Tag: Nashville

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The Firkin for May 2023

At the start of this month, the Craft Brewers Conference was held in Nashville, Tennessee. There was a bit of dismay at both the choice considering the hostility towards, well anyone not a white male, in that state as well as disappointment at the Brewers Association for not either moving it (may not have been feasible) or at least using their voice to condemn recent laws.

Let me preface the next bit by saying that I am an over 50 white guy who is trying to be more aware each day and who tries to keep rose colored glasses and blinders away from my face to see the world as it is.

There are some steps to be made that I think will help.

  • Create a city selection committee who will make suggestions based on current optics and politics and not on facilities or hotels or cost and maybe not have any white people on it, just to see what happens
  • Have a grievance list for the city chosen because you can easily find problems in literally every city in this country, then air your grievances like at Festivus
  • March to the state house of representatives and hand them your grievances and let them know that if they are in the red, as it were, that they may not get the conference again until things change
  • Allow dissenters to participate virtually if they feel unsafe going to a city. Or better yet, create an alternate conference where views can be spoken

It is easy to sweep things under the rug. It is easy to just say craft beer is broken. The truth is in the middle. There are great people in craft beer and there are shitty people in it. No one in this country is doing well by women, minorities or anyone not a rich white male. To expect that craft beer will be an exception is naive. But, we can all push the ball forward. Might only be a yard and a cloud of dust but we can all enjoy our beer and make good change.

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Southern Brewery # 3 – Smith & Lentz


The last March stop is in Nashville at Smith & Lentz who have gone the route of a small brewing system surround by what they call “an army of fermenters and aging vessels…” to allow them to keep bringing the new. Though they do have a couple core beers in their Mosaic IPA and German Pils.

Here is what I would add to my taster tray….

Happy Hearts Club Pilsner – “Brewed with bohemian floor malted heirloom malt and Czech Saaz. Happy Hearts Club was fermented with urquell lager strain and then conditioned for eight weeks.”

Münkel Dunkelweizen – “Pleasant Malt character. White grape & Orange Hop Aroma”

A Long Way From Huell IPA – “Featuring Huell Melon hops from Hop Head Farms, selected for HHF’s attention to detail harvesting and processing these beauties. We layered in Mosaic, Citra and Azacca to make this a dynamic beer that glorifies excessive hop use!”

Mosaic IPA – “A west coast style of IPA aggressively hopped with Mosaic. This is a very unique, highly sought after hop varietal which is reminiscent of blueberry, grapefruit, and pine.”

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Nashville Brewery Tour # 3 – Czann’s Brewing Company


Our final stop in Nashville is at Czann’s where you will find classic styles that the brewery makes using base and specialty malts supplied by Franco-Belges, a European based malt shop. Nothing fancy in my initial taster tray but maybe their “clean yeast” and those malts will sing together…

Czann’s German Pilsner
“Two months in the making, this German Pilsner is made from European Pilsner malt and hopped with Perle & Hallertau Hersbrucker. Crisp and clean with a pleasant hop flavor.”

Czann’s Dunkelweizen
“A dark wheat beer featuring caramel and munich malts from Germany, France, and Belgium. Brewed with German Hefeweizen yeast for the traditional banana and clove flavor, complimented by the underlying dark malt flavor.”

Czann’s Pale Ale
“Brewed using 4 different malts and 3 hop additions. Dark crystal malt is used to create its deep color and low bittering hops are used for a unique hop flavor that doesn’t overpower the complex malt flavor of the beer.”

Czann’s Belgian Blonde
“A light and refreshing Belgian ale featuring sterling and saaz hops complimented by a light spicy finish.”

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Nashville Brewery Tour # 2 – Honky Tonk Brewing


Most brewery websites have the same generic “origin story” on their About page. The Honky Tonk Brewing site has that too, but they also convey this funny story about a classic Johnny Cash song that “tells the tale of a GM assembly line worker’s ingenious plan to steal all the parts to build a Cadillac one piece at a time and put it all back together before he retires. Johnny’s plan worked out just about like our plan to build this brewery one piece at a time. It’s fired up and running but we get a few strange looks every now and then. The beer tastes mighty fine and “It didn’t cost us a dime!” I like that a brewery has a sense of humor and isn’t full of themselves.

Now onto what beers I would put into a taster tray….

TN Jed
“A unique American wheat beer created especially to be a year- round beer for a broad TENNESSEE audience. It’s crafty, but you don’t need to twist your mustache to enjoy. Slightly sweet from a healthy does of Caramel malts, finishes clean with low bitterness.”

LeBrown James
“A dark, chocolatey brown ale brewed with flaked oats making it smooth & full bodied with a dry finish. This beer is rounded out with a generous dosage of hops, giving it just the right amount of bitterness.”

West Coast IPA
“True to the style, our West Coast IPA is a Hop BOMB! loaded with “C” hops to 85 IBUs. We dry hop it for a big hoppy aroma. It’s dry, citrsuy, with notes of grapefruit & orange with a lasting bitterness.”

Blackberry Berliner Weisse
“Our Spring Seasonal Blackberry Berliner Weisse is tart & approachable. The addition of ripe Oregon Blackberries is the perfect compliment to the taste bud tingling sour affect of the Berliner Weisse style. This beer pours a beautiful magenta color and sits at 4.3% ABV”

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Nashville Brewery Tour # 1 – Southern Grist


Usually Los Angeles is home to transplants from across the nation but so is Nashville which is our brewery focus for this month and we start at Southern Grist Brewing Company founded by Jamie Lee, Kevin Antoon, and Jared Welch, three Nashville transplants who have quite the list of interesting beers. Especially using coffee.

Buckeye Drip – Imperial Stout
“Imperial stout brewed with peanut butter, chocolate, real buckeye candies, and Barista Parlor’s Brazil Special Lot Reserve #673.”

Too Much Sauce – Double IPA
“Hazy Double IPA with Azacca, Mandarina Bavaria, and Vic Secret hops.”

Pineapple Moerloos – Belgian Strong Ale
“Belgian Golden Strong Ale – earthy and spicy with strong notes of banana-pineapple added.”

East Brown and Down – Brown Ale
“Brown ale made with cinnamon, hazelnut, and coffee.”

Insert Juicy Pun – Double IPA
“Make up your own pun…Juicy IIPA”