USA, TN: Fanatic Brewing Co. craft brewery, beer facility for sale in Knoxville

Four months after Marty Velas announced the sale of his Fanatic Brewing Co., the influential Knoxville brewer has expanded his search for an owner to surrounding states, advertising the facility's untapped potential to become a multi-million-dollar operation with a "signature brew" for Knoxville, Knoxville News Sentinel reported on January 7.

Velas, who has been in the craft beer industry more than 40 years, told Knox News in September his plans to retire and sell the facility, not the brand. The West Town Mall Fanbase pub is here to stay, but Velas is searching for something new after 10 years in business.

"I've been in brewing since 1978," he told Knox News earlier this month. "There are other things I would like to do with the time I have left."

To find the "right buyer," Velas said, he switched brokerage firms and dropped the price of the 2735 N. Central St. property to $2.8 million after it was listed for $2.95 million. The Fanatic Brewing Co. building, located on the outskirts of the Oakwood neighborhood, is 14,000 square feet "plus storage space," Velas said.

While Fanatic brews about 6,000 barrels of beer per year, Velas said, it has the ability and capacity to brew closer to 30,000 barrels. That would translate to 450,000 cases of beer per year and would represent 15% of all Tennessee craft beer produced in 2023, according to the Brewers Association.

Velas believes it would take new owners between 18 months and three years to transform the facility into a brewery that could rake in $5 million of net profit every year, based on the facility's size and infrastructure.

Beer produced at the facility could still be packaged and sold in local grocery stores like Fanatic products, but a brewery using the facility to its full potential could open the door for beer made in Knoxville to find its way to other states.

"There isn't a brew in Knoxville I would call a signature brew," Velas said. "Knoxville doesn't offer that now. Whoever moves in (to Fanatic Brewing) has an opportunity to become that."

Yee-Haw Brewing Co. was selected last year as the official craft beer of the Tennessee Volunteers and created the Vol Lager, the first licensed and co-branded craft beer for UT. Similar to the concept of an out-of-town brewery replacing Fanatic, Yee-Haw ultimately moved its headquarters to Knoxville after it replaced Elkmont Exchange Brewery in 2023, eight years after Yee-Haw was founded in Johnson City.

Until the Fanatic facility is sold − and shortly thereafter − Velas plans to stay on as a "beer consultant" to facilitate the transition between owners.

Fanatic's niche in an experimental craft beer market has been to offer balanced and approachable beverages casual beer drinkers can enjoy. Drinkability, Velas previously told Knox News, is "my modus operandi."

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