twice on Fridays and Saturdays. Visit the website for more information about the tour.

Wicked Weed Brewing

https://www.wickedweedbrewing.com/

Wicked Weed Brewing offers three different locations—a pub, a taproom dubbed the “Funkatorium” for sour and funky beer, and the brewery itself. If you’re looking for a tour, the Funkatorium has tours from Wednesday through Sunday, resuming in 2019 after completing renovations. You can reserve your spot on the South Slope Brewery Tours website. They provide quite an education in how they ferment ales as you view barrels of aging beer with your provided safety glasses. Children are allowed to take the tour with a supervised adult. Children under 12 don’t need to sign up, but those between the ages of 13 and 20 do (they will learn a lot, so it’s like a school field trip!). If you check out their website, there is advanced filtering for the beer connoisseur. You can filter by type of hops, yeast, barrel, and even ingredients!

Catawba Brewing Company

https://catawbabrewing.com/

This established brewery has four locations, three of which make brews. Their Asheville location is located in the South Slope area and creates small batches with a seven-barrel batch system. Their flagship location in Morganton, east of Asheville, has a 30-barrel system making nine core beers. They also offer seasonal and special brews. Some past brews you may have heard of include the King Winterbolt Winter Ale, Riverkeeper Apple Sour Ale, and Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

Wedge Brewing Company

https://www.wedgebrewing.com/

The Wedge Brewing Company will celebrate ten years in Asheville in 2018. They have a 10-barrel batch system with outdoor seating at their primary River Arts location along the French Broad River. A mile up the road houses their second location, seven-barrel bath system to craft lower-gravity beers, and climate-controlled tasting room. The second location sits next to a skateboard park and is inside a restored 118-year-old warehouse. If you’re looking for a bite to eat after your tasting, visit the 12 Bones Smokehouse next door (lunch only) on Foundry Street.

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We hope this post made you thirsty and interested in some brews you may not have tried yet. For a comprehensive list of breweries in the Knoxville area, check out the Knoxville Ale Trail. Find Asheville craft breweries online on the Asheville Ale Trail website. They also showcase walking tour maps, where you can hit up several breweries on foot.

Content on this page is subject to change. Please contact the locations mentioned to see if promotions, hours, pricing, etc. are still valid.