Nashville Local Beer: Three Beers to Order

Nashville Lager, Hippies & Cowboys IPA and Bearwalker give you three distinct starting points for drinking locally made beer in Nashville. Choose by the beer’s name rather than asking only for “a local beer”, and you can connect the glass to its producer, whether you are ordering with lunch or settling in for an evening drink.

A brewery visit is one way to try them, but local bars and packaged-beer retailers also sell Nashville-made beer. The useful distinction is between where a beer is brewed and where you buy it, not between a brewery counter and every other setting.

Choosing and ordering local beer

Beer	What it is	When to drink it	Typical 16 US fl oz draught
Nashville Lager	Bavarian Helles lager	Lunch or dinner	$6–9
Hippies & Cowboys	India Pale Ale	Lunch or evening	$6–9
Bearwalker	Beer with maple syrup	Dinner or evening	$6–9

These are typical bar and taproom prices, with restaurant settings and entertainment districts often at the upper end. Smaller pours usually cost less, although not necessarily in proportion to their size. A 12 US fl oz can served at a bar typically costs $5–8, while a flight of small tasters is often around $10–16, depending on the number and size of pours.

For draught beer, ask for the name “on tap” and choose the size offered. For packaged beer, specify a can. A “flight” means several small samples, rather than several full beers. All three beers are brewed in Nashville, while a bar selling “local beer” may also offer beers made elsewhere in Tennessee.

Lunch commonly falls around 11am–2pm and dinner around 5pm–9pm. Choose a brewery taproom with a full kitchen if you want a meal, and use Nashville’s signature foods to choose the dishes alongside your drink. At counter-service places, order at the bar, while table-service restaurants take your order at the table.

An ordinary bar generally has no admission charge. A live-music cover, when charged, is separate from the price of your beer.

Nashville Lager

Nashville Lager is a Bavarian Helles in Nashville Brewing Company’s range, brewed by Blackstone Brewing Company in Nashville. Helles means “pale” or “light” in German, describing the lager’s colour rather than promising low alcohol. Its malt-led, gently hopped character suits food that is not heavily spiced, especially when you want the beer to accompany rather than dominate a meal.

The hops are Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, a German variety associated with delicate herbal and floral notes. Try it with roast chicken, a sandwich or a simply grilled fish dish at lunch or dinner. Ask for “Nashville Lager”, since “a Nashville lager” could otherwise sound like a request for any locally made lager.

You can find it at Nashville bars and beer retailers, and Blackstone’s public taproom serves Nashville Lager. For a producer visit, the weekday opening pattern suits an after-work drink rather than lunch, while the weekend allows an earlier stop.

Hippies & Cowboys IPA

Tennessee Brew Works brews Hippies & Cowboys in Nashville. Its name includes IPA, short for India Pale Ale, a style in which hops generally play a more prominent role than in a pale lager. For lunch, try it with a burger or fried chicken, and for dinner, consider grilled meat or a dish with enough seasoning to stand beside hop bitterness.

Ask for “the original Hippies & Cowboys IPA” if that is the beer you want. Tennessee Brew Works also makes HAZY Hippies & Cowboys, a separately named hazy IPA. The extra word identifies a different beer in the range, rather than another way of describing the original. At a counter offering both, using the full name makes your choice clear before the pour.

The original is available through Nashville packaged-beer retailers and Tennessee Brew Works’ pickup shop. Buying cans is an alternative to drinking at the brewery, particularly if you want beer to accompany a meal elsewhere. In either case, the producer’s name helps distinguish this Nashville-made IPA from other beers on the shelf.

Bearwalker

Jackalope brews Bearwalker at its Wedgewood-Houston brewery in Nashville. Choose it for its maple syrup ingredient, and pair it with roasted or grilled food: pork, browned chicken or roasted vegetables are useful starting points for dinner. Maple’s association with those flavours makes this a different pairing direction from choosing an IPA for its hops.

Ask for “Bearwalker” by name at a bar serving it. Have an evening glass alongside a savoury meal or on its own after dinner. Nashville bars sell it, so a brewery visit is not your only way to try the beer.

Jackalope’s visitor brewery, The Ranch, is the producer reference in Wedgewood-Houston. Its weekday hours favour a late-afternoon or evening visit, while Friday and the weekend also suit a lunchtime stop. Treat a visit here as a chance to explore the producer, rather than assuming every brewery operates as a full-service restaurant.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: opening hours, key figures, and practical rules.

• Jackalope Brewing Company — opening hours
• Jackalope Brewing Company — key figures
• Tennessee Brew Works — opening hours
• Tennessee Brew Works — key figures
• Tennessee Brew Works — practical rules
• Nashville Brewing Company; Tennessee Brew Works; Jackalope Brewing Company — key figures