Howdy Nash
Howdy Nash
Tennessee's craft beer scene, from a downtown taproom you can walk to out to East Nashville and Germantown. Twenty-one breweries worth your time, plus tours, neighborhoods, and food.
Nashville is a country-music town with a real craft-beer scene underneath it. More than two dozen breweries operate within a 20-minute drive of downtown, clustered in a handful of neighborhoods: SoBro, Germantown, Wedgewood-Houston, East Nashville, and the West End side of Midtown.
This guide covers twenty-one breweries worth a stop, what each one is known for, which ones serve food, how the tours work, and how to move between them without a car. If spirits are more your speed, pair it with the Nashville distilleries guide.
809 Ewing Avenue, SoBro. The closest brewery to Lower Broadway and the easiest one to reach on foot. Tennessee Brew Works sits on the south edge of downtown, below the Division Street bridge, near City Winery and Third Man Records. Multiple floors, a full kitchen, and regular live music make it more of a night-out venue than a quick taproom stop.
701 8th Avenue South, near the Gulch. A family-owned brewery with deep roots. The founding family traces its brewing back to Fox Head Brewing in 1800s Milwaukee. The 8th Avenue taproom pours 16 taps of beer brewed on site, with outdoor seating and a kitchen of flatbreads and shareable plates.
423 6th Avenue South, downtown. A Tennessee brewery with a large downtown Nashville taproom, a short walk from Lower Broadway. Yee-Haw started in East Tennessee and pours an approachable core lineup, and the Nashville taproom is one of the roomier beer stops close to the tourist core.
Several Nashville taprooms, including Music Row at 1538 Demonbreun Street. One of the biggest brewery names in town. TailGate runs multiple Nashville taprooms, including Music Row, Germantown, an East Nashville taproom on Gallatin Avenue, and a Charlotte Pike headquarters. Every location pours house-brewed beer and serves gourmet pizza, which makes any TailGate an easy food-and-beer stop.
501 Benton Avenue, near Geodis Park. A pizza-and-beer spot that brews its own. The Benton Avenue location sits near Geodis Park, with a second Nashville location on Dickerson Pike. The draw is house beer alongside a full pizza menu.
30 Oldham Street, the East Bank. A brewery built around barrel-aged and blended beers, just across the river from downtown on the East Bank. Barrique is a smaller, specialist operation for drinkers who want something past the standard taproom lineup.
2312 Clifton Avenue, Midtown. One of Nashville's longest-running beer names, on the West End side of Midtown. The taphouse pours 16 rotating beers, and Blackstone runs a real tour program, including a standard guided tour at around $10 that includes two pours and runs about an hour, plus a longer monthly history tour. Food comes from the B-Stone Bus, a 1989 Ford school bus parked on site and retrofitted as a kitchen.
101 Van Buren Street, Germantown. The name most associated with Nashville hazy IPAs. The Germantown taproom is the heart of it, a short walk from the neighborhood's restaurant row. Order a hazy before dinner nearby.
1308 Adams Street, Germantown. An Atlanta brewery that crossed state lines into one of Nashville's most striking taprooms, set in a preserved historic building near the Neuhoff development. The Nashville location, the Preservation Society, pours 24 beers alongside cocktails and wine, and the outdoor seating makes it a warm-weather pick.
928 Rep. John Lewis Way South. A brewery just south of downtown, an easy ride from Broadway. New Heights runs a broad tap list across styles and a taproom with a steady local following.
1414 3rd Avenue South. A small brewery south of downtown, in the stretch between SoBro and Wedgewood-Houston. A low-key taproom worth a stop for anyone working through the south-side breweries.
429B Houston Street, Wedgewood-Houston. Founded in 2011, Jackalope was one of the early breweries of the modern Nashville scene and has since moved all of its operations to a larger Wedgewood-Houston taproom. The WeHo arts district around it has galleries, coffee, and a few more bars within walking distance.
754 Douglas Avenue, East Nashville. The brewery for adventurous drinkers. Southern Grist built its reputation on experimental sours and heavily fruited beers, with a tap list that turns over constantly. The East Nashville taproom has a wraparound bar and a full kitchen, and a second taproom operates in The Nations.
903 Main Street, East Nashville. A lager-focused brewery a short ride from the Southern Grist side of East Nashville. Smith & Lentz leans German, with pilsners, lagers, and clean styles, plus a Neapolitan pizza kitchen that makes it an easy dinner stop.
948 Main Street, East Nashville. A brewery and barbecue spot about a block from Smith & Lentz on Main Street. Stoke Haus brews ales and lagers and runs an on-site barbecue operation, with Memphis-style ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and vegan barbecue options. It also makes its own sodas.
1056 East Trinity Lane, East Nashville. An East Nashville brewery on Trinity Lane, with a second taproom, the Garden, in The Nations. Community-minded, with a rotating tap list and a relaxed neighborhood feel.
320 East Trinity Lane, East Nashville. An established East Nashville neighborhood brewery. East Nashville Beer Works has been part of the local scene for years, with a relaxed taproom and a tap list that mixes approachable styles with the occasional experiment.
800 44th Avenue North, The Nations. One of Nashville's established brewery names, now based in The Nations. Fat Bottom runs a family-friendly taproom with a full food menu and a dog-friendly beer garden with cornhole. It is a comfortable choice for groups with kids or anyone who wants a sit-down meal with the beer.
410 39th Avenue North, West Nashville. A newer Nashville brewery on 39th Avenue North, near the Charlotte Avenue corridor in West Nashville. A neighborhood taproom worth a look if you are out exploring the west side.
2408 Lebanon Pike, Donelson. A brewery and pizzeria in Donelson, on the east side near the airport. Tennfold is a neighborhood spot, handy for travelers staying near BNA or exploring Donelson rather than downtown.
900 River Bluff Drive, Madison. Yazoo opened in 2003 and is the brewery that effectively started Nashville's craft scene. It is no longer downtown. In 2019 Yazoo moved to a purpose-built facility in Madison, about 10 miles north of downtown along the Cumberland River. It is a drive, not a walk, but the taproom is the largest on this list and worth the trip for anyone serious about the city's beer history.
Most Nashville breweries are taproom-first and do not run daily tours. Blackstone is the exception, with a regular schedule: a standard guided tour at around $10 that includes two pours and runs about an hour, plus a longer monthly history tour. Yazoo's large Madison facility is also built for visitors. For the rest, the experience is the taproom itself, a flight, and a conversation with whoever is pouring. Call ahead if a guided tour is the point of the trip.
Several breweries solve dinner for you. Stoke Haus runs a full barbecue operation. TailGate, Rock 'N Dough, and Tennfold all serve pizza. Fat Bottom has a full taproom menu. Smith & Lentz makes Neapolitan pizza. Southern Grist's East Nashville taproom has a full kitchen. Tennessee Brew Works has a full kitchen. Marble Fox does flatbreads and shareables. Blackstone has the B-Stone Bus. The rest rotate food trucks, so check the schedule before counting on a meal.
Howdy Nash is the free Nashville travel app. Save the breweries you want to hit, share live location across the group, and ask the AI concierge what is pouring near you.
Tennessee Brew Works on Ewing Avenue in SoBro is the closest, an easy walk from Lower Broadway. Marble Fox on 8th Avenue South and Yee-Haw on 6th Avenue South are also within walking range. The rest of the breweries on this list need a short rideshare.
Taprooms are free to walk into. You pay by the glass or buy a flight. Blackstone is the one with a paid guided tour, at around $10 including two pours.
The East Nashville cluster, Smith & Lentz and Southern Grist, gives a group two stops close together with food at both. Wedgewood-Houston around Jackalope works as a second option. See the bachelor party guide for the rest of the weekend plan.
Most Nashville taprooms welcome kids and dogs during daytime hours. The breweries with full kitchens, Tennessee Brew Works, Smith & Lentz, and Southern Grist, are the most comfortable for families.
Brewery crawls, distillery day trips, food tours, and more. Skip the line where available. Free cancellation on most bookings.
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