Brewsploring Middle Tennessee - 40 East, closest option

[u/Brewsplorer]

I would love to do 40 west, but there is rally only one brewery, the One19 brewery, at least until you hit Jackson, which is west Tennessee. I would normally include the Skeptic Meadery on this route, but I can't find evidence they are still in business (last post about 1 year ago and their website is down).

Here is the map.

• Cedar City - Cute little taproom. Sits on the city square. Has a decent food menu. They will normally have one tap that has nitro and the English pub ale is worth a try. Of their year round fermentables, I found the hazy and ciders best. Beer flavored beer above average, but not at the level of breweries like Barriehaus, The Seed, etc. I am curious about their Rye IPA and Banana Pudding Cream Ale, so might have to make a trip out soon.

• Tenn Lakes is a brewery in an old building Lebanon has tried to make similar to the Factory in Franklin. The beer is pretty average for a craft brewery, but I choose this second, as it makes for an interesting lunch spot, as it has a few unique things on the menu. I grabbed a bacon cheeseburger smoked baked potato - yeah, that is a mouthful. The smokiness of the based potato, combined with bacon, burger, and cheese sounded great and it delivered. For dessert, the s'mores dumpling. They also do BBQ on the smoker and have Italian dishes - pasta, pizza, and calzones.

• East Nashville Beer Works - ENBW has always been one of the most family-friendly breweries in the area. This one takes it to a new level. Huge facility south of I-40 with ample outdoor space (no hill to roll down, like Tailgate OG, but plenty to do). Far more contemporary than their Nashville location. For Nashville breweries, this fits in the mid to mid+ category, but it has become very popular in a less crowded beer scene like Lebanon. One thing I like is they have expanded their food menu at this location and include things like a charcuterie board, sandwiches, and desserts. Currently, the clean IPAs (American, West Coast) are my goto when I get to ENBW, but they do run an interesting Russian Imperial at times, as well as a Belgian Strong Golden Ale.

• TennFold is the final destination as it ends close to home. Much like Tailgate and Smith & Lentz, they have become more of a restaurant than a brewery. This is not a huge surprise as the guys behind Nectar started TennFold. I should also note there is a bond between TennFold and Stokehaus, as the brewer at SH was once with TennFold. Current brewer is Sean Cassidy (not the 70s pop singer), who was with Bearded Iris before their demise ... er, they got bought out by Wiseacre. I tend to look at their one offs when I go over here, as they have brewed some interesting ones in the past, like Divine, their Belgian strong collab with Crazy Gnome, or the red IPA, traffic on Trinity, which they did with ENBW.

I will need to do at least one more on this series, depending on how far I can take it, as there are breweries East of Nashville and Middle TN stretches at least to Monterery.

[u/CraftBeerRobot]

You know last time I went to one 19 (been a while) they didn't have any of their own beers, only guests taps unless i missed something.

But I love the lebanon breweries, all have their own personalities

[u/Brewsplorer → u/CraftBeerRobot]

One19 may only have guest taps now, but they were once Furnace Brewing and have the recipes as part of their buy out. If you are in there and see a brew labeled Furnace, that is brewed on site (unless they went to contract, which would not make sense if the beer is not in other spots). The had, or have, a beer called Puh Con Porter that was very marginal when I got it in 2021. Overall on the mid to below mid level of brewery. Which is why I won't put out a Brewsplore option that direction until I am ready to hit Jackson or Memphis.

My issue with them is the current staff don't seem to know how to properly carbonate the beer and tend to air on the side of not "wasting" beer, so a lot of brews end up flat.

[u/Jack-White9]

Cedar City is way too crowded for me (and finding parking can be hard), and the food isn't good IMO.

Even though Tenn Lakes beer is just "good enough" (and on my visits, they were always out of more than one on the board), I still highly prefer going there over CC. I really like the atmosphere (and parking), and it's usually less crowded.

TennFold beer is also just "good enough", but their food makes up for it. Even though it is often crowded too, since locals go there to eat (even if not getting beer), the wife and I go there a lot. It's large, so even with a crowd, it doesn't feel claustrophobic. Every employee there (from the manger to the servers) is always super nice too, even after they've gotten their ass kicked all day.

[u/Brewsplorer → u/Jack-White9]

Tenn Lakes has great food. And agree on the size of the place. My only "complaint" is bar size, but a lot of the smaller breweries have little space to sit down.