Trade Broadway for a Beer Trail Through Nashville Breweries

To trade Broadway for a beer trail, head to the neighborhoods that ring downtown. Six taprooms in SoBro, Wedgewood-Houston, Germantown, and East Nashville pour beer from Nashville brewers, and most add a patio, a kitchen, or both.

In place of the honky-tonk crush, you get a seat, a menu, and room to ask what’s on tap.

Tennessee Brew Works: Local Grain in SoBro

Since opening in 2013, Tennessee Brew Works has sourced grain from in-state growers whenever possible. Batey Farms in Murfreesboro and Willis Farms in Hillsboro are two of them, while partners such as Bloomsbury Farm provide other brewing ingredients. Its State Park Blonde uses grain from the Hillsboro farm alone, and a share of its sales supports the Tennessee State Parks Conservancy.

You’ll find the taproom three blocks south of the Music City Center, under the Division Street Bridge. Anyone curious about where the state’s beer begins can learn plenty here:

• Beer-inspired plates from executive chef Alex Leibow and head chef Kayla Bridwell range from a beet salad to a Five Beer Burger.
• Hippies & Cowboys IPA leads the lineup, and Urban Hiker pours year-round.
• Live music and events such as pottery classes fill the calendar.

Jackalope Brewing: Patio Space in Wedgewood-Houston

South of downtown, Jackalope Brewing Company brews and serves its beer at The Ranch on Houston Street. Founder Bailey Spaulding opened the brewery in 2011 on Eighth Avenue South. It later moved all of its operations to this site.

The open-air patio draws the biggest crowd on nice days, and families can borrow board games inside. With a full food menu on hand, the staff asks you to leave outside snacks behind. Black Abbey, now owned by Jackalope, has its own taps here. For private parties, the brewery rents out three spaces, The Loft among them. Parking options include an on-site lot, curbside spaces on Houston, Pillow, and Humphreys, and low-cost lots within a block.

Bearded Iris: IPAs in Germantown

Up in Germantown, the original Bearded Iris Brewing taproom still operates on Van Buren Street. Homestyle anchors a lineup heavy on IPAs and double IPAs, with Double and Triple versions for drinkers who want more punch. Pep Talk Lager gives fans of crisp beer an option.

Memphis-based Wiseacre Brewing bought the brand. After the Sylvan Park taproom closed, this one became its only Nashville location.

TailGate Brewery: Pints by the Ballpark

Also in Germantown, TailGate Brewery’s taproom sits beside First Horizon Park, home of the Nashville Sounds. Baseball fans can grab a pint before the first pitch, and everyone else gets plenty to sample:

• Thirty rotating draft lines pour TailGate beers, ciders, and seltzers, including Orange Wheat, Wizards’ Order IPA, and Lager Projekt, a Munich helles.
• The building also houses Nashville’s first craft seltzery, with small-batch, fruit-forward flavors.
• The kitchen turns out scratch-made pizza, salads, and appetizers for the covered patio and the bar.

Smith & Lentz: Sourdough Pizza in East Nashville

Pizza gets equal billing with beer at Smith & Lentz Brewing in East Nashville, a smart pick for friends sharing dinner. Each pie, about 16 inches across, starts with Carolina Ground flour and a sourdough ferment, and toppings lean on local produce. Dessert means house-made ice cream, and wine covers anyone skipping beer. Outside, a beer garden gives the evening some fresh air.

The brewery takes no reservations, so big groups should arrive early. Order food in good time, too, since the kitchen shuts 30 minutes before the bar.

Living Waters: Morning Coffee on Trinity Lane

Early risers can begin at Living Waters Brewing, whose Barrel Vault taproom on Trinity Lane opens at 7 a.m. with a full coffee counter. Beer is available from opening Monday through Saturday and after 10 a.m. on Sunday, while coffee service ends an hour before close. The taps change regularly, but a recent board looked like this:

• A Kölsch and a German Pilsner sat at the gentle end.
• Stronger choices ran to a Belgian Tripel and New England IPAs.
• Two sours carried a gluten-free label, so ask staff about ingredients if gluten matters to you.

Living Waters runs a second spot, The Garden, on Indiana Avenue in West Nashville. Back on Trinity Lane, East Nashville Beer Works suits parents better, thanks to a playground and a huge outdoor space.

Putting the Trail in Order

The six taprooms fall into three parts of town, so expect short drives between neighborhoods rather than a long walk:

1. Kick off in SoBro and Wedgewood-Houston.
2. Head north to Germantown for the next pair.
3. Finish across the river in East Nashville.

For a western detour, Xul Beer Company has a taproom on Centennial Boulevard in The Nations. Xul also operates the former Southern Grist site on Douglas Avenue in East Nashville, where Xul now pours its own beer alongside a few Southern Grist favorites.

Each fall, an Oktoberfest that began in Germantown in 1980 adds a festival to the trail. It now fills Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, with German imports and Nashville craft beer on draft.

Opening times matter more than distance:

• Every stop opens by noon on Friday and Saturday, so those days give you the most room.
• From Monday to Thursday, Bearded Iris waits until 3 p.m., Jackalope until 4 p.m., and Smith & Lentz until 5 p.m.
• Sundays are shortest. Smith & Lentz serves only from 5 to 9 p.m., and Jackalope wraps up at 7 p.m. Bearded Iris and Tennessee Brew Works call it a night at 8 p.m.
• Monday through Saturday, most taps flow until 10 p.m., though TailGate closes at 9 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday, and Living Waters closes at 8 p.m. from Sunday to Tuesday and at 9 p.m. the rest of the week.

Bringing your dog? Tennessee Brew Works, Jackalope, Bearded Iris, TailGate, and Smith & Lentz welcome dogs on their patios, and East Nashville Beer Works welcomes them in its beer garden.

Last Call

Broadway will still be there when the day ends. Spending the afternoon in the neighborhoods first shows a quieter side of Nashville. With more taprooms than one day can cover, there is always a reason to come back for the ones you missed.

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