TIFTON — Downtown Tifton now has a new place to kick back after The Tift Tap House opened its doors on June 22.

The restaurant, which bills itself as an upscale pub offering a wide selection of craft beer on tap and a cigar lounge, had a soft open to coincide with Rock the Block.

Owner Michelle Green, who opened and runs the restaurant with wife Jackie, said that the restaurant was “packed out” for the soft opening.

“It went better than we could have asked for,” she said.

The restaurant was a long time dream for the Greens.

“Jackie’s been in the restaurant business for about 30 years,” Michelle said. “We’ve had a dream for about 20, and I guess… we’d put it on the back burner and it was just time.”

Michelle said that she and Jackie were eating at a restaurant in downtown Tifton and fell in love with the downtown area.

“The vibe in Tifton itself and the history behind it, even though we weren’t born and raised here, is something that definitely stood out to us,” Michelle said. “We wanted to enhance that in the best way we could.”

She said that her roots are in Georgia and she wanted to give back to the area while featuring Georgia-grown and produced products.

“We were talking and said, ‘Hey, we can really do this now,’” she said.

Michelle said they looked at the things Tifton had and what they could offer and hit on the idea of a casual yet sophisticated place for a middle-aged crowd to kick back a little.

“This is not going to be a rowdy place,” Michelle said. “This is a gathering place, where you come and enjoy who you’re sitting at the table with. You don’t have to yell for them to hear you because there’s not that noise. We want to capture that vibe you get when you’re at home, relaxed in your own environment, but with a different atmosphere. It’s not going out to eat, it’s having an experience.”

The Tift Tap House will have a large selection of beers on tap — 41 beers to be exact, a nod to the location on Georgia Highway 41.

Michelle and Jackie spent several months touring breweries around Georgia before selecting the craft beers they would feature to have “a little bit of Georgia all in one place.”

“Also, nowhere outside of Atlanta can you smoke cigars, eat, and drink,” she said. “So we thought why not?”

Michelle said they are planning to have premium liquor, table-side wine service and retail sales of cigars and wine, as well as growlers for the beer.

Opening wasn’t without some setbacks. The original location was at the old Southern Bodies location, but Michelle said there were issues with turning that into a restaurant due to the size of the building.

Michelle and Jackie went to The Bistro and it had everything they needed, so the Greens made them an offer.

“We just appreciate everybody welcoming us,” Jackie said. “They just embraced us and made us feel like we grew up here.”

“We are here to support Tifton and give people a home away from home,” Michelle said. “We want people to feel like friends and family here, we want it to be a gathering place. If there were two words to sum up what we’re going for, it’s gathering place.”

The Tift Tap House is located at 219 Main Street S. and is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m.