Welcome to the new Nashville Brewery District!!

Nashville has become such a thriving craft beer town now they even have their own "brewery district" which I visited again recently along with a few other new-to-me libations over the past month.

In chronological order:.

March 6 - Had a few pre- and post-game brews before a Nashville Predators home hockey game at The Flying Saucer downtown.

pre-
Matt's Burning Rosids (RIP Matt Courtright) - Stone Brewing (CA) - draught - not bad for a Belgian-style imperial cherrywood-smoked saison
Mosaic Red Rye IPA - Terrapin Brewing (GA) - -draught - excellent!

post -
- Anytime IPA by The Just Beer Project (VT) - draught - pretty weak actually

March 8- With St. Patty's Day fast approaching, I had Full of Balarney Irish Stout (a great Guinness replica) from Terrapin (GA) at Taco Mac in Chattanooga.

March 15 - I had a bottle of Shock Top Raspberry Wheat left over from our New Year's Party that someone brought.  It wasn't bad as I drank it at home while watching Duke beat NC State in the ACC Tournament.

March 16 - I had a Highland Oatmeal Porter (NC) draught at Pomodoro East Restaurant in East Nashville with dinner.

March 17 - I kept it low-key for St. Patty's Day with just a Samuel Adams Merry Maker Gingerbread Stout pint bottle split with Ashlee.  This was a delicious Christmas gift from our friends, Chris and Tarryn.

Saturday, March 23 - I had a bachelor day to myself at home and figured I might as well make the most of it with a full day of activities including some beer, of course:

I had lunch at the new Braiz Brewhouse and Bistro in Mt. Juliet.  This is where my beloved WOW Wingery used to be and while the food here isn't as good, they did have a nice selection of local brews on tap.  I had a 16 oz. draught of the Velvet Hustle Pale Ale from Mayday Brewing from nearby Murfreesboro, TN.  An excellent way to start the day!  I finished lunch with a 16 oz. pour of The Champion Pale Ale from Black Abbey Brewing in Nashville (a relatively new microbrewery that I visited recently - see previous blog post).  It too was pretty darn good.  It's good to at least having something in this retail space in the Providence Shopping Complex since it sat empty for several month's after WOW closed its doors.  Welcome to the neighborhood, Braiz, and keep up the good beer selections!

The next stop was over in Franklin, TN at the Turtle Anarchy Brewing Company.  I have been a fan of these guys for a while now not only for their cool name and logo (love me some turtles), but also their outstanding stout that I have had at a few Nashville locales.  They have a nice tasting room in an industrial park near historic downtown Franklin and I tried the Down With the Coconut Stout which was just about perfect, not overly sweet or overwhelming in any way.   Next I had the Harmony American Stout which is infused with local East Nashville chocolate (Olive and Sinclair) and vanilla beans.  Two of the three brothers that started the microbrewery were serving and were telling us patrons that they are about to go big-time in terms of production with the purchase of an old copper plant on California Avenue in downtown Nashville where they plan to eventually starting canning their flagship brews while still maintaining this quaint tasting room.  Good luck, fellas!!

and now, with no further adieu, on to the new Nashville Brewery District...

My last beer stop of the day was at the Tennessee Brew Works tasting room in downtown Nashville.  It, along with Yazoo and Jackalope Brewing are making up an area now known as the Nashville Brewery District.  This is the only one I hadn't visited yet and it's a dandy.  This is a beautiful facility (there's some money backing this baby) and some pretty good beer.  I only had time for one and that one was Cutaway IPA, an American-style IPA that I thought could have used a few more hops in it but overall not bad.  I will definitely be back to this cool place.

Based on the music theme of the microbrewery and the fact that their facility looks like a lot of money was put into it, I wonder if some musician is a part owner of this new member of the rapidly-growing Nashville craft beer scene?

After a good day of beer-tasting, I met up with my friend Danny and Brenda and their son, Kyle, to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, another quirky comedy from the mind of Wes Anderson.

Even later I caught a set by one of new fav bands on the scene, Terraplane Sun, from California over at The Mercy Lounge.  This quintet opened for Imagine Dragons last year hear in Nashville and I have liked them ever since.  They put on a solid 45-minute set concluding with their debut single, "Get Me Golden."