The Tap House
Historic St. Elmo is on the rise with fun, new restaurants and bars popping up all over the cozy piece of town. In an old, red brick building on St. Elmo Avenue is a newcomer bar known as The Tap House.
Having been open only a little over a month, The Tap House is a fresh, new place to experience incredible beers, a light fare menu, and a range of upcoming events. Owner and operator Chris Calhoun tried to reclaim as much of the building as possible as they remodeled into the “old school saloon feel with a modern twist,” as he describes it.
A modern, yet still historic addition is that all fare is served on tin as the building used to be used for K ration production, which were packaged in tin. “The lower level bar [used for presentations], the stage, the bar, they’re all reclaimed wood,” Calhoun says.
The bar stretches across the floor, sitting opposite of the Beer Wall which plays host to thirty rotating taps. Calhoun stocks an assortment of Chattanooga brews in the center of the board, and works out regionally from there. It’s a pretty neat system, and puts Chattanooga front and center.
Currently, the Beer Wall features Chattanooga Brewing, Terminal Brewhouse, and Moccasin Bend Brewing. “We just added a brand new cider called Gypsy Circus that’s produced in Tennessee,” says Calhoun. They have a few gluten free beer options as well. There aren’t a lot on draft, but they have bottles of gluten free, just ask!
Calhoun is also trying to get a homebrewer’s products preview going in which homebrewer’s can submit their brew to Barley Mob, the homebrewer’s association.
“I can’t technically sell it,” says Calhoun. “But people could purchase glassware and in turn sample the product.” The Tap House is sure to be the latest and greatest in fine beers and good times in Historic St. Elmo.