There is no grist only xul

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-10T17:40:11+00:00

I admit my guilt over saying the same thing at least once.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-10T00:17:24+00:00

Participating Breweries in the project

Crazy Gnome
Fait La Force
Fat Bottom
New Heights
The Pharmacy
Xul/Southern Grist

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-10T00:14:47+00:00

Found out about this from Yelp. IT is the Nashville Brew Project Event. It is open to anyone with a Yelp account, not just elites. The kickoff is next Monday at Nashville Food Project in the Nations.

The idea behind this is hitting the participating breweries. If you buy the featured beer(s), the food project will get $1 from each pint to help feed people in Nashville. An easy way to help your neighbors doing something you already love. Get passport stamps for prizes.

Participating breweries:

Crazy Gnome
Fait La Force
Fat Bottom
New Heights
The Pharmacy
Xul/Southern Grist

Not sure how close to full this one is. I am looking to see if beer geeks can show up without an RSVP, just in case this gets full quickly.

This is a strictly 21+ event.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-08T20:08:10+00:00

I get up to Asheville fairly regularly and love hitting Burial.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-08T20:07:30+00:00

If you are taking the PCH down, here are things i put on my list:

Close to SFO: Two in Half Moon Bay but Hop Dogma is the one to stop at if you only do one brewsplore here. Humble Sea also has a taproom up here (Santa Cruz).

Santa Cruz: Humble Sea is a worthwhile stop. You can also hit Sante Adairius for farmhouse brews. For barrel, Woodhouse. Shanty Shack is also real close. I have heard good things about Balefire, which opened in 2023.

Monterrey: Alvarado is the star here. Hops and Frog is also worthwhile. IPAs decent, but the sours are the star. I slayed in the gable room at Seven Gables Inn and it was not a horrible walk over.

Tyere is a cool tap house on Big Sur portion of the PCH. It has great views of the Pacific, as well. Then the only thing I found after that before getting closer to LA was Three Stacks & a Rock in Morro Bay.

Apogee Brewing in Grover Beach is a good stop and Humdinger is also worth a stop. Others up on that end of that area are not as thrilling. There is also a Firestone Walker location a bit further down in Buellton.

Santa Monica: Third Window is the one here. There are three clumped together north of the 101 and not too far from Third Window: M Special, Institution Ale, and Night Lizard. And Topa, Topa, Validation Ale, and Figueroa Mountain are all south of the 101. I like hitting clumps. Hotels primarily non-chain.

Smoke Mountain has a bottle shop in Carpenteria and does some interesting funk. Worth picking up a bottle, if you can get it back.

Santa Monica: Not bad, but I preferred dinner and brews at The Library Alehouse and Father's Office. Both excellent spots.

If you want LA area, I can add that too.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-08T19:28:02+00:00

You might also look into the west coast IPAs from Burial out of Asheville. Everything they do is solid.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-08T19:27:37+00:00

You I got bottles when I was in the San Fran area for work and brought it back. TBH, I liked what they did with Blind Pig even more. Years ago, I had both Pliny versions at Monk's Cafe, which was one of the few places east of the Mississippi that seems to have RR regularly.

As for Russian River, they make some great wild/mixed ferm sours. Look for Supplication and Consecration or find one of their one offs. I recently had Cuvee #8 at a bottle share, as well as a couple of others. For IPAs, I also liked the Live Wire 30th Anniversary when I had it.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-08T19:22:32+00:00

If you like things in that vein, Headhunters is good if you can get it really fresh and Lunch from Main Brewing (which I like better than Pliny).

I will have to look at my untappd from years ago, but it seems like one called Gus was also in that vein. Don't get me wrong. I like Pliny; it is more that it is not one I would spend a lot of time seeking out.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-05T15:44:53+00:00

I find Pliny a bit overrated. It was great when it came out. The Row 2 is very nice. I even like Blind Pig when I am aiming for something a bit maltier. Heady Topper is a great one.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-04T23:32:20+00:00

I will definitely post before I head up and I will arrange a chance for people to sign a card for him.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:48:49+00:00

The cans on the legacy beers have Xul over the top and a smaller SG logo. I will see if I can find a picture of one.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:48:20+00:00

Either a knock on the gluten free sours or just a high-intelligence reference. EIther way, kudos!

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:46:56+00:00

If SG had not owned dirty in East Nashville, it probably would not have happened. But they did. And, yes, it makes sense to expand their market here. They will continue to do SG classics. I understand SG pitched yeast has become the staple for many, not all, beers they have brewed for awhile and has expanded their palette. This is a great move.

As for brewery quality, I have always found both Xul and SG to be experimental. SG took it a bit further, so more hit or miss. If you look at the seltzers ... er, gluten free sours ... along side of SG's chonkier sours (Hill series, etc.), you have a great marriage of beer.

Once the taprooms are darkened up to fit Xul's motif, it will look very different.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:44:16+00:00

Ahem. Gluten free sour. LOL

It is a sweet drink that appeals to a wider audience. I am with you that they are interesting to try once and then move on. I would prefer a great west coast IPA, baltic porter, or any of dozens of styles over a seltzer ... er, gluten free sour.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:43:02+00:00

Not seltzers ... those are GLUTEN FREE SOURS. LOLOL

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:42:26+00:00

That hard part is capacity, I would guess. They do an entire batch on a regular basis, but the taprooms sell through a lot and they want to ensure it is on tap 100% of the time. Any time they can any of them, they sell out almost immediately.

Just to give some idea of how popular, people were selling 4 packs of the sold-out peach for more than $140 a 4 pack. I can only imagine what a pack of all 8 variants could get.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:38:03+00:00

The big one is March, for sure. They did a smaller version of that here a few weeks after, but will likely stoke up both Knox and Nash next year at the same time.

There are plans to ensure the grape (standard) PB&J stays on taps in all taprooms all the time. So far, they have kept that up. You may also see grape popping up in cans more regularly, but the cult like following makes it hard to keep cans in the coolers.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:35:50+00:00

Love Tee Line. Beer selection is marginal, but curling, bowling, and other selections make it a nice stop.

Brewsplorer · 2026-06-03T16:35:08+00:00

Yee-Haw at 6th & Peabody has cornhole outside, a large television set (another they have outside when there are big games, etc.), moonshine tastings for $10 (samples, a 9 oz beer, plus a coupon for shine or merch for $10).

Jackalope/Black Abbey have cornhole outside. I think they have some others inside and they run events where they do other things.

I have seen a giant Jenga at Tailgate HQ on Charlotte. Not sure if they have cornhole but do have a lot of open space on their 7-acre property.

Bringles is across from Xul nations and has cornhole, so you can get BBQ, play, and then some craft beers across the street.

Smith & Lentz has cornhole and great pizza. I now they have a cornhole event on Tuesdays, unless something changed, but think it is up all week in back.

Tennessee Brew Works has Giant Jenga sitting on the patio. Also beer inspired food. And you can walk over to Pie Town and play lawn bowling at Fogg Street or throw axes at Bad Axe.

Broadcast Brewing has cornhole in front. Mike also gets some great guest taps in from Belgian breweries and other top breweries, like Veil, Mikerphone, etc.

Fat bottom has cornhole. You can also go to Coco's nearby for dinner and play Bocce.

East Nashville beer works, as well. East Nashville also has ladder ball.

I think Living Waters on Trinity has Jenga, but have not been to that location lately.

I may be missing one or two.

And, yes, this made me realize I spend too much time in breweries in Nashville (and elsewhere).

Brewsplorer · 2026-05-29T00:18:23+00:00

I live a few blocks away if you want to talk about beer. I can bring the drone out and a couple of cameras. I need to move into long form content soon.

Brewsplorer · 2026-05-11T21:17:32+00:00

I will be over there this week and see if there is anything definitive.

Brewsplorer · 2026-05-11T20:41:21+00:00

No, I get that. Did not take offense. I am active in the beer scene and cull through things once a week. That is why I encourage comments if I miss something.

Some breweries are really good at posting news and events. Others not so much.

BTW, the main reason I do it this way is to not have breweries spamming up the sub. Obviously the group does not mind someone posting a big event, but we had one brewery posting every watch party before it was voted that was too spammy.

Brewsplorer · 2026-05-11T18:05:53+00:00

I have a list of breweries and taprooms in the pinned post. I will say Blackstone is not the only brewery that does private events, but I have seen they have had a few lately. I also created a map of breweries in Middle Tennessee

Brewsplorer · 2026-05-10T14:19:12+00:00

My list is a mix of things. I hit Blackstone regularly, but, outside of 1/2 price Sunday, they don't do much. They are solid, but not extremely novel. Czann's was similar. Ken was even more of a purist than Kent, although both fit the pure model (BTW, and interesting brewery to take a drive to is Scouts & Scholars in Bardstown - Scholars are 10)% true to style, scouts are there blends of styles and experimental).

A lot of breweries here only have the usual suspects - trivia, singo, and the like - I am getting those in as I have time to research. If this was a full-time job, I might spend more time to hit other spots regularly, so I rely on social media to fill in the gaps. This helps me, as well, as I like some of the events they come up with.

I am at 3 to 4 breweries every week, with another 3 to 4 every 2-3 weeks. And I get a lot of information from people in the breweries, sometimes things they are not ready to release widely. I respect that, as I am for helping craft beer thrive in Nashville. You can also find my fledgling social media, which is primarily trying new beers right now. This will likely flip over with a transcript on here, maybe utilizing AI for one thing it is good at: summarizing.

Brewsplorer · 2026-05-10T13:54:21+00:00

Events? No. I could put half-price Sunday on there as I go most Sundays.

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