What It Takes to Make Great Beer: From Science to Resourcefulness

Episode 2 of The Responsibly Rowdy Podcast is live. And this time, we're going deep into the science, the stories, and the stubborn pursuit of quality that makes Tennessee Hills beer different.

If Episode 1 was the origin story, Episode 2 is the origin of our brewing operation. And it starts with a guy who almost became a dentist.

Jake Terry is Tennessee Hills' former Director of Product Innovation and new Chief Operating Officer. He's one-half of the reason our beers taste the way they do (Danny Smith, our Head Brewmaster, is a brewing genius and an innovator, too). And his path to Bristol, Tennessee is one of those stories that only makes sense in hindsight–the kind where a tequila bar in Knoxville, a 100-barrel disaster in Georgia, a sunset proposal in San Diego, and a lightning strike (actually, two of them) all connect to bring world-class brewing expertise to the Appalachian Highlands.

Stephen sits down with Jake to talk craft, chemistry, and what it really means to refuse to compromise.

Let's get into it.

From Pre-Dental to Head Brewer at White Labs

Jake graduated from UT with a degree in food science—essentially a chemistry degree with a focus on what we consume. He was on the pre-dental track. Then he shadowed a dentist for a summer.

That was the end of that.

A sign at Suttree's High Gravity Tavern in Knoxville pointed him toward the Brewing and Distillation Sciences program. From there, he landed at Terrapin Brewing Company in Athens, Georgia–a 100-barrel, fully automated operation where mistakes aren't small and lessons aren't forgotten.

Jake tells the story of watching someone take the wrong tri-clamp off a 250-barrel tank pressurized to 20 PSI. The valve hit a brick wall and exploded.

"The sound I'll never forget," he says. "To this day, I triple-check."

That's the kind of training that sticks.

San Diego: The Craft Beer Capital

After cutting his teeth at Terrapin, Jake headed west to San Diego. Home to Stone, Green Flash, Ballast Point, and some of the most demanding beer drinkers in the country.

He worked at Coronado Brewing as a shift brewer and lead trainer before landing the head brewer position at White Labs–an international yeast and enzyme company with headquarters in San Diego, a satellite in Asheville, and operations in Copenhagen.

If Terrapin taught him how to survive a brewhouse, White Labs taught him what's possible when you have access to the most advanced fermentation science on the planet.

Experimental yeast strains. Proprietary enzymes. The tools most craft breweries will never touch.

Jake brought all of it back to Tennessee.

The Mountains Called Him Home

Jake met his wife Alexa in San Diego. She's a native San Diegan (yes, that's how you say it). They got engaged at Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach.

But California rent doesn't care about romance. And Jake had been watching Tennessee Hills ever since he took a tour with Stephen back in 2020, right after the Jonesborough location opened.

When the Bristol facility started taking shape, Jake knew.

"This is too good of an opportunity to pass up," he says in the episode. "The stars aligned."

Seven-16 IPA (a.k.a. The One That Should've Been Called "Birthday Suit")

Here's a fun one.

Jake and Danny share the same birthday: July 16th. Different years. Same day.

When they realized it, they knew they had to make a beer. So they created Seven-16, a true-to-style West Coast IPA with a bone-dry finish, aggressive hop character, and a specific gravity that's actually below water.

The name stuck. But Jake admits they missed the obvious choice.

"I almost regret it," he says. "We should've called it Birthday Suit."

Damn. He's right.

What Actually Makes a West Coast IPA

Jake and Stephen get technical here, but it's worth paying attention.

A lot of breweries in this region slap "West Coast IPA" on anything with high ABV. That's not what the style means.

A true West Coast IPA is:

• Incredibly light in body
• High sulfate-to-chloride ratio in the water chemistry
• Dry enough to make your mouth pucker
• Built to let hops dominate without malt sweetness getting in the way

Seven-16 hits all of those marks. It's a beer for hop heads who know what they're drinking.

Lightning Strikes Twice (and Creates a New Beer)

This is where the episode gets wild.

Tennessee Hills got struck by lightning. Twice. In the same year.

The first strike froze the glycol chiller, which accidentally freeze-distilled their pilsner. They watered part of it back to spec and saved it. The other half came out too diluted–so they turned it into Appalachian Lager, an apple-forward session beer that became a crowd favorite in Johnson City.

The second strike did the opposite. The glycol reservoir hit 100°F in the middle of summer, which stalled fermentation on the Mexican Lager. The yeast gave up.

Jake and Danny brought it back using an amylase enzyme–one Jake had worked with at White Labs–and not only saved the batch but dialed the carbs down to 3.5 grams per 12 oz. That's how Marker 2 Mexican Lager became a low-carb beer without sacrificing flavor.

Most breweries would've dumped both batches. Tennessee Hills turned them into products.

Innovation under pressure.

Quality Over Everything

Here's the part that matters most.

Jake talks about something that happened a few months ago. A bacterial infection hit one of the mash cookers after the cooling system went down. They distilled it, tried to save it, and realized it wasn't going to meet their standards.

So they dumped several hundred gallons down the drain.

Not blended. Not sold. Not hidden in a barrel for five years hoping it would age out. Gone.

"I've worked with larger companies that would have no problem sending out something that wasn't up to their quality standards," Jake says. "Or they'd blend it. That's just not the proper way to do things. Here, we take a lot of care."

That's the difference between a brand that says "quality" and a brand that lives it.

What's Next: Chocolate Single-Malt Stout with Belgian Yeast

Jake and Stephen tease what's coming down the pipeline: a chocolate single malt stout fermented with an exclusive Belgian yeast strain–high alcohol tolerance, experimental flavor profile, and completely unique to Tennessee Hills.

With Stephen's 11-generation Irish heritage and Jake's world-class fermentation knowledge, this isn't a gimmick. It's the kind of product that could only come from this team, in this place, with this commitment.

East Tennessee is about to have its own answer to Scotch and Irish whiskey. And it's going to be real.

Why You Should Listen

Because this episode's about what happens when you refuse to cut corners.

It's about a guy who walked away from a safe career path, trained at the best facilities in the country, and came home to build something that matters.

It's about a distillery that dumps bad product instead of selling it.

And it's about what "Responsibly Rowdy" actually looks like when the glycol system fails, lightning strikes, and you've got 30 barrels of beer on the line.

New episodes coming soon.

Stay #ResponsiblyRowdy.