Hey Nashville, are you enjoying craft beer week? We hope so.

We didn’t post anything before the week kicked off because we spent all last week in Portland, OR (aka Beervana) and Spokane, WA. There is SO MUCH good beer there. I don’t think we had the same beer twice. Look for lots of new blog posts of our PACNW beer adventures soon.

This week was fun for us. Tuesday night June and the ladies of Nashville’s chapter of Girls’ Pint Out took over {pub}licity in Bellevue. We also stopped by to see our friends at Craft Brewed the past two nights. Thursday, they hosted a Fat Bottom tap takeover and tonight was a full TN tap takeover. It was beautiful to see 20 taps of beer from only Tennessee brewers. Let’s see if I can remember all the taps: Yazoo, Blackstone, Fat Bottom, Czann’s, Jackalope, Mayday, Turtle Anarchy, Saw Works, Calf Killer, Jubilee and Chattanooga. Yes, that’s 11. Eleven. If you didn’t catch that, I said 11. For those of you not from Tennessee, three years ago that list would had just been Yazoo & Blackstone.

It’s a good time to be a beer lover in Tennessee. We’ve come so far, but we’ve got a long way to go. In the next few months Little Harpeth, Tennessee Brew Works and Black Abbey will be opening, and that’s just in Nashville. I’m sure there are other breweries in the works in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities. We can’t wait!

Cheers!

(FYI… here’s the tap list tonight at Craft Brewed. Look at all those tasty TN beers. Stop by this weekend, they’ll be on tap until the kegs are blown.)

Tennessee brewers and beer fans won a big legislative battle to reform TN’s antiquated beer tax. If you missed it, here’s the press release from the FixTheBeerTax.Com, an effort of the Tennessee Craft Brewers Guild and Tennessee Malt Beverage Association.

WE DID IT: TAX REFORM TAPPED FOR TENNESSEE

Tennessee General Assembly passes Beer Tax Reform Act of 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee General Assembly voted Wednesday to approve the Beer Tax Reform Act of 2013. The near unanimous vote in both the House and Senate only added to the excitement surrounding a campaign deemed a legislative sensation.

The reform proposal to fix the highest beer tax in the nation has drawn statewide support from every level of Tennessee’s beer industry, from large brewers such as Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors to craft brewers and beer wholesalers. As the spotlight heated up on state lawmakers, it also caught the support and attention of a national audience.

“This tax reform makes Tennessee more appealing to business,” said Rich Foge, president of the Tennessee Malt Beverage Association. “It will attract new brewers to the state, as well as help those already here to expand and create additional jobs.”

Senate Bill 422 and House Bill 999, sponsored by Representative Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Representative Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown), will convert Tennessee’s outdated price-based tax to a more business-friendly volume based tax. Currently, Tennessee has the highest beer tax rate in the nation, propelling higher and higher every year with inflation.

“When it came down to it,” said Senator Ken Yager (R- Harriman) on the Senate floor Monday, “this vote was about whether or not Tennessee would become competitive in one of the country’s fastest-growing industries.”

Tennessee leads all other states’ beer tax rate by a 12 percent margin. In comparison to our neighbors, Arkansas’ tax per barrel rings up at $7.51 and Mississippi’s at $13.23, while Tennessee tops out at a whopping $37 per barrel.

“In a historically low tax state, Tennessee’s 1950s era triple layer beer tax has been no friend to businesses,” said Sexton. “Whether you are a small brewery or a large scale operation, the tax has hindered expansion and recruitment as well as punished growth. It was simply time for a change in the tax structure and everyone involved is honored to have enjoyed such sweeping support.”

Since the bill’s introduction, more than 2,000 supporters of the grass-roots Fix the Beer Tax Campaign rallied in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis and Tri-Cities, resulting each time in a flurry of social media and support from local businesses.

“This is also a victory for Tennessee consumers who will benefit from more selection in the marketplace as more beer brands become available as a direct result of this new tax structure,” Foge added.

The bill will now head to the Governor’s desk for a signature, as the statewide sound of clinking glasses swells in a toast to Tennessee’s brighter future.

Recently June and I, some good friends and a few ladies from Nashville’s Girls’ Pint Out got together at the future home of a new local brewery, Tennessee Brew Works. The brewery will be located at 809 Ewing Ave, a few blocks from 8th and Division and within walking distance to Jackalope and Yazoo. (Taproom crawl, anyone?) The brewery will be in a old printing company and we got to see it before construction started. It was a wee bit rough but we could imagine how great it will be based on the blueprints we saw. The brewery will have a taproom and a small kitchen with a limited menu. Like any good brewery, they’ll do growler fills too.

We spent the evening with founders Garr Schwartz & Christian Spears. Garr’s also the (very good) brewmaster and a local boy, his family has been in Nashville for several generations and he’s a proud McGavock High graduate. He spent a few years in NYC but moved back home in 2003 and last year convinced Christian that Nashville was great place to live and start a business. They met at Lehman Brothers, where they both started on March 19, 1997. I can appreciate taking the 18th to recover after a NYC St Patrick’s Day celebration!

You’d expect two guys starting a brewery to be passionate about beer, and you’d be right. These guys are excited about bringing their beer to Tennessee and their enthusiasm is contagious. It was obvious they’ve done their homework too, as you would expect from NYC big finance guys. I’m guessing working at Lehman Brothers taught them a few things about how business works. That’s great, because many breweries fail because the passionate brewmaster has no idea how to run a business.

One thing we learned about the new 25 barrel brewhouse is they’ll use a mash filter instead of a traditional lauter tun. It will yield a more efficient mash than a typical setup and the new brewhouse will use 50% less water and 20% less grain and energy than comparable sized breweries. That’s a good thing because brewers use A LOT of water. Beer is mostly water of course, but a lot of the water in the brewing process goes straight down the drain. Garr has been brewing the beers on a small pilot system until the big brewhouse comes online.

We sampled seven beers and I’ll tell you all about them, but will not tell you the names as some are still undecided. We kicked off the night off with a Belgian white ale that will be a perfect summer beer. Great citrus notes and hints of floral in a crisp beer that will pair well with light foods.

Next up was a beer somewhere between an English pale ale and an ESB (extra special bitter). The guys seemed reluctant to call it an ESB and I don’t blame them, the “bitter” in the name freaks out a lot of craft beer newbies. However, ESBs aren’t bitter at all, especially when compared to American IPAs. Unlike most ESBs, this one gets a hop addition after the boil. Homebrewers call these “flameout” hops, since the hops are added after you turn the burner off, pro brewers might call it a hop stand or whirlpool hops. Whatever you call it, post-boil hopping adds a lot of aroma and flavor without adding any bitterness. You’re gonna love this beer, it was one of my favorites.

We moved on to a basil Farmhouse/Saison with rye in the grain bill. The rye added a hint of spice while the basil adds the magic that makes this a perfect beer with dinner. The basil rye saison was easily in my top three. Next was a solid American pale ale with a spicy herbal presence that’ll will make it a perfect fall beer. Everyone agreed it would be a perfect beer at the Thanksgiving table. June says this one is her favorite.

From the pale ale we moved onto the IPA, naturally. A bit of rye in the mash adds a touch of spice that works well in an IPA. A good beer, but not hoppy enough for the discerning crowd that had gathered. One of the great things about the night was Garr & Christian’s desire to hear honest feedback on the beers. The IPA was a good beer, but we all wanted more hops. Garr told us others had said the same thing and he’s tweaking the recipe. I can’t wait to try the IPA 2.0. I’m more of a Belgian ale and stout guy, but when I drink an IPA I want it to smack me upside the head with hoppiness.

Next we tried a sweet potato stout that is brewed with baked sweet potatoes in the mash. The dark, creamy, smooth, sweet beer was a stout lovers dream. Besides sweet potatoes in the mash, there’s also rye. If you haven’t figured out by now, Garr likes brewing with rye. The rye add a touch of “umph” and a bit of rye spice to complement the rich roasty stout character.

The last beer of the night was a Belgian Tripel that Garr named Tripel Spears after his business partner. That name will be changed for production and I may or may not have suggested the new one. Time will tell. Of course, the tripel was high-gravity but the smooth malty richness and fruity esters made it easily drinkable, maybe too easy for a high-alcohol beer. I know I said some of the other beers were my favorite, but this truly was number one.

I think we planned on being at the brewery about 90 minutes and it ended up being twice that. The beers were delicious and the company was better. Christian and Garr are so enthusiastic about their dream that it was easy to talk about the project for hours. We had a fabulous night and we’re looking forward to many more great evenings in their taproom. June and I can’t wait to see you all there this summer when it opens!

Cheers.

How did you kick off your Nashville Craft Beer Week? There are so many great beer activities going on that it’s hard to pick one (or a couple) each night. June and I stopped by Craft Brewed for the special Highland Brewing cask tapping. All the way from Asheville, Kitty brought over a special cask of their St. Terese’s Pale Ale infused with jalapeno. We’re glad we tried it. Neither one of us are huge fans of pepper beer, but this one was good with just a hint of jalapeno.

Chip and the crew at Craft Brewed also had Highland’s Thunderstruck Coffee Porter on tap, one of our Highland favorites. We had a great time hanging out and chatting with Kitty and the Ajax Turner guys, Clark & Ian. We’ve met a lot of good people in the beer industry here in Middle Tennessee. There’s something about good beer that draws good people together. That’s the best thing about craft beer, it’s a great way to connect with new friends. We hope you had a great night and met some new friends too. Here’s to a great Craft Brewed Week. Cheers!