During our latest visit to North Carolina we were fortunate enough to visit five local breweries, during the next two weeks you will see a series of blog post, one for each brewery. Last week we posted about ‘BearWaters’, this week and fourth on our list, ‘Currahee’.

After leaving BearWaters in Canton, NC to headed to Franklin to visit Currahee Brewing Company. Currahee is housed in long 10,000 sq ft warehouse building, that sits on 2.5 acres at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. If you want to ‘get away from it all’ this is the place. As you walk in to a large open room, the environment is nothing but relaxing. Behind the bar 12 taps are available for use.  Above the taps is a large TV with six chalkboards on each side, displaying what’s on draft.  The bar is huge, and the bartenders are more than willing to chat for a while with patrons wanting a little conversation. At the far end of the taproom are two fully windowed garage style doors that lead outside to additional seating. Above a round table in the far corner is another TV for viewing. On the opposite side of the room a long rectangular table is available, next to what I like to call ‘Currahee’s swag station’. This little area showcases some of their cans, flyers for upcoming events, growlers, mugs and glasses available for sale. The brewery isn’t easily view-able by the public as it is in a separate walled off space, but we did manage to sneak in a peak in it’s partially open garage door while we were there. 

Currahee Brewing Company, Franklin NC / Photo by Desiree’ Turner

Outside Currahee has additional seating, with a great views. Behind garage door number one, a view of Currahee’s neighbor located fairly close to the brewery; a house on a hill with grazing cattle in the front yard. Behind garage door number two, a long row of seating right on the Little Tennessee River. Across from the river, a playground filled playful sounds and the laughter of children. Even with the playground visible, the outside area was still a very peaceful and quiet place on the day that we went, and an excellent place to sit and read or just contemplate. 

While at Currahee we learned a few things: They are the second brewery to open in Franklin. They serve Belgium & German style beers and have a passion for barrel-aged beers and a longing to focus more on old European styles. Currahee tends to stray away from the hop heavy brews that seem to be the trend in most of the southern Appalachian breweries. The brewery is named after the official motto of the famous unit of the 101st Airborne Division , the 506th PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment), to honor those of military service. The unit earned their notoriety through many campaigns of WWII, the Vietnam War and continue to serve today. The word itself, ‘Currahee’ is Cherokee for ‘Stand Alone’.

The main players at this brewery include Taylor Yates, Currahee’s brewmaster who previously worked at Moon River Brewing in Savannah. Co-founder, president and CEO Brandon Hintz, who previously worked as a brewer at SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta and continues to run things at the Hop Alley Brew Pub in Alpharetta via Macon (read more about that here). Co-founder and CFO JT Schroeder, who has a financial background and previously worked as a business analyst in the investment banking industry and deals more with numbers and the administrative side of things. Onsite Operations Manager Andrea le Roux, who also worked at Moon River Brewing in Savannah, as well as a brewery in New Zealand. 

Currahee Brewing Company, Franklin NC / Photo by Desiree’ Turner

We had a an extremely relaxing and educational time at Currahee while in Franklin, NC. If you’re looking to learn more, you can visit their website at https://www.curraheebrew.com/

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