Style Weekly profiles Ardent Craft Ales

Reporter Brent Baldwin finds “an urban oasis tucked within the industrial district of Scott’s Addition.”

July 31, 2014; 10:22 AM • by Trevor Dickerson

Style Weekly’s Brent Baldwin visited Ardent Craft Ales and found the quaint beer garden and tasting room tucked away in Scott’s Addition “sunlit and roomy,” framing up the new brewery like this:

Hanging above opposite ends of the unassuming bar, two older-model speakers play light and airy modern bluegrass pop. There’s a small sign requesting patrons curb their dogs — yes, dogs are allowed inside the garden area.

Outside the taproom sits a large beer-garden patio with strings of outdoor lights stretched above the wooden deck. It feels like this could be a microbrewery in Colorado or along the West Coast, rather than an urban oasis tucked within the industrial district of Scott’s Addition.

Baldwin talked with Ardent’s head brewer and operations manager to document the fledgling brewery’s journey from a small homebrewing operation based in a Church Hill garage to the brewery’s location on Leigh Street in Scott’s Addition.