Craft Beer Lovers: If you’re planning to attend the 2014 NFDA International Convention & Expo in Nashville, don’t miss these breweries.
Don’t skip Nashville’s craft beer scene on a trip to Music City
Millions of people visit each year for the music.
A word of advice: Don’t skimp on the beer. There’s plenty of craft beer in Music City to quench the thirst of a budding songwriter and a bedazzled fan.
Craft beer has caught on like a chart-topping country song in middle Tennessee. When Linus Hall foundedYazoo Brewing Co. a decade ago, there were only four craft breweries in town. Nashville now boasts 12 — each of them vying for attention with sad songs — and distilleries such as nearby Jack Daniel’s.
Four beer styles came off Yazoo’s line in the beginning. Fast forward and the brewery now produces more than 20,000 barrels a year. The Yazoo pale ale, award-winning Hefeweizen, and Mexico-inspired Dos Perros have been joined by several other varieties including 78 different styles of IPA.
“What some people like are the super beers,” said Hall, wearing a Yazoo Brewing Co. shirt. Consequently there’s a beer called Embrace the Funk aging in a barrel somewhere in back. Hall said the beer was released earlier but there’s always some on tap.
Gerst beer, a Nashville legend before Prohibition, was revived by Yazoo at the request of the Gerst family.
There are always eight beers being produced, plus a limited release and a seasonal beer. We were lucky enough to snag a six-pack of the spring seasonal, described as a Helles bock style brewed with lager yeast at the Frugal MacDoogal package store up the street. The inviting label has a dog jumping into water.
Hall, who has a pilot friend who brings him New Glarus beers, says there are four microbreweries within walking distance of Yazoo. Using a list, beer lovers make up their own brewery tour itineraries.
Yazoo taps its full lineup of beers from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday in the Tasting Room. The bar also sells locally sourced cheese, spiced nuts and beer bread.
Tours are $7 and run each Saturday.
Four years ago Yazoo moved its brewery to 910 Division St., an area known as The Gulch. Outside Yazoo, where the brick is painted a color that could be called “pale ale,” you can nearly make out the sign forJackalope Brewing Co.
Jackalope, 701 8th Ave. S., was the first female-owned brewery in the state when it was founded in 2010. CEO and brewmaster Bailey Spaulding and Robyn Virball, president, added Steve Wright as chief operating officer and head brewer.
The current inventory includes Thunder Ann, an American pale ale; Rompo, a red rye ale; Bearwalker, a maple brown ale; and Leghorn, a rye India pale ale.
The taproom is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Tours also cost $7 and run on Saturday.
Although they don’t all offer tours, here are more places for fresh beer in Music City:
Fat Bottom Brewing, a brewery and taproom with a restaurant, is at 900 Main St.
The Black Abbey Brewing Co., 2952 Sidco Drive, offers its brews in Fellowship Hall, open to the public 3:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday. There are no set tours.
Tennessee Brew Works, 809 Ewing Ave., serves suds in the taproom from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery, which claims to be Nashville’s first craft brewery, is at 1918 West End Ave.
Boscos Restaurant and Brewing Co. has locations throughout Tennessee, including at 1805 21st. Ave. S. in Nashville.
Nashville is a good-sized city with lots of other tourist opportunities. Duane Dudek wrote about the city’s tie with “Nashville,” the television show.
Source: JSonline.com
Complete details about the 2014 NFDA Convention can be found here:www.nfda.org/nashville2014
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