A Guide to the Nashville Beer Scene

This content is taken from the upcoming book Nashville Local’s Guide for Visitors and Newbies, which you can support on Kickstarter by clicking the link above. This article may contain affiliate links, which compensate me a bit for my time at no extra cost to you.

Welcome to Nashville, a city renowned for its vibrant music scene, rich history, and now, its burgeoning craft beer culture. Whether you’re a local or a visitor, Nashville’s breweries offer a unique blend of Southern charm and innovative brewing techniques that are sure to delight your taste buds. From cozy taprooms to bustling beer gardens, each brewery has its own story and flavor profile, making the city a must-visit destination for beer enthusiasts. Join us as we embark on a journey through some of the best breweries Nashville has to offer, where every pint tells a tale and every sip is a celebration of craftsmanship.

The Fermatories

I say fermatories, as we are dealing with more than just beer. There are current 23 breweries (across 31 locations) – plus 2 dedicated cideries (Tailgate, Music Row also brews cider), and 1 Meadery.

Breweries

The following maps are keyed to the listing. I start with one that is wider and then key in to the ones downtown.

1. Barrique Brewing & Blending – 30 Oldham St (East Bank near Nissan Stadium – 1) – is a must stop for serious beer lovers. Joel Stickrod is the owner and brews their wild & mixed-fermentation sours and funk beers; Spencer Longhurst is focused on their clean program, which settles heavier on lagers, although he brews very nice IPAs. The taproom is in a barrel room for aging and conditioning their beers, so it is not climate controlled. This means it can get hot in the summer and cold in the winter. One of the few that routinely has cask beers on tap.
2. Bassline – 410 39th Ave N (West Nashville – 6) – sits in the L&L Market on Charlotte Ave, west of downtown. This location originally started as Bold Patriot, but the business was sold and rebranded as Bassline. It was rebranded Bassline at least partially to get away from the controversy. Today, it is owned by Walt & Janet Mueller. They have a pub food menu and the ability to make cocktails. They also feature live music. Currently happy hour all day Tuesday – Friday (2-4-1).
3. Bearded Iris was founded by Kavon Togrye and Paul Vaughn. They opened on February 6, 2016, the same weekend Southern Grist opened up on Porter Road. They opened a second location on Charlotte Ave in the Sylvan Supply building in 2019. The original location has food trucks, while the Sylvan Supply location has Black Dynasty Ramen as a permanent popup. The main location handles their flagship and large run beers, while the Sylvan Supply focuses on smaller batches.
   • Germantown (1) – 101 Van Buren St (East Germantown)
   • West Nashville (Sylvan Supply – 6) – 4101 Charlotte Ave, Suite 40
4. [The] Black Abbey – 2952 Sidco Dr (100 Oaks/Sidco, South Nashville – 5) – is the brainchild of Carl Meier and focuses on Abbey style beers. This location has a limited food menu supplemented by food trucks on weekends. The taproom is styled like a church/abbey and they routinely have cask ales in house.
5. Blackstone – 2312 Clifton Ave (Clifton, West Nashville – 6) – is the oldest continually running brewery in Nashville. The brewery started as a brewpub on West End in 1994 by Kent Taylor (beer) and Stephanie Weins (food). The moved brewing operations to Clifton Avenue in 2011 and eventually opened a taproom there in 2016, shutting down their West End location the next year. They have a food schoolbus on the grounds, but it has not been running for some time.
6. Broadcast Brewing – 2605 Grissom Dr, Unit B (Berry Hill, South Nashville – 5) – is owned by Mike Causy and is the smallest craft brewery in the city. It has developed a loyal following in the year it has been open. The place is tiny and easy to miss, so definitely dial in the GPS. Great spot for pre-gaming a Nashville Soccer match at Geodis Stadium. No food other than bagged items.
7. Crazy Gnome – 1005 W Kirkland Ave (East Nashville – 4) – started in 2015 on Main St in East Nashville. They moved to their current location in 2025. Grayson Miller is the owner and also owns Cyanide Cider in the Woodbine area of South Nashville. No food currently on premise.
8. East Nashville Beer Works –
9. Fait La Force – 1414 3rd Ave S, Suite 101 (Chestnut Hill, South Nashville – 5) – opened on February 5, 2022. It is named after the Belgian motto L’Union Fait La Force, which means Strength in Unity. The brewery started knocking out home run beers early on and has kept up over the past 3 years. The brewery focuses on Belgians, but does other styles well. One of my favorites is their hoppy pils, but I also appreciate the clean IPAs they do. Food from Jam Box Sandwiches, which is a permanent popup here. Can also grab from Il Forno if you are up on Neapolitan pizza and pasta.
10. Fat Bottom was started by Ben Bredesen, the son of Tennessee’s former governor, Phil Bredesen. They started over in East Nashville, but moved to their location in the Nations, at 800 44th Ave N (Nations, West Nashville – 6) in February, 2017. They have a food menu and it is a great space for large events, as they have a large meeting space in addition to the two-story brewery and outside space.
11. Jackalope originally sat where Marble Fox is today. At that point, we had a little brewing community, with Yazoo, Jackalope, Tennessee Brew Works, and Czanns. They moved totheir current location at 429B Houston Street (WeHo, South Nashville – 5) in 2018.
12. Living Waters – 1056 E Trinity Lane, #101 (East Nashville – 4) and 4909 Indiana Ave (Nations, West Nashville – 6) – is the creation of a coffee roaster, a brewer, and a musician. As it is a coffee house, it is the only place in Nashville you can grab a craft beer early in the morning. Their beers are named after rivers, either real or fictional, and they first got known for their barrel aged stouts. Now great on lagers and IPAs, both hazy and clean.
13. Marble Fox – 701 8th Ave S (Lower Gulch, downtown – 1) – opened in 2023 and, like Fait, started hammering out great beers early on. This cozy little place sits just down the street from Arnold’s County Kitchen, an iconic meat & three. If you drive here, be sure to scan the parking code inside the brewery and not on the outside, as you can get 2 hours free.
14. Monday Night is an Atlanta based brewery that opened at 1308 Adams St, right on the Cumberland River in East Germantown (1). This brewery does not change out its menu like others in the city, but does have an extensive tap list acorss numerous styles. Limited food options. On Tuesday, you get a token for each beer you buy which is good for another one. The token does not have to be used that day and you can come in whenever for your second draft. They also run a full drink menu for non-beer lovers. One of the neatest taprooms I have ever visited, esp. their outdoor seating.
15. New Heights – 928 Rep John Lewis Way S (South Nashville, 5) – is best known for their Navel Gazer stout, which they do each year in various barrels with different adjuncts. They also do well with their lagers and IPAs. The location has a food truck, although they have not been able to keep one full time for long. They also do 312 Pizza pizzas inside the taproom, as well as some snacks. Live Music at times on their outside stage.
16. Rock N’ Dough is a Jackson, TN based brewery and pizza joint. In Nashville proper, they have a location in the Hampton Inn at 3449 Dickerson Pike. In addition to their beer and food menu, they have one of the best allocations of whiskey in the area. Even have a bourbon club for $60/year which gives early access to members picks plus 15% off your pours.
17. Smith & Lentz – 903 Main St (East Nashville – 4) – initially opened as beer only. After getting hit by a tornado in 2020, owners Kurt Smith and Adler Lentz decided to add a pizza menu. Today the clientele is as much for the food than the beer and S&L has one of the best pizzas in Nashville. They focus most heavily on different styles of lagers and IPAs. I go back and forth on whether they, or Barrique, does the best on lagers.
18. Southern Grist originally opened in East Nashville on Porter Road (now Schulman’s). They opened a second location at 5012 Centennial Blvd (Nations, West Nashville – 6), which still serves as their production facility, and moved to larger digs in East Nashville (4) at 754 Douglas Ave. East Nashville has a limited chef-run menu. The Nations taproom only has food on weekends.
19. Tailgate currently has 7 locations in the Nashville area, one in the airport, and another down in Chattanooga. They do quite a few hazy IPAs (Trees and Wizards series), but also have the Lager Projekt, Dough (pastry beers), Schnack (fruited sours), and limited barrel age releases. They have a full menu and run 1/2 price pizza on Wednesday. Locations in order of opening (including non-Nashville locations (not bolded):
    • Headquarters – 7300 Charlotte Pike (Bellevue – 8)
    • Music Row – 1538 Demonbreun (Midtown – 3)
    • East Nashville – 811 Gallatin Ave (East Nashville – 4)
    • Chattanooga – 1464 Market St, Chattanooga, TN
    • Germantown – 915 3rd Ave N (Capitol North, downtown – 1)
    • Hendersonville – 248 Sanders Ferry (north of Madison)
    • Tanger Outlets – 4060 Cane Ridge Pkwy, Unit 615, Antioch, TN
    • Murfreesboro – 210 Stones River Mall Blvd, Murfreesboro, TN
20. Tenn Fold – 2408 Lebanon Pike (East of Nashville, 2) – is a creation of the guys who own Nectar Urban Cantina, which sits about 2 blocks away from Tenn Fold. Menu similar to Tailgate, with pizzas, sandwiches, and salads. Been tends to be a bit more on the dry side.
21. Tennessee Brew Works – 809 Ewing Ave (Pie town, downtown – 1) – is one of the few that routinely has live music. Also worth a stop for 1/2 price premium pours on Tuesday. Have a nice food menu that does items using their beers. The burger has a lot going on.
22. Yazoo used to be close to where Marble Fox currently sits in the Lower Gulch (and, if you go back further, in Marathon Village). They are now at 900 River Bluff Dr (Madison – 11) on the river. They also have another facility to brew their funk beer, although you can find the funk, called Embrace the Funk in the taproom. Food from Grillshack which gives you an entire large Idaho potato for fries that come with your burger ($13). One of the better burgers in the city.

Here is a table that covers their location, rating, main styles of beer, and whether they have food or not. I have added a column for those who routinely do cask ales.

If you want things broken down by styles, check out my Google Sheet.

Cideries

• Cyanide Cider brews dry English style ciders. Grayson does keep some other local beers on tap, primarily from Crazy Gnome, which he also owns. Birria Babe has a permanent pop up in their kitchen.
• Diskins Cider (A) is in WeHo and serves a variety of ciders, mostly sweet. My favorite was seasonal, as it is bourbon barrel aged, but BTC (Bourbon Tart Cherry) is year round now. They do have a limited, somewhat upscale food menu.
• Tailgate Cider runs out of their Music Row Location, but you can get their flagship cider at any of their locations. Has a full food menu.

Meadery

Our sole meadery is located in East Nashville: Honeytree Meadery (C). This meadery has its own apiaries to produce honey for their mead (not on the location, however).

How to Visit

From downtown, a few are easy to get to: Yee-Haw (22) in SoBro; Marble Fox (13) in the Lower Gulch; Tennessee Brew Works () in Pie Town; and Tailgate, Music Row (19) in midtown.

Another way to get to the breweries is the Music City Brew Hop Trolley, which has two routes. I prefer the East route, as the other route hits breweries close to downtown, many of which you can easily walk to. Here is my plan of action for those wanting to utilize the East Route to hit some of our best. The numbers correspond to stops.

1. Honeytree Meadery. I would grab some mead while you are here, but if this is not your bag, go downhill to Main Street and head left to Smith & Lentz. This is a great place to grab something to eat if you are hungry. NOTE: There will also be another brewery/BBQ joint opening behind Main Street Liquor soon (Crazy Gnome’s old location) called Stoke Haus Brewing & BBQ. This is also very near Honeytree.
2. Tailgate – if you are worried about having too many, there is also a Tailgate location in Midtown near Music Row. Wednesday night for 1/2 price pizza is a great option. Also have price appetizers on Monday.
3. Southern Grist is a must stop, as they are one of our top breweries. Also a good option for food.
4. East Nashville Beer Works brews a bit drier than some others. When the trolley had more stops, I would consider skipping this one. Has a really nice outdoor deck, if the weather is cooperating. Also have food if you have not eaten yet.
5. Bearded Iris is another top brewery. This taproom has a food truck on site that is semi-permanent, although they have had changes from time to time. The menu is normally IPAs and lagers, with a sour or two thrown in.
6. Monday Night – If you don’t want to wait for the trolley to bring you here from Bearded Iris, it is only a couple of blocks over. This is a transplant to Nashville, but does have an ample selection.

The Trolley meets at the Omni at 11:50 AM and continues until 6 PM. If you get tickets online, you can join at any stop that is convenient (Honeytree if you are in East Nashville; Bearded Iris or Monday Night in Germantown).

NOTE: If you are not wasted after the trolley, you can walk down to Tailgate near the baseball stadium or cross the Jefferson Street Bridge and go to Barrique.

Peace and Grace,