KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Farm to Tap festival kicks off Saturday, Feb. 26, in Knoxville. Dozens of breweries will be there with the goal of supporting local businesses.
Pouring into the community is what Tennessee breweries do best.
"The whole 'eat local and drink local' theme has really grown the economy, it's helped grow a lot of things," said Bentley Blackshear, the co-owner and head brewer at Xul Beer Company.
He has watched the craft beer scene change the landscape of Knoxville in a positive way.
"We all have a lot of business from people that come from out of town and want to check out everybody, so it's a really awesome industry in that way," Blackshear said.
Officials have seen similar effects across Tennessee, too.
"The craft brewing industry in Tennessee has absolutely exploded over the past few years," said Kyle Hensley, a business development consultant with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. "The growth is just astronomical, and it's super exciting."
That's why the Farm to Tap Festival is stopping in the three major cities across the volunteer state: Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis.
"Basically, the festival is where we can showcase the relationship between the Tennessee craft brewers that are participating and the farmers across the state," said Matt Leff, the owner of Rhizome Productions.
Over 30 breweries will be featured at the festival on Saturday, with over 90 different beers to choose from. There will also be other vendors selling Tennessee grown and produced products.
"The whole idea is to try to connect brewers to farmers," Hensley said. "So we get more locally sourced inputs going into Tennessee breweries."
It's a statewide initiative through the Tennessee Craft Brewers Guild and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
"Having locally sourced inputs is good for everybody," Hensley said. "It's good for the farmer, it's good for the brewer, the consumer loves it, it's good for the local economy, it's good for the environment, it's good for everything when you're able to source local and going into local products like craft beer."
It's not just beer, either. The state's focus on local businesses also involves things that go into the ingredients of the brews — everything from hops, barley, honey, nuts and coffee are just a few ways to create the farm-to-tap relationship.
"It does go beyond just farms and agricultural products, but it is all products that are part of the Pick TN program in Tennessee," Leff said.
A state grant is funding the Farm to Tap program with the hope more businesses will use Tennessee products to make their products.
"It's a new market opportunity for Tennessee farmers," Hensley said. "We have the ability to provide all of that, we just aren't doing it very much at this point."
Xul is planning to be at the festival, with a custom beer to try, using another local company's product. They will offer a stout using South Press coffee from South Knoxville.
The event is from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Suttree Landing Park on Saturday, February 26.
Tickets are still available. There is an Eventbrite page online to purchase tickets and to find more information about parking.