USA, TN: Grind City Brewing Co. hopes to launch in Memphis by June

Anyone trying to visit what will become Grind City Brewing Co. in Uptown Memphis would be met with horses grazing near a dead end road, but within a few months, that will change, The Commercial Appeal reported on January 17.

By June, that dead end will open up to 83 Waterworks Ave., revealing 4.6 acres of land, a 10,000-square-foot brewery and taproom, a beer garden and stage for outdoor concerts and festivals along with a sweeping view of Downtown Memphis.

The seed that led to Grind City was planted about a decade ago, starting simply as an activity for Hopper Seely, then 13, to do with his father, Bill Seely.

"Growing up, the whole idea wasn't about trying to teach my son to brew beer," Bill Seely said. "It was about having time together, talking about life together."

Still, the lessons stuck.

By Hopper Seely's freshman year of high school, he started taking the lead in the home brewing process. By the time he attended a career day event in his junior year, it was settled: Hopper Seely wanted to brew beer for a living.

After high school, he gave the traditional route a shot first studying entrepreneurial management at Boise State University.

"I was signing up for my second semester of classes and they just kept throwing me (general education courses)," Seely said. "I asked my adviser 'When am I going to do business classes?' She goes 'If you're lucky, junior year.'"

Instead of wasting another second or another dollar of tuition, he wanted to go to Europe for brewing school. There the legal drinking age is 18, and he would be allowed the enroll and learn under the former head brewer for Heineken.

That was around the time the 19-year-old picked the name Grind City for the name of his future company.

One of the requirements for graduation was to write a business plan to open a brewery. For Seely, that wasn't just an assignment. It was the process that helped make his dream a reality.

Seely is the president of the company, but since buying the land in May, he has picked up some other titles as well. He's also the welder, securing metal siding and the concrete pourer, filling six-foot holes in the back section of the warehouse that was used by Tri-State Veneer & Plywood, the last company to use the space.

There was so much debris and so many old wooden molds used to make the backs of chairs that they filled eight 30-foot dumpsters every week, Seely said.

A final round of permits is expected to clear this week then the four-month construction job can begin.

Phase 1 of the project, which includes the brewery, taproom, beer garden and stage, will cost about $1.7 million.

Seely was approved on January 16 for an Exterior Improvement Grant worth up to $55,697 from the Center City Development Corp. The money will help cover the cost of new paint outside, new roll-up doors, demolition of a wall and new steel framing for the entrances.

"Staff is in full support of approving an Exterior Improvement Grant for this project," a Downtown Memphis Commission staff report said. "Local breweries and taprooms have the power to be catalysts for economic development in emerging neighborhoods."

The report went on to say that breweries can often inspire other investments in the neighborhood surrounding them.

That's what Hopper and Bill Seely, head brewer Mark Patrick and general manager Tyler Nelson are all hoping will happen.

The group plans choose a series of charitable organizations and pair them with a beer. Each month, they will donate 10 percent of the profits of each beer to its designated charity.

"I liked where they were going, not only with wanting to brew beer, which I am passionate about, but also being in a community," Nelson said. "One of the cornerstones of our business is charity. ... That really got me excited about doing something with beer that was bigger than beer."

The group is still compiling the list of charities they will serve but already on the list is the Leadership Empowerment Center in Frayser and Crosscheck, a competitive youth sports league that emphasizes academics alongside the sport, Bill Seely said.

While the new Grind City staff was happy to give a tour of the space and show the progress they have made, one thing they are keeping under wraps is their future beer selection.

Patrick said he helped create some of the fan favorites when he worked at Ghost River Brewing Co., but it was his home brews that really caught Hooper Seely's attention.

Now, he's fine-tuning the selection and preparing to bring some of his favorite home brews to Memphians.

That's it. He won't give up much else.

"They've got a good stable of beer," Bill Seely said. "There's one that's going to be 'The One,' but we can't give anyone a heads up until it comes because it's going to change the game.

"These guys think outside the box. They're not chasing the trends. They're kind of looking at those and going outside of those to create something even better. Everything they have made just blows me away."

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