In case you’re searching for causes to get out of city, a number of cities inside just some hours’ drive of Chattanooga boast dozens of craft breweries able to wow you with their fermentation expertise.
Birmingham, Alabama
Driving time from Chattanooga: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Birmingham might not be the primary metropolis that involves thoughts while you consider beer tourism locations, however the metropolis has a surprisingly strong beer scene.
Positioned subsequent to the Birmingham Barons baseball stadium, Good Folks Brewing Co. offers excursions on Saturdays, and the taproom additionally affords good views of the brewing course of. Avondale Brewing’s historic location — beforehand dwelling to a brothel, pharmacy and saloon — has an out of doors music venue and a separate taproom devoted to sours and cocktails. Cahaba Brewing within the East Avondale neighborhood is likewise in a historic setting, situated in an outdated mill the place gin, vodka and bourbon are additionally produced.
Again Forty Beer Firm Birmingham, situated within the industrial Sloss Docks space, is thought for its good meals and house to lounge, along with its brews. Close by Ghost Practice Brewing Co. is dwelling to Alabama’s first high-efficiency brewing system, together with 96 faucets, a cocktail bar and an out of doors patio alongside Birmingham’s Hugh Kaul Path.
Louisville, Kentucky
Driving time from Chattanooga: 5 hours
Whereas Louisville is better-known for its bourbon, the town’s craft beer scene is worthy of consideration. Head to the downtown/NuLu space for a handful of choices, together with Falls Metropolis Beer x PARLOUR, West Sixth Brewing, Akasha Brewing Firm (identified for its sours made with wild fermentation) and In opposition to the Grain Brewery (which, together with its beer, is notable for good meals and artwork). Within the close by Irish Hill neighborhood, take a look at Gravely Brewing Firm and Mile Broad Beer Co., which some say is dwelling to the realm’s greatest New England IPA.
In case you’d slightly have a information present you the very best of the Louisville brew scene, Derby Metropolis Brew Excursions affords a shuttle tour of three craft breweries that features 12, 5-ounce samples (about 4 or 5 pints) or strolling excursions of a number of breweries within the Germantown or Irish Hill neighborhoods.
Or take a look at the Summer time Beer Fest at Frazier, a block get together that includes greater than 200 specialty brews, meals distributors and stay music on Major and Ninth streets. This yr’s occasion on July 27 celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Frazier Kentucky Historical past Museum, which additionally serves because the welcome middle and place to begin for the Kentucky Bourbon Path.
Asheville, North Carolina
Driving time from Chattanooga: 4 hours
A four-time winner of the Beer Metropolis USA title, Asheville is called a prime vacation spot for beer tourism for good cause. About 100 completely different beers are regionally brewed in Asheville, which is dwelling to greater than 50 breweries — extra breweries per capita than another U.S. metropolis.
See the place Asheville’s craft-brewing custom started at Highland Brewing, which was Asheville’s first authorized brewery within the post-Prohibition period when it opened in 1994 and is now the state’s largest native brewery. One other of the town’s unique breweries is Inexperienced Man, which expanded in 2016 with the 20,000-square-foot Inexperienced Mansion, that includes a “brewtique” retail store and third-floor tasting room with a view of the mountains.
The South Slope neighborhood is ideal for hopping between breweries, with a number of situated inside strolling distance of each other. This neighborhood is dwelling to Inexperienced Man, Depraved Weed Brewing’s Funkatorium, which produces solely sours and barrel-aged brews, in addition to Burial Beer Co., identified for its crisp and heady Surf Wax American IPA.
Along with the town’s homegrown breweries, Asheville has additionally attracted outposts of breweries from Western states, similar to California’s Sierra Nevada and Colorado’s Oskar Blues and New Belgium breweries.
(READ MORE: Why you must go to Asheville’s new ‘city campground’)
Nashville, Tennessee
Driving time from Chattanooga: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Discover Nashville’s huge number of breweries with a hop-on, hop-off tour on the Music Metropolis Brew Hop, a classic trolley that stops each hour at eight Nashville breweries and affords limitless rides on the day of your tour. The corporate’s West Loop possibility offers an identical tour of seven breweries in a special space of the town.
Barely off the overwhelmed path within the SoBro neighborhood of downtown Nashville, Tennessee Brew Works encompasses a two-floor taproom with views of the manufacturing ground. For family-friendly choices, strive Southern Grist Brewing Co., situated in The Nations and East Nashville neighborhoods, which is thought for its pastry stouts, sours and New England IPAs; or Bearded Iris Brewing, famend for its hoppy brews and outside patios at each areas in Germantown and Sylvan Park. To strive among the metropolis’s extra uncommon brews, head to Dwelling Waters Brewing, which affords small-batch craft beer and low in its small East Nashville taproom.
(READ MORE: New Tennessee Ale Path options breweries in Chattanooga and past)
