Something brewing in downtown Clinton
Gather on Market opens restaurant as work continues on city’s first brewery
Co-owner Brian Hatmaker stands at the bar in his new Gather on Market brewery and restaurant on Saturday, Oct. 24. The brewery and full-service restaurant opened last week at 341 Market St. in Historic Downtown Clinton. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Co-owner Brian Hatmaker, who also operates two Orange Hat Brewery locations in Knoxville with his business partner, Rodney Ramin, said Gather on Market will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.
While the full-service restaurant is up and running, Hatmaker said the actual brewery is only about 80% finished, and won’t be ready until late this year. Still, there are outside beers on tap already, including some from Orange Hat.
“We plan to start putting beer in our (brewing) vessels in December,” he said.
He and Ramin chose the “Gather” name for the brewery to indicate their objective to make the brewery a popular gathering place in the downtown area, particularly on Market Street, the heart of Clinton’s famous antiques district.
A full-service restaurant with extended hours is necessary in downtown Clinton, he said.
“I love the concept and I think it’s something the whole community can be proud of,” Hatmaker said.
There are some limited restaurant options in the downtown area, but none of them offer Sunday hours, and one isn’t even open on Saturdays, the busiest day of the week for downtown Clinton.
The restaurant menu includes such items as “smash burgers” with waffle fries, and handheld sandwiches, such as catfish, bologna, bacon/lettuce/tomato, chicken, po-boys and a chicken Caesar hoagie.
The “Clinton Hot Catfish Sando” ($17) is described as “fried catfish dipped in our Clinton Hot sauce, topped with pickles and coleslaw on a potato bun.”
Main dishes, served with two sides, include chicken strip, shrimp and catfish plates; Pale Ale Steak Skewers, garlic-parmesan grilled chicken, and Maple Bourbon Salmon.
Sides include potato salad, hushpuppies, green beans, onion rings, rice, coleslaw, “corn ribs,” broccoli, and house and Caesar salads.
Desserts are pineapple upside-down cake, brownie and ice cream, and “homemade banana puddin’,” according to the menu.
Hatmaker announced plans for the brewery more than two years ago, but extensive remodeling of the building was necessary.
“There will first have to be a demolition of much of the existing building to accommodate the brewery,” he said at the time of the original announcement. “The building now has a basement, so the main floor as it is now wouldn’t be able to carry the weight of the brewing equipment.”
He said he chose the site, the former Granny’s Attic building, because “We wanted an outside presence, where we can have outdoor concerts, cornhole tournaments and other events and games we can fit in the area.”
That space is still under construction at the rear of the building, facing Commerce Street.
To make way for Hatmaker’s brewery, Granny’s Attic moved into the former space of E. Claire’s Coffee House, at 370 Market St., and The Rabbit Hole bar, at 364 Market St.