Although the brewery officially started in 1998, Tom Davis has been a brewer for well over 20 years. Having worked in food and beverage for many years, Tom developed a taste for beers with great flavor and character. Not finding the object of his desires readily available in the area, he began to homebrew in pursuit of a beer that had the characteristics he felt made a beer worth savoring.

After much iteration of recipes and ingredients, Tom perfected the base recipe for what would become River Falls Red Ale. Brewing is as much an art as a science and Tom continued to fine-tune this an many other recipes. Bill Davis, Tom's father, is an architect and fan of craft beer. His appreciation of quality beers was developed over many years of traveling around the country while serving on various national architectural boards and councils. After seeing other operations, father and son decided they should embark on brewing the best handcrafted beer they could.

They started commercial production at a former brewpub in downtown Greenville until 1998. During that summer, the Davis pair found a large-batch bewhouse they couldn't resist. With Bill's architectural help designing the microbrewery, in early July of 1998 they rolled out their first Thomas Creek beers. Now almost 11 years, 200 pounds of nails, many late nights and just a few gray hairs later, the Davis duo is still here at Thomas Creek, brewing and operating side by side, sharing a few cold beers at the end of each day.