The best breweries & taprooms in the Tri-Cities

The lay of the land

The Tri-Cities beer scene grew up around two anchors in downtown Johnson City and has spread out from there into Kingsport and Jonesborough. It's a real scene now, but it churns — a handful of once-familiar names (Studio Brew and Bristol Station in Bristol, Sleepy Owl in Kingsport, Holston River out by the Speedway) have closed in the last couple of years, so this list is the ones actually pouring. Call it a flight across four towns.

Where to drink

Yee-Haw Brewing Company — Johnson City

The region's flagship, built inside the 130-year-old former Tweetsie train depot downtown — big dog-friendly patio, fire pit, and White Duck Taco sharing the building. The easy first stop, and most of the core lineup is canned right here. 4.7★ on Tripadvisor, ranked the #1 thing to do in Johnson City.

Johnson City Brewing Company — Johnson City

Johnson City's longest-running brewery (since 2014), brewing a barrel at a time — the original Main Street taproom has the exposed-brick tavern feel, and there are now three taprooms around town. Try the Boones Creek Gold or the J-Town Brown. 4.6★ on Tripadvisor.

Tennessee Hills — Jonesborough & Johnson City

Born in the 1840s Salt House in Jonesborough as a distillery, now a combined “brewstillery” after it absorbed the old JRH Brewing — small-batch beer alongside spirits and cocktails, weekend music, and food trucks. The Jonesborough room runs 4.9★ on Tripadvisor; the Johnson City Walnut Street brewstillery is the newer, beer-forward side.

Bays Mountain Brewing Company — Kingsport

Family-owned microbrewery on Commerce Street where the owners pour — six house beers plus rotating taps, the signature 2280 IPA named for the Bays Mountain radio-tower elevation, nightly food trucks and games. A small, genuinely local downtown room.

Flanagan Brothers Bierworks — Kingsport

Irish-leaning brewery on North Eastman with the best beer garden in town — fenced yard, fire pit, picnic tables, yard games, a food truck and live music most nights it's open. The Model City Kölsch is the easy pour. Newer, so go for the patio more than the reviews.

Gypsy Circus Cider Company — Kingsport

Not beer — Tennessee's first craft cidery, all gluten-free and fresh-pressed, now a cider-and-cocktail taproom with an on-site BBQ smokehouse and a heavy weekly events calendar (trivia, comedy, music). The pick if someone in the group doesn't do beer. 4.5★ on Tripadvisor.

The Damascus Brewery — Damascus, VA

Worth the drive over the line into Virginia: a small all-manual brewery on the Appalachian Trail / Virginia Creeper corridor with a deep catalogue and the hoppy-not-bitter Beaver Rage IPA as its flagship. 4.2★ on Tripadvisor. (The upper Creeper Trail above town is still rebuilding from Hurricane Helene, but the brewery and the lower trail are open.)

Also pouring

• Union Street Taproom — Erwin. Downtown Erwin's craft-beer bar — rotating local and national taps, food trucks several nights, kid- and dog-friendly. (A curated taproom, not its own brewhouse.)
• Model City Tap House — Kingsport. The tap house now in the old Sleepy Owl space in Kingsport's historic depot, with the railroad-side patio.