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Going Exploring and Finding Beer

We enjoyed exploring Tennessee breweries in 2023, and our journey took us to literally every corner of it, from Memphis to Bristol and Trimble to Cooper Hill.  Trimble and Copper Hill? Yes. Those are two little towns in the state’s Northwest and Southeast corners. We assume you’ve heard of Memphis and Bristol in the Southwest and Northeast. Many of these spots have great camping, hiking, and…

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Weekend Beer Runs: Small Town Tennessee 

One of the best things about our 2023 Tennessee Beer Adventure was getting out of the city and discovering the beautiful scenery and friendly small towns of the state.  Bang for the buck, you get to visit more brewery more easily in the cities. In Nashville, Chattanooga, or Knoxville, you can easily walk to 6-7 breweries, many are within a short five minute walk from each other. But getting to…

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Done. Maybe. 

The 2023 Beer Makes Three Tennessee Beer Adventure is done! Well, at least for now; more on that in a minute (details here).  I stopped by Hop Spring’s Beer Park in Murfreesboro a few days ago after realizing they are now opening the taproom on Thursdays through Sundays. With that, I’ve had a beer at 143 brewers in TN. Most are production breweries, but I also enjoyed beers at about a dozen…

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2023 BM3 TN Beer Adventure: Down to Single Digits

It’s been an incredible experience trying to visit every brewery in Tennessee in 2023 on the 2023 Beer Makes Three Tennessee Beer Adventure. The year is almost done, and so is the adventure. Unless we find another brewery we haven’t heard of, or one opens in the next few weeks, this list is set. We’ve been to 136 of 144. FYI, that 136 is the business count. We aimed to hit every brewery and focus…

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The 2023 Beer Makes Three Tennessee Beer Adventure 

I started the year with a New Year’s Resolution to drink a beer at every brewery in Tennessee. This goal wasn’t one of June’s resolutions, but she’s a good sport and is along for the ride.  It’s a big goal, and June and I are still unsure of the exact number we’re shooting for. There are roughly 130 brewing companies across Tennessee from Memphis to Bristol. This 130 count is brewing companies,…

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Salt Lake City is a Great Beer Town?

Salt Lake City is a Great Beer Town?

Looking towards downtown from the Natural History Museum. Last year, Kendall and I toured the mountain west from Butte, MT, to the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico, with a large part of the trip to Utah. We flew in and out of Salt Lake City but didn’t get to spend much time in the city. We had one night in town, but unfortunately a storm had come through the night before and wiped out…

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Black is Beautiful

There were two big stories in 2020 for Craft Beer, COVID-19 and the Black is Beautiful beer project.  This post may seem untimely since  Black is Beautiful beers started releasing in July, but we kept putting it off. The delay gave us time to reflect on the impact of the movement and the beers it created, listen to new voices, and think about whether the craft beer industry will make long-term…

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Big Sky Malt Country

Big Sky Malt Country

After our trip to Montana for the 2019 Beer Now Conference, we truly understand why the state is known as Big Sky Country. We flew into Spokane and drove through Idaho to Montana because Southwest doesn’t fly into the state. It’s not a bad option, and the drive is gorgeous! From Spokane, you climb into the mountains in Idaho, and the journey is very mountainous until you get to a little west of…

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Brewing Begins in the Malthouse

Brewing Begins in the Malthouse

When you take a brewery tour, you usually hear the history first. There’s the one about the homebrewing engineer who got tired of making tires more round, so he started a brewery (true story). Then, the tour guide asks the group what beer’s ingredients are. There are usually a few guesses from the crowd, with the top answers as hops and yeast. Sometimes water and malt get a shout-out.

Of all the…

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Discover Kalispell!

As we wrap up 2019, we’re grateful for all the wonderful times we had throughout the year. We had a lot of great experiences on our Montana trip, but our last stop in Montana was special, Kalispell, MT, the site of the Beer Now post-conference. To get there from Great Falls, MT, we drove through Glacier National Park. Glacier is stunning! We took a pit stop at the Apgar Villageand had time to do…

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RVA is a Great Beer City

RVA is a Great Beer City

When you think of the great beer cities, a few always make the list like Asheville, Grand Rapids, Denver, and Portland (either one, pick a coast). Richmond, VA might not one you’ve considered road-tripping to, but you should. RVA is a killer beer town.

As we prepare to travel to Montana for the 2019 Beer Now Conference(formerly the Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference), I can’t get my mind off last…

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Welcome to Nashville, Rhinegeist!

Welcome to Nashville, Rhinegeist!

It seems like breweries are launching in Nashville and it’s hard to keep up. We gave up trying. But every once and a while a brewery gets our attention because we’re already big fans. Friends, Rhinegeist of Cincinnati is coming to Middle TN.

We love Rhinesgeist!

Anytime we travel through Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky, which was about 3-4 times a year, we came home to Tennessee with at least a case of…

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You Gotta Stay at the Dog House

You Gotta Stay at the Dog House

We’ve been fans of BrewDog Brewing since the first season of Brew Dogs TV show. Some may think their antics are over the top, but it’s part of the charm. Their attitude and culture come through in everything they do. We like it. Thanks to our good friends at Tennessee Brew Works we got to witness it and hang out at the brewery all day when James and Martin were in town to record the Nashville…

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The Advanced Cicerone Exam: Attempt 3.0

The Advanced Cicerone Exam: Attempt 3.0

I saved this post till today. Ground Hog Day, 2019. Exactly 3 years ago, I was sitting in Cicerone HQ taking the very first Advanced Cicerone exam ever given. That even would feel like Bill Murrey’s Ground Hog Day experience in some way. I had to repeat it 3 times before I passed.

On April 4, 2018, I passed the Advanced Cicerone exam. You can read about my path to this point here:

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2019 Nuit Belge is back! NOLA 2/8 & BNA 3/8

2019 Nuit Belge is back! NOLA 2/8 & BNA 3/8 - Discount code BM3

It’s time again for Nuit Belge in Nashville, the best food and beverage event in the region. Of all the festivals and events we help with, our favorite is Nuit Belge (French for Belgian Night). With a name like that, you know good things are in store.

Nuit Belge is not a beer festival. If anything, it is a food festival with fantastic Belgian and Belgian-inspired beers. Small plates from the…

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The Advanced Cicerone Exam: Attempt 2.1

The Advanced Cicerone Exam: Attempt 2.1

In the last post, I wrote about my second attempt at the Advanced Cicerone exam in Texas in October 2016. I had a couple of options after getting a 78 overall on my first attempt and choose to go to Dallas to retake the written only. In hindsight, I should have taken both the written/oral and tasting portions. I wouldn’t make that mistake again when I went to Miami and finally passed in the Spring…

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Drink Resilience and Support the Camp Fire Victims

Drink Resilience and Support the Camp Fire Victims

Craft beer people are the best.

One thing you realize about the craft beer community after being a part of it for a while is that it is full of outstanding people. Sure, there are a few jerks, but by and large, the craft beer world is full of some of the kindest, most helpful and generous people you’ll ever meet. It’s quite common to hear of one local brewery helping out another when a need…