Fifteen years ago, after visiting a couple of taprooms and tasting craft beers, Aaron McLain started tooling around with his own home brew. It was a passion project, a science experiment, if you will, a thing he wanted to perfect for himself and to enjoy with his friends. For five years, Aaron focused on the microbiology of the process, and upon taking a sip of one of his beers, his friend, Scott Davis, said, “How much money do you need to do this professionally?”
The seed was planted, and soon Aaron was losing sleep pulling together numbers and concepts, wondering if opening his own taproom made any sense. By the summer of 2014, he answered the question and gave Scott a number, and soon the ball was rolling. They started a website, signed a lease, and opened a taproom a year later. Crafty Bastard at Emory Place soon became a Knoxville staple for the crowd who preferred a laid-back space over a nightclub, enthusiasts who appreciated the flavors and varieties, the patron who loved to try something new.
In 2021, Crafty Bastard opened a second location in West Knoxville, partnering with Hole in the Wall Pizza the following year. Just as before, the community rallied and showed up.
But something else was brewing – or fermenting – in the background. In 2018, Aaron started a new passion project with no intention for it to go beyond a hobby. After several years of perfecting the recipe, Stylolite wines are ready for the public to sip and enjoy.
What prompted you to enter the wine business?
I met a guy named Hal Hoyt in August 2018 at a Green Drinks event. They do a monthly meeting at a bar about sustainability. This guy grows hops and grapes in his own backyard and makes his own beer and wine. It was 6:30 p.m. on a weekday, and there was all this traffic, and I wasn’t going to go, but I thought I need to meet this guy. So, I did, and it was fantastic. I’d made wine from kits before, but I’d never made wine from real grapes. Harvest is always in September, so the next month he invited me to help him harvest grapes. I brought some of my own beer for liquid encouragement, and he gave me enough grapes for labor to make a five-gallon batch. It was by far and away the best wine I’ve ever made. That set me on the path to make wine from actual grapes.
Do you grow your own grapes?
Ha! No. Through Hal, I met a lot of people who were also growing grapes in East Tennessee. John Watkins from Rocky Top Vineyards in Loudon had about 700 vines, so I was introduced to him and got some of his grapes. It takes a minimum of three years from the time of planting. You need specific soil, and it matters how it faces the light. I’m an avid maker of alcoholic beverages, but not an avid grower of things. I’ll leave that to the professionals. I’m a steward of grapes. I’m so glad there are amazing individuals here growing grapes. Like Tsali Notch – they are the largest vineyard in the state. They grow muscadine grapes exclusively. So, I got offered a lot of quality muscadine from JD at Tsali Notch, and I just couldn’t turn it down. I wanted to share it with my customers. It just made sense.
What wines do you offer?
We have a white and red, but the overall name for the winery project is Stylolite. We wanted to have a name that’s indicative of our character – stylolite are the stress lines formed in Tennessee marble. It’s incredibly rare and beautiful and found in structures all over the world. We like it because it pays homage to East Tennessee. Most beers are ready in two to three weeks, but most wines in a year plus. Time and pressure create wine, so this felt like an elevated take on what an East Tennessee brewery would do with wine. We wanted it to have its own brand.
Where can patrons enjoy Stylolite wine?
It’s only at the West Knoxville location because we have the full-time food option there, which is required for a wine and liquor license. It’s being made at West and served at West.
Every single wine we’ve done so far has a percentage of Tennessee grapes, if not entirely from Tennessee grapes. These are real wines. They are dry, and they have character and structure. They aren’t afterthoughts. These are real wines you can enjoy with dinner.
Learn more at CraftyBastardBrewery.com
