A Tennessee Tradition: The Blackhorse Story
In 1991, Jeff Robinson returned home from Desert Storm with a plan. In March of 1992, with the help of his wife Sherri, the former helicopter pilot for the 101st Airborne Division opened a small pub in downtown Clarksville, Tennessee. But the couple’s vision didn’t stop with only a restaurant.
In 1995, they completed construction on their own brewery, making the newly christened Blackhorse Pub & Brewery one of the earliest Southeastern craft brew houses of the 90’s. They chose the name “Blackhorse” in honor of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. While Jeff never served in that unit, he admired the Cavalry’s spirit and energy, qualities he hoped the Pub would come to embody.
More than 20 years later, Blackhorse Pub & Brewery has become a mainstay in Clarksville as a gathering place for friends and family. It is known for both its comfortable atmosphere and willingness to break new ground.
The Franklin Street Pub opened on St. Patrick's Day, 1992! What seemed like an impossible dream had become a reality with the help of many family members, friends, and the Clarksville community.
1995 marked the beginning of our journey into brewing beer. What was formerly a bar and burger joint became Tennessee's second-oldest independent brewery: The Blackhorse Pub & Brewery. The year was marked by our owner, Jeff, and a few helpful friends unloading and installing our original brewery.
Original brewer Travis McGee is working towards crafting our first collection of brews. McGee's Pale Ale, still brewed today, becomes an instant classic named in honor of Travis.
A devastating F-4 tornado struck downtown Clarksville in January 1999, causing the closure of numerous businesses, including our pub and brewery. We would be back up and running in 2000, with construction workers making up most of our customers while the remainder of the downtown area was repaired.
Head brewer Steve McEndree shows fellow employees around the brewery and samples a new beer.
It was time for some experimentation. We produced our first cask-conditioned beers, beginning with a Flemish-style sour and Scottish ale.
Clarksville 20th Anniversary - it is a longstanding tradition to include a bagpiper in our anniversary celebrations every year on St. Patrick's Day.
New beginnings in Knoxville: We journeyed to East Tennessee to open our second pub and brewery. This location offered a new place for guests to enjoy our food and the opportunity for us to brew more beer.
We began canning and bottling our first beers at our Knoxville location. Batch 160 Black IPA was one of the first bottles produced. It is a high-gravity dark IPA triple-hopped and brewed in tribute to the Night Stalkers of the 160th SOAR.
Some of the first Vanilla Cream Ale cans are being produced to be sold into distribution!
Our Barrel-Aged Warhorse and Coffee Milk Stout took home gold, Blackhorse IPA silver, and Mrs. Robinson's White IPA bronze in the Tennessee Championship of Beers. The brewers are proud of their work.
Eyes on Alcoa: A new opportunity for expansion is spotted in East Tennessee: a historic building built by the Aluminum Company of America. Work begins on its transformation.
Progress is made inside new walls. A new brew pad has been built, and our brewery has moved to its new home, of course, with some new tanks.
On March 3rd, a devasting fire all but destroyed our original pub at 132 Franklin Street, leaving almost one hundred people without work. Rebuilding would take nearly 13 long months.
Two months later, construction was finished in Alcoa on a new pub and beer garden in addition to the brewing facility. How can you have a brewery without a pub?
We've upgraded the brewery! To keep up with growing market demand, we moved from a 10-barrel to a 30-barrel system brewery.
The beer garden grows. Turf is added, the stage is set, and a new outdoor taco bar is finished to add another element to our outdoor experience!
