A Hidden Treasure Close to Home

There is a hidden treasure down in the woods in the middle of nowhere close to where I live. Chickens roam freely among the tables in the yard, and customers lounge about talking quietly or strolling around the place as if they own it. You can just go on in and fill your own glass from the tap behind the live edge wood counter, test out the beer lotion, purchase a t-shirt, or try out a handmade leather beer sleeve. It is an amazing place that feels like a fairyland. You do not have to be a beer drinker to appreciate the destination and the family that created it

Calfkiller Brewing Company is in Sparta Tennessee on the banks of the Calfkiller River. You can read the history of the Calfkiller River and learn more about Sparta Tennessee here.

You can visit the Calfkiller Brewing Company website here.

Don and Dave Sergio began brewing beer and offering it to their families in 2001. According to some of my friends, whom they went to school with, it was not a surprise they decided to go in this direction. Their family owned a construction company where they learned the value of hard work and skills that helped them achieve their goals. By 2004 Calfkiller Brewing Company became public and their magnificent brews were available to the public.

My favorite Calfkiller Brew is The Smokey Treat, brewed with peat-smoked barley and fruit esters it has a lightly smokey taste that is so smooth you can drink a growler on your own while relaxing with the chickens. Some other notable brews are The Calfkiller Deadhorse (oatmeal and brown sugar), The Jay Henry Original Mild (coffee, chocolate, caramel and raw tobacco), and The Trail Ail (barley, oats, wheat, apples, coconut, almonds, brown sugar, local honey and then secondarily fermented with raisins, honey and more almonds) – The Trail Ail is seasonal and only available when they decide to make it.

If you are passing through Tennessee, please consider stopping by to visit Calfkiller Brewing Company, it will be well worth your time. They guys do not know I am writing this; the seasons are changing bringing a sense of melancholy and stillness that belongs to autumn. In my mind, I am thinking I need one more growler of The Smokey Treat before the summer fades away and the warm times end.