Nashville's GuildFest Pours a Little Brewing Gold

One of many empty glasses at sunset

Despite the glut of beer festivals pouring every weekend in Nashville, years had passed since Nancy and I last attended one. Too often, the festivals turn into “the place to be” and tickets get gobbled up by the trendy. These days, I have no desire to fight that fight. Nancy and I returned to the festival scene with GuildFest, the inaugural beer festival from the Tennessee Brewers Guild, an umbrella group formed to update many of the state’s arcane beer laws.

Our experience in other states brewer association festivals led us to GuildFest, which featured only Tennessee craft brewers, many new to us. The fest brought together nearly two dozen breweries, from one-man shops to established Nashville players like Yazoo, Blackstone and Jackalope. There were some absences, but the festival provided a solid cross-section of brewers and offered a chance to sample brews from Clarksville, Chattanooga, Memphis and Knoxville.

With the Nashville skyline as a backdrop, the festival filled up the “backyard” of Little Harpeth’s brewery lot in an overlooked industrial area north of downtown. The brewer holds bluegrass nights here, and it seemed like a good space for such an event. Representatives from the M.L. Rose handed out beer koozies to keep those tasting glasses from feeling too cold, a nice perk when the night turned blustery. This intrepid beer lover appreciated not having to jot down tasting notes with numb hands.

The selections leaned strongly toward fall and winter seasonal, not surprising for an early November beer festival. With some of the new brewers, it was a little hard to grasp whether they were pouring flagship beers or something new. Tennessee’s restrictions on alcohol by volume also impact what could be served, so nothing high-gravity. But that’s fine – we can only judge what we’re poured. While the results were all over the board, a number of brews outran the field.

The best beer I tasted was Blackstone’s Wet Hop IPA. The man pouring it told me it was the last keg they had. Harvested in Washington’s Yakima Valley and immediately flown to Nashville and brewed, the Citra-hop-based beer was downright beautiful. Earthy with strong notes of pine resin, spruce needles, tangerine and other amplified hop flavors, Wet Hop easily won my Best in Show.

Sparta-based Calfkiller had one of the festival’s best lineups. One of the brewery founders told me the coffee was still warm when added to the stout. It was undeniably powerful and gave the stout new complexities. Another revelation was Old Henry, Calfkiller’s J. Henry Mild aged in a Corsair Triple Smoke barrel that had been used five times.

Memphis had three participants – Ghost River, Memphis Made and Wiseacre. Ghost River offered  Midnight Magic and a very light blonde ale. Memphis Made poured a kolsch and an amber ale, while the Wiseacre produced a decent hop-forward IPA and a saison with esters, lemon-citrus aromas and creamy textures.

Murfreesboro represented itself well with its two local brewers. O’Possum’s Brewery and Pub presented well with a Dry Irish Stout and an excellent Dunkelweiss perfect for autumn days. Mayday had its standard red ale (Angry Redhead) alongside Wild Redhead, which spent extra time in a whiskey barrel.

The barrel-aged entries frequently stood out from the pack. Tennessee Brew Works’ Country Roots sweet potato stout turned slightly sour and quite eloquent with some barrel finishing. Black Abbey went the extra mile with its Rum-Barrel Special, an aged version of its Belgian-style mild, Calfkiller’s take on the table beer imbibed by Trappist monks.

I’m forgetting the brewer (a program would have been nice), but one of my last tastes included a sublime sweet potato pumpkin ale. It had great gourd flavors but doubt I could have finished more than the allotted six ounces.

As closing time loomed for the festival, we felt a bit “beered out.” With most of the seasonals on the heavy side, that wasn’t surprising.

Maybe in springtime, the guild can showcase a different side of its members’ brew. Hopefully the attendance numbers can justify another round. For now, I'm glad we got acquainted with some new favorites and rare brews crafted in Nashville.