The hummingbirds were an unexpected bonus.
There was a time, 25 years ago when we were researching our “Beer Travelers Guide,” we would driven many miles out of our way if we heard about a brewery with a campground and a hopyard. (Sometime, when we can sit down together in a beer garden somewhere, I’ll tell you the story about Gillette, Wyoming, in 1995.)
There are too many breweries to keep track of these days, and we’re out of the guide writing business. We were just citizens on the way to a weekend in and around Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in northern Tennessee who learned about Lilly Pad Hopyard Brewery because one of the previous guests at the Airbnb where we were staying mentioned it in a review.
It was on the way, and we could grab dinner and beers for later (we were staying about an hour to the north).
Lilly Pad is located outside of Lancing, an unincorporated community about 50 miles northwest of Knoxville. The 40-acre campground came first, primarily serving visitors to nearby Obed Wild and Scenic River National Park — which is known for whitewater rafting and rock climbing. The campground is closed, first because of covid-19, then because owners Del and Marte Scruggs decided that created an opportunity. “This is giving our land time to rest after 20 years of traffic and allows us to make some improvements to benefit everyone who visits,” they wrote on Facebook.
The brewery recently celebrated its fourth anniversary. producing 300 31-gallon beer barrels (or almost 75,000 pints) three barrels at a time each of the last three years.
The place has the same sort of vibe as Scratch Brewing in Southern Illinois. Del Scruggs uses hops grown on the property and other local ingredients (such as honey) in the beers. There are fire pits and a variety of other places to just hang, including an expansive “beer garden” with plenty of room for social distancing.
We arrived just as a mid-afternoon thunderstorm was finishing up, and had to step around puddles in the parking lot. It was just as well we were getting food and beer to go because everything was wet. We watched the hummingbirds while we waited for our order. The feeders hang on the facilities building, which has a garden on top. The birds showed no interest in posing for photos, but can be seen darting about on Instagram.
Some of the conversations in the background of the Instagram video are about beer. No surprise, drinkers were talking about what they liked. When Gov. Bill Lee ordered Tennessee bars closed because of covid-19, people came to buy cans at the beer stand out front (the brewery is only open on Friday and Saturday). The Scruggs delivered beer through the surrounding area, and customers thanked them on Facebook.
Plenty of people like the beer. Sadly, we did not. The hand-labeled cans are charming. We loved the food, but we tried four different beers without finding one we’d drink again. I’d rather not tell you that, and I’d still recommend stopping in should you be anywhere near Lancing. Yet the endorsement comes with that caveat