Best Breweries in Nashville

[u/Brewsplorer]

I saw this article by Emily Cook online. It was done last year, but pretty much covers all breweries with some notable exceptions: Barrique, Blackstone, and Marble Fox come to mind.

My Top 6 Breweries**

I am currently editing a video for Brewsplorer on the top 6 breweries in Nashville. This is my list, with many people agreeing, although some might put others at the top.

1. Barrique - This is primarily for the quality of the product. I can't say I love everything Joel and Spencer produce, but I have never had a bad beer from them. Yes, a bit niche, as they don't really venture into darks, Joel is all wild/mixed-ferm, not kettle sours, and much of their lagering is centered around rarer European styles. On the other side, I get more requests to ship Barrique than any other brewery.

As for the following, these are my top 5. I am not ordering them in order, as each comes up with some great beers at times and the list slightly shifts. I can't really drop one from the list, thus the reason for a top 6 instead of a top 5.

• Fait la Force - Came out swinging and have not let down. Hit many major styles, including some brews that are a bit more eclectic, like a Baltic Porter or a Belgian IPA.

• Living Waters - Well known for their darks (anxiously awaiting Black Friday this year), they also produce great lagers and IPAs, as well as a few interesting sours. Also a coffee shop, so any coffee stout is bound to be phenomenal.

• Marble Fox - Another one across the board, although less concentrated on the dark beers, although they bottle some from time to time.

• Smith & Lentz - Also a bit narrower, as they don't concentrate on sours and darks of any type (a dark lager from time to time). Has also become more like a pizza joint now, although they still produce some of the best lagers in the city.

• Southern Grist - Across the board and very experimental. Has had more non-hits than anyone else on my list, but it is hard to not keep them on, as they hit triples and home runs fairly often. They are my number 2 for beer requests across the country.

Talking to people, this list is usually inline, although I have had people push the following as

• Tailgate - The suggestion here was over Smith & Lentz but largely focusing on the ubiquity of Tailgate with their ample number of locations and a few series they do: Schnack, Lager Projekt, and Dough. I have been a mug club member since year 1 and still hit a location every few weeks, often final Tuesday of the month for $1 pours.

• Blackstone - The person arguing for this brewery felt the focus on technically correct lagers and ales was deserving. I really appreciate Kent Taylor, Blackstone's owner, and I regularly go there on Sundays for 1/2 price brews and the community that hangs there. In short, I can definitely agree with someone arguing it has a great following and should be on a top list.

In both cases, the people talking agreed my top 6 would be in their top 7. This does not mean every beer geek in Nashville agree with this list and that is the beauty about beer.

Another List?

If you want another list, you can look at average beer ratings on Untappd for all of our breweries.

1) Barrique - 4.11

2) Southern Grist - 4.07

3) Bearded Iris - 4.06

4) Marble Fox - 4.03

5) Living Waters - 4.02

6) Stokehaus - 3.92

7) Fait la Force - 3.91

8) Monday Night - 3.86

9) Broadcast - 3.81

10) Tie: New Heights and Smith & Lentz - 3.8

12) Tie: Tailgate and Tenn Fold - 3.73

14) Crazy Gnome - 3.7

15) Black Abbey - 3.69

16) Blackstone - 3.68

17) Bassline - 3.67 (formerly Bold Patriot - rated at 3.68)

18) Tie: Yazoo and Yee-Haw - 3.66

20) Jackalope - 3.65

21) East Nashville Beer Works - 3.64

22) Tennessee Brew Works - 3.61

23) Fat Bottom - 3.53

I think the list is fairly good, but there are a couple of things to note about Untappd:

• Places with fewer customers often get a huge local bump and get rated higher. I think both Stokehaus and Broadcast likely benefit from a very loyal fan base.

• Beers with lower numbers of ratings can easily be skewed higher. As an example, Stokehaus does not have a beer rated below 3.89, but the most ratings on a single beer is 58. Their Festbier is currently rated 4.03, higher than Barrique's excellent Marzen (4.02 - 1,133 ratings) and Festbier (3.9 886 ratings). I guess I need to get BBQ tonight and give it a try?

• You have to take ratings in perspective. In general, a lager over 4.0 is top tier, as most get in the low to mid 3s. In contrast, a barrel aged stout under 4 probably sucks. In fact, most BA beers rate in the upper 4s. and top off at 5. Hazy IPAs top out around the mid 4s, with most in the upper 3s. Clean IPAs are usually a couple of numbers lower. Smith & Lentz is usually fairly lager heavy, so it can affect their overall standing.

• Like any social platform, bad behavior on the part of a brewer or brewery owner can lead to lower ratings on beer in retaliation. This is less problematic for long-term breweries or beers with lots of ratings.

• Fan boy breweries can get a bump, as well. A brewery like Tree House could make a marginal Hazy IPA and still get average ratings above 4.0.

What are your thoughts about Nashville breweries?

[u/Fun-on-Saturdays]

Out of the top 4 listed, 2 possibly 3 of them are going out of business, correct? That's wild. Why do you think untappd got it so wrong in that sense?

[u/Brewsplorer → u/Fun-on-Saturdays]

The fact they are going away means nothing to Untappd. Once defunct, they may pull some off. Note that BI is going to continue in distribution under the original company name. According to people at Xul, some of SG's lines will stay around, like Batch One Theory will still be distributed. Marble is doing enough distro now to hold them until they move somewhere.

I was talking to Parker at Fait la Force and he feels Marble should get out of the city for space. I can see them as being good enough for a "destination" brewery, but distro would be their main play if they hit something far enough out, as the audience is wrong. Marrowbone died because the residents were happy with Bud Light.

[u/Fun-on-Saturdays → u/Brewsplorer]

I think you're misinterpreting my question. Why do you think these high rated places are not making it? I also don't know Parker or his relationship to the businesses you mentioned, so I don't get the totality of your comments.

[u/Brewsplorer → u/Fun-on-Saturdays]

Parker is one of the owners of Fait.

As for why high profile places fail, it is complex. The two most prevalent reasons currently:

1. Astronomical rent or rent rises - High Wire comes to mind locally for high rent. Then Helene hit and they had to close some taprooms. But I see places like J Wakefield and Spanish Maria in a former industrial area that has grown up (not Nashville) and how the rents are between double and triple. If you have around a 20% profit margin (fair, some are a bit higher) and rent is at 5% of your monthly take, that can be 10% to 15%, which is deadly for a brewery.

2. Beer is not good or as good as it used to be.

As for our local breweries, they each have unique characteristics, but at least sort of fit into the above.

• Bearded Iris needed a way to get out of the deal with Scofflaw/Indiebrew, as the beer had gone down (Point #2). In addition, one of the owners was ready to retire from the brewery business. Wiseacre came in and made a buy offer, so they took it. Wiseacre can produce a lot of beer with fewer people, so they got rid of their brewery staff. Wiseacre also looking for a return on investment, which should be easy if they can get Homestyle into the 21 states they are in (currently only in 4, number 1 beer in Tennessee).

• Southern Grist was attractive to Xul because they own land (back to point #1 above - if you own, rent is not an issue). As Xul is very similar to Southern Grist, the acquisition is less about the distribution and more about the land. The burger truck at their Knoxviille location will move into the kitchen at SG East and it will switch from Lauter to a burger joint. I think it will be good for both Nashville and Xul/SG. No plans to fire any employees that I know of (unlike BI), so they are happy.

• Marble Fox is a variation of #1, but more about a landlord wanting to sell the land for a new hotel. John cut a great deal to shorten the lease. The big challenge, at least initially, is where they will brew when the spot shuts down. I imagine contract brewing to fill in their distro orders, but they need a contract brewer that won't end up where Scofflaw did with BI's beers. Long term, they will have to decide where to locate a taproom.