TERMINAL-ly Chill

After having to show some patience, my wife and I and some friends of ours finally got to visit the new Terminal Brewhouse in downtown Chattanooga near the famous Choo-Choo this past Saturday night. The patience came in to play as we arrived a few minutes after 7 PM local time to find the place completely packed with patrons and an hour-and-a-half wait to get a table for the seven of us. Not wanting to dine at 9 PM-ish, we decided to ditch our plans to have dinner at the Brewhouse and settled for the nearby Broadstreet Grille which has excellent food, but the beer selections are limited (I settled for a couple of Fat Tire pints).

After dinner, we gave The Terminal another look and it had quietened down enough to at least get inside. In fact, as soon as we got inside we headed up and back outside to their second floor roof patio and commandered one of the empty picnic tables scattered about. Our group had shrunk to five, but not our enthusiasm. We had a loud, raucous time as was everyone else out on the patio enjoying the beauitful spring temps and the respite from what seems to have been a month of rainy weather.

I, of course, started with their IPA that they call Goofballs ( don't ask, I have no idea where they got the name, but I like it). Their website brags that if you like to "chew your hops" this is the one for you, but I beg to differ. While it's a decent IPA with a nice aroma and a smooth finish, it's not got enough hoppy punch in my opinion for it to really stand out among a lot of other IPAs out there. Others in our group tried their oatmeal stout (Southsidenstein) and their Belgian White (The White Shadow) and gave them both good reviews. I tried a sip of the stout and thought it was decent as well, but again nothing earth-moving.

But what the Terminal Brewhouse lacks in beer production uniqueness (they are a relatively new craft brewer and I expect to see growth and experimentation in this area) they completely make up for in ambiance. This is postively one of the best brewpubs I have ever been to (and that's putting them up against some very unique place/pubs I have visited such as Lake Placid, NY, Duluth, MN, Spokane, WA, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Brisbane, Australia). They took an incredibly unique historical structure called the Strong Building (teetering on the edge of condemnation from what I have heard) and turned it into a beautiful establishment that downtown Chattanooga should be very proud to add to their collection. Sitting out on the patio with the huge "Choo-Choo" neon sign looming over us next door was entralling. A few in our group had been here before and ate dinner, and said the food was good as well, so I am looking forward to indulging in both the food and the beer on our next visit. I also applaud the owners' conviction toward having a "green" establishment both inside (water and energy-saving bathroom implements, reclaimed wood table tops) and outside (rainwater cistern, green roof that includes the aforementioned lovely patio). This brewpub was an ambitious undertaking and from what I have seen in terms of crowds so far looks to hopefully be paying off. Chattanooga was in dire need of a real brewpub (sorry Big River - I just don't believe in your conviction to craft brewing and think even less of your products). I still give the edge to Moccasin Bend Brewing as far as the best and most unique beer produced in Chattanooga at this time, but with their limited production and community presence, The Terminal Brewhouse is king of the mountain for now.

Despite my overall lack of enthusiasm for their IPA, I still had two pints and bought a growler of it on the way out (hey, I said it wasn't anything too unique, but I didn't say it wasn't PRETTY DAMN GOOD). I look forward to another visit to The Terminal as soon as possible and will be spreading the word to folks I know in that area or who will be visiting Chattanooga to check it out, including right now with a link to their very nice website: http://terminalbrewhouse.com/