May 2013 -New Brews and Other News

 

Hello craft addicts. I am back…for now. It is I, Nashville’s laziest beer blogger. Accept no substitutes.

 I have not been out much because work has just been crazy. What I can tell you is that Southern Tier Plum Noir and 2x Steam, Lagunitas Imperial Stout, and Highland Imperial Kashmir IPA hit the shelves. It’s probably too late, but if you can still find some Straight to Ale Gorillanaught, it gets the hop head’s seal of approval. If there are any Brandon Jones' beers left at the Yazoo tap room, I’d suggest you get over there right now.

 Speaking of Brandon Jones, the first annual Yazoo Funk Fest was a phenomenal success. If you were not there, too funkin bad. What did you miss? Yazoo 100% Brett Custersianus Amarillo Double Hopped Ale, Yazoo Lichtenhainer Style Ale, Yazoo 100% Brett Fermented Hibiscus Ale, Yazoo Wild Child , Yazoo Sour Cherry, Yazoo Drie Day - 100% Brett Fermented Ale aged Grand Marnier Oak, Yazoo Brett Horyezons - 100% Brett Fermented Ale aged Rye Whisky Barrel, and Yazoo/New Belgium Rufus. That’s just the Yazoo beers. The guest beer list was outstanding! Too many to list, but off the top of my head there was Cantillon 100% Lambic Bio, Oude Gueuze Tilquin, Russian River Consecration, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Orval, Saison Dupont, Panil Bariquee, Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere, Samiclaus, Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze, Leifman’s Goudenbond, Lost Abbey Saint’s Devotion, and more. The Bloomy Rind brought some great cheeses. My favorites were Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, Hop Devil, and Widmer. We had free access to roam around the brewery and check out the new barrel room. An added bonus was that it was not crowded(although that will change next year, now that the cat’s out of the bag). Brandon and Linus brought their A game for the sourheads. You all have to take your hats off to Linus Hall.The guy took his life savings and built Yazoo up to what it is now. He lead the charge on the new beer tax overhaul legislation, brought Brandon Jones on to start a barrel and sour program, and held the first sour beer festival in town. Nashville is so lucky that he set up shop here.

Nashville’s craft beer boom continues at a pleasantly alarming rate. I ran into Black Abbey’s Carl Meier at Cool Springs Brewery. He tells me that August or September is their targeted opening date. We are in for a real treat when they come online. Czann’s Brewing Co. beers are starting to make appearance at various bars. Tennessee Brew Works is inching closer to their opening. Last I heard, they are targeting for some time in June. Honkey Tonk Brewing company applied for their beer permits for wholesaler and on/off premise. Little Harpeth Brewing is under construction as well and is slated to open sometime this summer. Jackalope, Fat Bottom, and Mayday are expanding capacity. I should just get on the liver transplant list now. This is nuts. Just five years ago, I was scrounging for ANY Nashville craft beer news. Now I can’t keep up.

Back to Cool Springs Brewery. I stopped by for lunch and to sample the Shaft Black IPA and the CircumSaison (an 8% saison with Mosaic hops). Both were excellent. And their pizza lunch buffet is a great deal at $8.99. I wish it were closer

 You really need to check out Craft Brewed Nashville’s high gravity store. Ryan did an awesome job. They have a great selection that is VERY WELL organized. No tucking the beers in the corner or wherever there is a spare square foot of floor space. Plus the hop forward beers are refrigerated. We already know that the low gravity side is a kick ass place to enjoy a beer, shop for six packs and singles, and fill a growler.

Rhizome Productions Brew At The Zoo will be held on May 31^st. Tickets are available here. And you know if Matt Leff is involved, it won’t suck. Unfortunately I will be gone that weekend. It seems that all of his events are held when I am out of town. Is this planned? Hmmm

That’s it for now. It’s now back to work selling  marching band stuff online. Until next time- cheers

Smitty