Hello! I’m T.L. Adkisson, Brewmaster for Ham’s Brewhouse. I got my start in the brewing world, like many other craft brewers, as an avid homebrewer in Knoxville, TN, back in 1993. After several years of brewing in the kitchen of my apartment in the Fort Sanders area of Knoxville and with a push from a close friend, the urge to turn in my amateur status and ‘go pro’ took over. Fortunately, Knoxville had just seen the opening of it’s first microbrewery, New Knoxville Brewing Company, in the spring of 1996.

New Knoxville Brewing Company allowed me to come in and learn the ropes of producing beer on a commercial scale. After about eight months of volunteer work, NKBC offered me my first official job in the craft beer industry in May of 1997. I spent most of my time, as many entry-level guys do, in the packaging end of the brewery. As my goal was always to be a brewer, I spent as much time as possible in the other areas of the brewery learning what I could to help me reach that goal.

In July of 2000, I took over the reins as Head Brewer at City Brew, a brewpub, in downtown Knoxville. CB was in the location where Great Southern Brewing Company had formerly been located. GSBC had been closed for some time, so some work was needed to get everything back up to snuff. I spent the next few months renovating the brewery and City Brew opened in early December 2000. Alas, CB would succumb to problems common to the craft brewing industry and I left there in August 2001.

In September of 2001, it was brought to my attention that Ham’s Restaurant & Brewhouse in Greenville, NC, was in the market for a brewmaster. I was friends with the brewer who was at Ham’s at the time and he urged me to come check the place out. I did, and I started work in Greenville in October of 2001.

As of July 4th, 2010, the Brewhouse is CLOSED. Thanks for the love, encouragement, friendship, and support that all you good folks have shown me and my family through the years. We have made some truly great friends in Greenville, but we look forward to the future and meeting all the good folks we’ve not yet met.

Cheers!
TL