Copper Cellar | 9
features micro-brewed beer, pizza, subs
and sandwiches in a setting Fricks lik-
ened to a “traditional sports bar.”
Three more have since opened in
Knoxville, Maryville and Pigeon Forge.
“(Chase) is an entrepreneur in every
sense of the word and he can see potential
in things that others can’t see, whether
it’s picking out a restaurant site or figur-
ing what he wants on the menus,” Fricks
says. “It’s been about 20 years since we
started doing the beer. Everybody seems
to be doing it now, but he was thinking
about it 20 years ago. He had a vision and
he wanted to produce his own beer.”
Chase recruited Marty Velas to become
his brewmaster and quickly took advan-
tage of the Californian’s unique approach
as not only a connoisseur of the beverage,
but as an expert on the chemistry that’s
necessary to consistently brew high quan-
tities of quality-tasting stock.
That over-the-top attention to detail
is vital at each step in a brewing process
that, unlike a restaurant kitchen, can re-
sult in significant time delays and loss of
materials if it’s not done correctly.
“If we’re cooking a steak and we burn
it, we can throw on another, apologize
to you at the table and have your dinner
to you in 15 more minutes,” Fricks says.
“The quickest batch of beer takes two
weeks to brew, and if you make a mistake
with it you’ve got to start all over. The
seasonal beers take six to eight weeks and
if you mess one of those up, you’re out of
that one for the season.
“It’s one thing for a couple buddies to
brew beer in a basement. This requires
someone who knows how things are sup-
