A new North Knoxville restaurant and brewery is set to open in late 2017.
Brewmaster and Knoxville native Alex Violette will partner with life-long friend and executive Chef Ryan Davenport to open Elkmont Exchange Brewery and Eating House at 745 North Broadway.
Elkmont Exchange will use the 10,000-square-foot building that Rentals Rentals used to occupy, according to a release from the new business.
Violette earned a biochemistry degree from Maryville College, and started his brewing career at Smoky Mountain Brewery after graduation. He then moved to Boulder, Colo., where he worked as head brewer at Upslope Brewing Company. Violette also moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to open the Pasteur Street Brewing Company.
Davenport grew up in Knoxville before studying food service management at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. He worked as a sous chef at Nashville’s Flyte. Davenport joined Violette in Vietnam to develop Pasteur Street Brewing Company. He currently works at Emilia in downtown Knoxville’s Market Square.