Southern Crafted. Graphic Arts Books

      Craft Beer Goes South (in a Good Way)

      Before we begin to dive into the people and places that make Nashville a shining beacon for casual beer fans and craft connoisseurs alike, let’s travel back to a dark and ancient time when things were not so . . .

      When the craft beer revolution started to gain national momentum around 2010 there were more than 1,750 craft breweries in the US. Fast-forward to 2014 and that number leaped the 3,400 mark. However, the majority of these fine houses of hops and malted barley were, and to this day still are, located in the Northwestern, Midwestern, and Northeastern regions of the country.

      Why is that?

      Four things . . .

      Demand

      Legislation

      Morality

      Prohibition

      Yes, Prohibition, a law that was repealed more than eight decades ago, still has a lasting impact on beer production in the South.

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      The last three are intrinsically tied together. Prohibition, mostly considered a movement of morality, saw huge support in the Bible Belt and there is still a large Southern constituency that holds tight to this ideology.

      For example, up until 2013,

      in Mississippi and Alabama,

      if you were brewing beer in the

      comfort of your own home, you

      were a fugitive from the law.

      As for demand, if Budweiser, Miller, and Coors are the only options available to you, then why leave your comfort zone? The more successful craft brewers recognize this, making the South a market that historically has been better left untapped. But things are changing.

      Cultivating the Nashville Craft Beer Scene

      At a state level, Nashville floats freely above other Tennessee towns at sixteen breweries and climbing; Knoxville and Chattanooga are next with six each. In the last three years more than eight new breweries have taken root in Nashville. According to the Brewers Association, the city now also boasts one of the

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      fastest-growing craft breweries in the United States as of 2012. So, suffice it to say, things are getting serious.

      With other states in the region struggling mightily against the lingering bitterness of Prohibition, how has the Nashville craft beer scene matured so well?

      Aside from the fact that making their own booze is somewhat ingrained in the fabric of Tennesseans, the easiest expla- nation is Tennessee realizes the greater economic benefits of craft brewing.

      Though the Volunteer State has the highest beer tax in the nation, most legislation, as it applies to beer production, makes it a very proactive place for startup breweries. How so you ask? Consider these three things:

      A modernized,

      stabilized

      beer tax.

      An increase

      in maximum

      ABV% (Alcohol

      by Volume

      percentage, for

      the uninitiated).

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      The ability to

      self-distribute in

      their own county.

      You can thank the members of the Tennessee Craft Brewers Guild (a nonprofit group based out of Nashville) for those first two items.

      Add all that together with a booming economy and one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the nation, and it is pretty easy to see why Nashville makes a great location for craft brew startups.

      But it is more than just politics. There is commerce and community behind this beast.

      As a thriving center of economic boom, Nashville lends itself to entrepreneurship and local business. It also boasts a healthy tourism industry and possesses a young, adven turous demographic ready and willing to try new things. It also helps that at least once a month you can find some embodiment of a beer festival going on around town, which has given the national craft brewing community cause to pay attention.

      The Nashville community, with its collective thirst for brews that are more pleasing to their palates, is but a microcosm in this surging universe of bubbly artisan beverages. A closer examination of the Nashville craft beer scene will show you it’s strongest at its roots. And those roots go almost a decade deep, back to 1996, when the homebrew club Music City Brewers held its first meeting.

      At the heart of the this club was a group of people passionate about the beer they drink, all wanting to brew something they

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      themselves would enjoy and share it with their community. Of the ten breweries featured in this guide, five owners/founders were early members of the Music City Brewers.

      Most of the brewers covered in this book—though they all have different styles, ambitions, and philosophies—all live to give beer drinkers something enlightened, something different. It’s not about competing against each other or the likes of Budweiser, Coors, and Miller (well, maybe just a bit). But mostly it is about education. Showing people that they have other options, and those options are damn good.

      For these craftsmen and women, every handle, bottle, or can that