01 Jul Bearded Iris Brewing – Cultivating Variety or Riding the Haze Wave?

Bearded Iris Brewing

Cultivate Variety. This phrase is emblazoned on Bearded Iris Brewing cans and sets charmingly atop their tap list in this Germantown taproom.

101 Van Buren St,
Nashville, TN 37208

What You Need to Know Before You Visit Bearded Iris Brewing

Price: ~$7 per pour

Food: They have food trucks every now and again, but there was no food truck when we showed up. It was a Friday afternoon, and it was roughly 3pm. Considering they have weekly releases on Friday, I wholly expected a food truck on a Friday, but maybe we were too early.

Family Friendliness: Family friendly? Nah. Family tolerable? Yeah. A small taproom inside leaves little room for kids to run and play, but there is a pool table. There’s also an outdoor patio/deck space that’s halfway covered depending on the hour of day, and there are some umbrellas on the tables.

Doggos: Dogs welcome on outdoor patio.

Parking: Parking out front is pretty standard. Plenty of spots. If it’s full, there’s plenty of street-parking available, as Bearded Iris Brewing is located in a warehouse district of Nashville.

What is Bearded Iris Brewing Known for?

Nestled in the North part of Nashville, just west of the Cumberland River, they have a philosophy that sort of flies in the face of what most folks would consider variety. Rather than brewing a dozen beers in a dozen different styles, they zoom in a little further on specific ingredients and their variety comes from iteration.

“We know that each hop varietal and every intentionally selected ingredient contains a multitude of possibilities that can be deliberately unlocked and unleashed, then honed and hemmed in tightly, to construct a pint that’s unapologetically itself, memorably composed, and fun to drink. Every time. Regardless of style. To us, that’s the variety worth cultivating.”

As a creative person, I can vouch that the best ideas aren’t born. They’re iterated on over and over again.

Bearded Iris has some of the best hazy IPAs coming out of the South, and their beer is sought after in trades. The result of their iterative creativity has garnered them national attention in a beautifully charming city with a bubbling craft beer scene.

What’s the Atmosphere like at Bearded Iris Brewing?

The atmosphere here is a snapshot of what macro drinkers think craft beer is all about.

Hipsters.

From the beards to the awkward mustaches and eccentric patterned shirts, Bearded Iris brewing epitomizes the craft beer experience from the perspective of the non-craft beer drinker. Their menu further propagates the idea.

Between the indoor seating and the outdoor patio, there’s a pretty fair amount of space for patrons to imbibe the hazy slurries.

As a beer nerd, I loved it. Every. Single. Sip. I had a “flight” of 5 beers on the wall, and all 5 were IPAs or Pale Ales. But as somebody trying to introduce good beer to folks, I was a little surprised at the limited selection.

I get it. Cultivate variety doesn’t mean a gang of styles, and I’m pretty good with that. Like, me… The beer nerd. The IPA lover. However, as somebody trying to bring my macro-drinking friends along, it was a bit of a long shot.

Luckily for everyone involved, the beers were so fire that everybody found an IPA that they liked. RARE AF. I think it has something to do with their focus on low-bitterness, fruity IPAs. The server, featured as a blur in the tap list photo further above in the post, was slightly super annoyed at my friends wanting to sample every beer on the board before making their pick, especially when I ended up ordering a half pour of almost all of them!

Is Bearded Iris Brewing Worthy of Traidbait Travels?

Bearded Iris Brewing is 100% worthy of a Traidbait Travel.

Cans were super easy to score, and there wasn’t much of a line despite all the buzz that Bearded Iris Brewing has built specifically because of these trade-worthy beers. There were plenty of cans even from the last two week’s releases.

Not only is it worthy, it’s a great spot to bring your friends that have a bubbling interest in craft. This place has enough variety of low-bitterness IPAs, there’s got to be something there for your friends.

Overall, I really dig it. I’ll definitely be back if I’m ever in Nashville again!