Tag: Soul & Spirits

Categories
Cover Feature News

IPA All the Way

Soul & Spirits’ Hoochie Coochie wins this year’s Beer Bracket. (Photos: Justin Fox Burks)

Soul & Spirits Brewery’s Hoochie Coochie IPA is the best craft beer in Memphis, according to the more than 800 voters of the Memphis Flyer’s 2024 Beer Bracket Challenge, sponsored by City Brew Tours, Eagle Distributing Company, and Cash Saver.

This marks the first time Soul & Spirits has won our challenge. The brewery had not yet opened its doors in 2021 when we last held it. Their win unseats Crosstown Brewing Company, who has held onto the VanWyngarden Cup since 2021. Back then, Crosstown’s Traffic IPA upended Meddlesome Brewing’s three-year reign atop the Flyer’s annual beer bracket contest with its 201 Hoplar.

Soul & Spirits takes home the prestigious VanWyngarden Cup.

Ghost River Golden took top honors in 2017, the first year of the competition. But it’s been IPA all the way since then. That’s five wins for an IPA — apparently the top style in Memphis — almost every year we’ve done this.

Since Soul & Spirits opened in 2021, it’s won top honors — Brewery of the Year — in 2022 and 2023 in the Tennessee Championship of Beers.

“Winning a competition against your peers is really cool but to have people locally vote for us — that this is their favorite beer in Memphis — that means a lot,” says Blair Perry, who co-founded and owns Soul & Spirits with her husband, Ryan Allen. “We’re still really new, so it is nice that people acknowledge that we’re around and like what we’re doing.”

Allen and Perry say Hoochie Coochie IPA started as an American IPA, “but it just turned into chasing a flavor.” When asked what flavor, Allen says “goodness.” Hoochie Coochie’s hops change from batch to batch, he says, based on what’s available.

“But just trust me, we’re going on a road,“ Allen says. “We’re going on a journey.”

Perry says they’re always chasing a “juicy, citrusy flavor with a nice bitterness that makes you want to keep drinking.”

As for the name? It’s fun to say, they note, and one of the first beers they named. But it also fit with the Soul & Spirits naming convention. Memphis-area music plays onto the labels and into the names of Soul & Spirits beers. So conjure up “I’m a Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters next time you sip a pint and search the can label for song references.

Blair Perry, Ryan Allen, and the ever-famous writer Toby Sells

This year was completely different for the Beer Bracket. First up, we opened up the challenge to any brewery in Memphis, any size, whether or not they had beers in stores or not. That brought in Boscos, who, one could argue, blazed the path for craft beer in Memphis. The change also made room for some newcomers like Urban Consequence Brewing, Memphis Filling Station, Cooper House Project, and Memphis-area beer bar and brewpub, Mississippi Ale House.

Gone were any divisions that have, in the past, separated our bracket into very basic beer categories — light, dark, IPA, and seasonal. The beers commingled — stouts vs. IPAs, for example. Though, we made sure no two beers from the same brewery were seeded against one another.

In the end, we had 32 beers from 16 breweries. Each brewery selected two beers for random seeding. (I literally pulled the match-ups out of a hat.) These went right on our bracket. That bad boy was digitized, and over two weeks these beers faced off, fell out, or advanced to the next round.

The final round had Hoochie Coochie up against Cooper House Project’s Midtowner lager, which won a narrow victory over Hampline’s Tandem Pilot double IPA to make the finals. In the end, Hoochie Coochie emerged as the winner, edging out Midtowner by only 130 votes.

The Memphis Flyer Beer Bracket had more than 10,500 votes this year from states across the nation, though most votes came from Midtown Memphis.

You know we love beer at the Flyer. And we know you do, too. (Well, at least hundreds of local voters do, anyhow.) So, we felt a duty to let you know that state lawmakers had you on their minds this year. Here’s rundown of some legislation that could find its way to a pint glass near you.

The Law and Your Beer

It wouldn’t be a regular session of the Tennessee General Assembly if lawmakers didn’t change the way you drink, or try to, anyway.

Lawmakers thought about cold beer, drunk cops, and Sunday sales. They also thought about more serious matters like date rape and treatment programs for DUI offenses. Some ideas worked. Some didn’t.

No Cold Beer for You

Rep. Ron Gant (R-Piperton) knew his legislation “got quite the buzz,” a phrase pounced upon by another GOP lawmaker with “no pun intended!” Har har.

That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores. So you don’t have to go back and make sure you read that right, here it is again: That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores.

Eyebrows raised everywhere. Headlines stacked up. Message boards dripped with disbelief.

But when Gant first spoke about the bill, he said “the buzz” about banning cold beer sales was moot. It was part of the original legislation, but after meeting with stakeholders across the state (probably meaning lobbyists for retailers), it was no longer part of his proposal.

He clarified this during an early committee review of the bill. The intent was never to target 12-packs or 24-packs, it was on “high-alcohol, single-serve containers.”

“Some people have educated me on this,” Gant said. “They call them 2x4s or tallboys. You see them laying on the side of the road where they’ve been obviously thrown out. So, we know that they’re being abused, and people are drinking these, and not making it home to enjoy at their house.

“So, there was never going to be any intent — by me as the sponsor — to take away the right and the privilege for the good actors of being able to buy a 12-pack or 24-pack and take that home as responsible adults. I just want to make that clear, you know, for the record. So that everybody feels at ease. But none of that is included in this legislation.”

And feel at ease they did, it seems. Those hard headlines that read like “Proposed Tennessee Bill Bans Selling Cold Beer” (from VinePair) had softened to jokier ones like “Tennessee’s Cold Beer Ban Bill Is Officially On Ice” from Nashville’s News Channel 5.

For many, though, the idea seemed in range and on-brand for the GOP. Memphis Reddit users called it “stupid shit” and “bullshit” and that (sarcastically) these lawmakers were “tackling the real issues.” It also reminded them of another GOP fave: gun control.

“But … but … beer is an inanimate object,” wrote u/Boatshooz. “It doesn’t drink itself. And we don’t need to pass further laws that just hurt responsible drinkers, we just need to enforce existing laws.

“I swear I’ve heard that same argument from those same legislators about something else … can’t remember what it was. Why are they taking the opposite stance with beer?”

The law would, however, create a new group to study alcohol consumption and abuse in the state, with a report due annually. Gant said (but didn’t cite sources for his information) that drunk driving and alcohol consumption has surged in recent years. The bill was passed by the legislature but had not been signed by Gov. Bill Lee as of press time. 

Sunday Sales

You’ve been there, probably. You’re headed to your Sunday Funday, walk into the grocery store only to find the beer section dark, maybe with shades drawn over them or a lock on the cooler door.

Then it hits you. That backward-ass state law says I can’t buy beer here until noon. You may even have a thought about some pious state lawmaker sitting in a church somewhere, praying that the law will somehow nudge you out of the beer aisle and into a pew somewhere. Well, those beer lights will remain off on Sunday mornings, at least for another year.

Nashville Democrats Rep. Bob Freeman and Sen. Jeff Yarbro tried to change that. They described the bill simply as “the alignment of the sale of alcohol on Sunday to every other day of the week.” They said many sporting events are overseas and on different time zones. Some venues, they said, would like to sell alcohol to those who want to watch them. 

The only real vocal opponent of the bill was Rep. Tom Leatherwood (R-Arlington), the former Shelby County Register of Deeds. He tried hard to marry the Sunday-sales legislation with another Freeman bill focused on preventing sexual assault.

He called them “twin bills” even though they could not have been more different. But still he told his GOP colleagues that limiting Sunday sales could save a life, and someday, maybe, end up on your end-of-life sizzle reel.

“Now, any of us that have drunk the alcohol [yes, he said the alcohol] before … it will just naturally reduce the natural defenses of some. It’ll increase the natural aggressiveness of others,” Leatherwood explained. “Hence, it’s good to be aware of what can happen, as we will hear more about later. If you vote no on this bill, you may never know what young lady you save from sexual assault and harassment, to use the language coming up. You may never know. But then again, on the other hand, in that final judgment we will all face, you may find out who you save by voting no on this bill.”

For his part, Freeman tried to separate the two, saying, “You should be able to drink responsibly without being raped.”

Loaded Cops, Loaded Guns

Sen. Joey Hensley swore he had no idea where the idea came from or how it ended up in his legislation. But there it was, raising almost as many eyebrows as the cold beer ban: We were going to allow drunk cops to carry and use concealed firearms.

“As introduced, allows law enforcement officers to carry a firearm when under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances and certain other circumstances,” reads the bill description on the state website.

Hensley said all he wanted to do was allow everyone to carry weapons on college campuses, for crying out loud. (That idea didn’t even get the support of his GOP colleagues. The bill failed.) The drunk cops thing was added without his knowledge, he told Fox 13. But there it was in black and white pixels and the damage was done.

“TN GOP probably: Wait guys, I’ve got an idea,” tweeted Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville). “I know Missouri one-upped us with their bill arming 3 [year olds], but I think we can counter with arming police officers who are drunk or high. Hear me out on this one …[three clown emojis].”

One supporter, though, over on a forum at tngunowners.com had another take.

“I know many seem to find fault with the concept of being armed and drinking, but really, as long as you’re not impaired,” wrote a user named Defender. “If you feel that strongly against it, maybe we should allow cars at bars or restaurants that serve alcohol.”

Date Rape

Rep. Freeman’s legislation (discussed earlier here) on alcohol and sexual assault passed this year, was signed by Lee, and will go into effect in January. That law will require anyone who serves alcohol to the public to take a course on the role of alcohol in sexual assault and harassment and on recognizing and reporting signs of human trafficking.

“If any of you remember, several years ago, the horrible rape case on a university campus here locally where a bunch of men carried a passed-out woman past 20 or more individuals that allowed it to happen,” Freeman said. “Not one of them stopped, said anything, felt empowered to do it, [or] understood what they could say.”

After this, the Safe Bar Tennessee program was developed by the Sexual Assault Center of Middle Tennessee. The program’s slogan is “See Something. Do Something.” Such training is already underway in Nashville, including some 50 bars Downtown, Freeman said.

Odds and Ends

Right now, certain folks under 21 can taste alcohol legally in the state. But they can’t drink it. Make sense?

Motlow State Community College, Jack Daniel’s, and Uncle Nearest have developed an associate’s degree in distilling that could produce more professionals in that industry’s workforce. Tasting the product gives students “real-world, practical experience” to “meet the critical need for their industry.” But they have to spit it out.

If you get a third DUI or BUI, you’ll have to wear a transdermal patch that will send a report to law enforcement if you have a drink. The main part of this legislation reduces jail time for the third DUI. Yet that only serves to give more time to commit to a 28-treatment program.

But the stranger, kind of Big Brother-y part of the law would make you wear that tattletale patch under your skin (so many questions) for three months or until your case is resolved, whichever came first. It goes into effect in July.

A bill would have yanked the alcohol license of a venue that served someone who later got into a car wreck that killed someone. It failed. Another bill sounds like it’s from the Prohibition era. It would have reduced “from two to one the number of credible witnesses who must be present when a law enforcement officer destroys an illegal distillery, a still, fermenting equipment, or related property.” It failed, too.

Categories
Cover Feature Food & Drink News

Fall Back, Drink Forward

Photos: Chris McCoy

Temperatures roller-coaster dipped into the cool stuff last weekend promising no more 80-degree days until Memphis in May and the exact right conditions to bend an arm under a dark, toasty/roasty fall beer.

For this, Memphians, you are in luck. New beers keep pouring into new Memphis-area taprooms. When Cooper House Project opens in Cooper-Young (hopefully soon!), Memphis will be home to 12 craft breweries. It’ll join Ghost River, Beale Street, Boscos, Crosstown, Grind City, Soul & Spirits, Hampline, High Cotton, Wiseacre, Memphis Made, and Meddlesome. Consider that only two craft breweries — Ghost River and Boscos — operated here nine years ago.

New beers are pouring into Memphis-area stores, too. Craft breweries from other markets are expanding their distribution circles, and new stuff is showing up on our shelves. Think of all the Nashville beers we can get here like Bearded Iris and Southern Grist, Urban South from New Orleans, and Deschutes from Bend, Oregon. This now also includes several non-alcoholic beers from brewers who want craft flavors without the hangover.

Toby Sells (left) with Soul & Spirits owner and master brewer Ryan Allen.

For this year’s fall beer guide, we rounded up a bunch of beers you can find around Memphis. This includes some from other markets and does not include every local brewery. Some breweries just didn’t have anything new that we’ve not written about already. We found our beers at Cash Saver and South Point Grocery (thank you, Taylor James!), both known for their wide selections. But you can find most of the beers in our tasting most anywhere.

Some brewers haven’t liked all of our staff comments in past beer guides. But our crew was asked to be honest. We taste and take notes, not as beer experts, but as typical Memphis craft beer consumers. (I mean, we don’t even have Untappd accounts.)

But we did have expert help. As in years past, we had a guide to help us understand the different styles and pick out flavors. This year, Ryan Allen, co-owner and master brewer at Soul & Spirits, shined a light on our path forward. He joined us in an undisclosed Midtown backyard as a few Flyer staffers drank beers from a cooler and wrote about them for work. Hell yeah.

There are plenty of beers to love on this list — and we did love some. But don’t take our word for it. Go grab a light jacket and a dark beer for yourself. — Toby Sells

Athletic

Athletic Lite, light lager, 0 percent ABV

Ever leave a sixer in a hot car, discover it later, then put it back in the fridge? This reminds me of that — like a flat, forgotten Miller Lite. Not much flavor, but an easy drinker if you like playing pretend. — Shara Clark

It’s a light beer with no alcohol. Which I guess is like chewing on a candy cigarette in a cigar club. But to be fair, some people really like candy cigarettes. — Samuel X. Cicci

A non-alcoholic beverage that seems sort of pointless. Slightly fizzy, like LaCroix water. Yellowish color, like water that’s been, er, used. I’d prefer a LaCroix. — Bruce VanWyngarden

There’s nothing there and I guess that’s the point. It’s barely-beer-flavored fizzy water. — Toby Sells

The recent technological advances that have made decent-tasting NA beer possible are welcome. There’s a lot of good brews out there that won’t mess with your sobriety. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. Why make an NA beer taste like the lite beer designed to make 4.2 percent alcohol content more palatable? This beer makes me long for the bold flavors of tap water. — Chris McCoy

This non-alcoholic beverage is like drinking Holy Water from church, except the wrong fingers have been dipped in the font — fingers that have been in places God doesn’t approve of — so there’s a tinge of something that shouldn’t be there, making you question if this thing that’s supposed to be “good” for you is actually worth the way it goes down so smoothly. — Abigail Morici

Meddlesome

Memphis Style Lager, light lager, 4.5 percent ABV

The can art reminds me of a ’90s-style Mead folder, but the beverage itself gives strong shower beer vibes. Lather up the shampoo, crack one open, and throw it back while the water washes the day away. This one’s a winner. — SC

It’s a nice, lighter malty lager. If you like lagers, go for it. But you’re gonna buy it anyway since the can is so fun with its minty-party-shenanigan-chic aesthetic. — SXC

This 4.5-percenter is right down the middle of my comfort zone. Tastes like beer, friendly and non-aggressive. I could see myself sitting down with a few of these. — BV

It tastes great. Now with that out of the way, let’s talk about the can. To holler at the ’80s Memphis design group on a beer can will delight any who appreciate obscure Memphiana. If you think it looks like Saved by the Bell, well, that’s fun, too. — TS

This beer is what you think you want when you order a domestic light beer. Because of Memphis’ great water, and being fresher than your average corporate beer product, it’s got a sharper and better flavor. — CM

The Memphis Style has the vibe of a crouton. We like croutons. But do we love croutons — that’s the question. — AM

Southern Grist

Parallel Fruited Sour, sour, 0 percent ABV

This is another NA, which is good because you’ve got to be sober to say its name three times fast. Flavor- and texture-wise, this seems like nothing more than a fruit puree — or what you get in one of those bottles of daiquiri mixer. — SC

It’s bursting with passion fruit and raspberry, but not super sour, which I want in my beers. Also, it has no alcohol. Which I guess is like choosing to inhale a fruity candle in a hookah bar. — SXC

Another non-alcoholic brew that is in no way reminiscent of, well, beer. It’s pleasant tasting, but to me, this is a soda. — BV

This is one of the best NA beers I’ve ever tasted. It’s got the mouthfeel of a regular beer, and the flavors are tasty but not overwhelming. Most importantly, it’s not too sweet. — CM

The best snack when you’re in kindergarten is that cherry chapstick that you sneak a little nibble of, and this drink will take you back to those naughty moments — as if the chapstick-eating folk at Southern Grist melted down the worst chapstick, plastic tube and all, to find a new evil way to capitalize on nostalgia. — AM

Doc’s Cider

Sour Cherry Cider, sour, 6 percent ABV

This tastes like an Alabama Slammer Clubtails (those cheap, gas-station, 10-percent malt beverages) or a Black Cherry Four Loko. And if you’ve got more than two bucks to spend on booze, this is not a good thing. — SC

This sour-cherry concoction tested my gag reflex. Never bring this near my face again. — BV

This is the opposite of thin. It covers your tongue and palate with a sort of cherry medicine film. Do not recommend. — TS

UhhhlllllAAAAHHHHCHHA [yucky sound]! — CM

It’s like drinking the weirdly pink liquid that drips from a teeny tiny hole in a Febreze-scented garbage bag filled with rotting fruit and used Kleenex as you drag it to your garbage bins. — AM

Urban South

Red Nose ReinBeer, fruited wheat, 5.4 percent ABV

The first sip gave me a little “Oh!” — light with a warm, spiced aftertaste. Subsequent sips sorta felt like peeling back the wrapping paper on a Christmas gift then settling into disappointment once you realize it’s just a pair of socks. — SC

Grandma got run over by a reinbeer while walkin’ home from our house on Christmas Eve. The suspect was a fruity wheat, with notes of cranberry, cinnamon, and brown sugar, but witnesses reported that the spices overwhelm any fruity taste. — SXC

I didn’t want to like this. But it’s Christmas in a can, really. Light on the cranberry flavor, heavy on the cinnamon and brown sugar. The taste turns flatter the more you drink, though. — TS

Urban Artifact

Xmas Pickle, sour, 4.3 percent ABV

What’s the dill with all these odd new beer types, eh? It’s a smooth, light, pickle-based gose. Little bit of salt, a nice clean pickle scent, a bit of tartness, but overall it doesn’t go too heavy on any of the strange flavor mixes. — SXC

It’s much like I’d imagine drinking the brine from a pickle jar would be, only with bubbles. It’s got some salt, as well. Might go well with a cheeseburger or something, but I would not drink this sans food. — BV

Ryan [Allen from Soul & Spirits] said pickle beers are on the rise. I ain’t tryna drink this all afternoon, but it’s crazy different and fun to explore. I bet it’s great with fried chicken. — TS

I wasn’t aware of the pickle beer trend before this tasting, and I’m not sure I’m on board with it. This one smells like a pickle more than tastes like one, and it’s by far the saltiest beer I’ve ever had. Bottom line: It’s not as bad as it sounds. — CM

Soul & Spirits

Polk Salad, fresh-hopped IPA, 6.1 percent ABV

The vibe: You’re sitting in a field, breeze blowing against your face, sipping a cold, carbonated herbal tea. Fresh hops here really gave this a crisp, clean drinking experience. Best IPA I’ve ever tried. — SC

This is a better IPA, made from fresh hops (grown in Memphis!) and packed with fresh greens. Not bad. And that’s coming from an IPA-hater. — SXC

This is the freshest beer I’ve ever had. Maybe I would not have described it that way if Ryan hadn’t told us about the fresh-hop process, but dang if I can’t taste it. My notes say “just so fucking good.” — TS

It starts with a great nose. The initial taste is light and crisp, with a bold finish. The fresh hops linger longer and add more complexity than you get with your average West Coast face-melter. This is one of the best IPAs I’ve ever tasted. — CM

Ghost River

Dunkelweizen Ale, Dunkelweizen, 8 percent ABV

It’s got a bit of a clovy taste. A lot of Ghost Rivers have a sameness to their taste, but this one breaks the mold. Kudos to the brewer. — SXC

This has a dark, caramel-ish initial taste. The texture is soft, almost melted buttery. A hint of dough. Not for every taste, but will hit the spot for many. — BV

Ryan de-mystified Dunkels for me, saying they’re basically Hefeweizens with darker malts (and that “Dunkelweizen” literally translates to “dark wheat”). This one has those banana flavors and lots of suds. Fun to drink, and extra points for crop circles on the can! — TS

This new “dark wheat” is one of the better offerings from the venerable Ghost River label. It goes down smooth, but be warned: It’s got an exceptionally high alcohol content. You can get yourself into trouble with this one. — CM

Have you ever licked the cracked side of a plastic Mardi Gras bead that’s lost its shine and sits in a puddle of spilled beer? Well, now, you don’t have to; this drink will do the trick instead. — AM

Wiseacre

Strizzle Bier, IPA, 6.2 percent ABV

Yipes. Bye-bye, taste buds. I think they were burned off by the bitterness. — SC

Wiseacre makes so many good beers that I don’t feel bad saying I don’t like this. It’s a weird fusion of IPA and brown ale, and I’m not sure those two styles ever truly reconcile. — SXC

Solid brew with a clean slight bitterness that isn’t off-putting. This one suits the season just right. — BV

IPA bros like myself (self-burn), rejoice! Your fall beer is here. It’s bitter, even a little fruity, and definitely all IPA. — TS

Not much nose, followed by a weird, muddled taste profile. It’s bitterness without context. Strizzle is a rare miss from Wiseacre. — CM

This tastes the way sliding a finger along a freshly Pledged table feels but without the pleasant lemon scent. — AM

High Cotton

Chocolate Rye Porter, porter, 5.5 percent ABV

This is just begging to be made into a beer float. Is that even a thing? Well, it is now. Gimme a mug and a scoop of vanilla, please. — SC

As a kid I used to go to my grandmother’s and attack the bowl of 85-percent Ghirardelli chocolate squares. This beer reminds me of those, a bitter and oh-so-slightly-sweet meld of chocolate flavor swirling softly amidst the dark porter. Truly heavenly, and the perfect fall/winter beer. — SXC

It smells just like coffee as I bring it up for a sip. It tastes like the holidays. If ReinBeer above is the fun, gaudy Christmas party with lil smokies and Dirty Santa, this beer is the classier sit-down, roast beef dinner with your well-to-do cousins. — TS

This is the kind of beer I’m in the mood for when the leaves are falling. It’s well-balanced, not too sweet, with a complex set of flavors. This is one of my favorite beers from a Memphis brewery. — CM

Tailgate

Peanut Butter Milk Stout, sweet/milk stout, 5.8 percent ABV

Yum! Nutter Butters in a cup. This would make a great boozy milkshake. — SC

My notes, verbatim: “Fuck it. I love the shit out of this beer.” I couldn’t help it, even though I don’t usually like these beers and wanted not to like this one. I can’t explain the magic that converted me, but it was there. — TS

It’s got a great nose, it pours like motor oil, and the flavor is deep and satisfying — somewhere between a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and a pecan pie. Those brewers up there in Nashville are making great beer. — CM

Hi-Wire

Chocolate Coconut Bar 10W-40 Imperial Stout, stout, 8 percent ABV

It’s a silky, creamy chocolate imperial stout with a bit of lingering coconut. I expected more of a Mounds bar-esque taste. Not quite as good as the chocolate rye porter, but solid if you’re a stout fan. — SXC

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. The coconut goes way over the top here and turns the candy bar flavor into suntan lotion. — TS

As a fan of stouts, chocolate cake, and coconuts, this sounds like it should be right up my alley. But it’s just chewy and thick and not much else. I’m not sure I even tasted the coconut. Meh. — CM

Soul & Spirits

Smoke Stack, smoked dark lager, 5.7 percent ABV

Ever played musical chairs around a campfire to avoid the smoke blowing in your eyes? But every time you move, it follows, permeating your hair and clothes and your entire respiratory system? That usually sucks, but while this tastes like inhaling a smoke cloud, it’s a bold beer, and I’m here for it. — SC

The smoke hits you right up front, like when the wind from a fire pit wafts your way. It’s meant to emulate Memphis barbecue, and like Memphis barbecue, it’s a slow burn. Not a beer to crush, but could go well with a rack of ribs. — BV

Ever had a beer that’s smoky like a good scotch? Made with Tennessee barley roasted over mixed hardwoods intended to evoke the flavors of Memphis barbecue, this one was a new experience for me. Not sure I could have more than one at a sitting, but this is an excellent beer. — CM

Categories
Cover Feature News

Meddlesome Wins Bracket Challenge. Plus, News on Brews from All Over Town

Meddlesome Brewing Company’s West Coast IPA — 201 Hoplar — is the best craft beer in Memphis, according to the 530 voters in the Memphis Flyer‘s 2020 Beer Bracket Challenge, sponsored by our fine friends at the Young Avenue Deli.

This marks the third year in a row that 201 Hoplar has won the top spot in our challenge — a stunning three-peat made even more stunning as Meddlesome’s winning streak began the very first year of its operation.

“It’s an amazing feeling knowing that all of our patrons, fans, friends, and family care so much about us and our brand,” says Ben Pugh, who owns and founded Meddlesome with home-brewing pal Richie EsQuivel.

Each year, Pugh and EsQuivel have said they cannot believe their win and never expected it. Each win has been “crazy,” Pugh has said, leaving them feeling “blown away.” EsQuivel said of 201’s first-year win, “What the hell?”

According to EsQuivel, 201 Hoplar is a “West Coast IPA, through and through.” But while some new IPAs can be soft and fruity, EsQuivel says 201 Hoplar is “aggressive and bitter” but also “pineapple-y with citrus fruits.”

This year, we returned to our original format. The four bracket divisions separated Memphis craft beers into four very basic categories — light, dark, IPA, and seasonal. We blind-seeded the breweries’ beer choices in an event last month at Young Avenue Deli. Voters took it from there, moving 24 beers toward the championship.

Cheers to these meddling kids! (l-r) Richie EsQuivel, Ben Pugh, brewer Amber Rogers, and volunteer Larry Stone (back) celebrate Meddlesome Brewing Company’s three-peat victory in Memphis Flyer’s Beer Bracket Challenge.

Along the way, four beers emerged as winners in each of their categories. Wiseacre’s Tiny Bomb took top honors in the light division. Wiseacre’s Gotta Get Up to Get Down won in the dark division. Meddlesome’s 201 Hoplar was (obviously) the best IPA. Meddlesome’s Dirty Dova emerged on top of the seasonal division.

Here are some questions left after our fourth year of the Beer Bracket Challenge: Is Memphis an IPA town? What is Meddlesome’s secret sauce? And it appears new competitors will be lining up for next year’s challenge. So, can Meddlesome and 201 Hoplar do it again?

Meddlesome Brewing Company’s award-winning West Coast IPA 201 Hoplar is flowing into shiny, new cans — and hitting shelves this month.

Beer News You Can Use

The Memphis craft beer scene will look different this time next year. New breweries are on the way. New locations of existing breweries will come online. New beers will line local shelves. And familiar beers will line shelves farther from Memphis.

One brewery has new owners implementing a raft of changes. And, certainly, new beers will flow from all of the local brewers in the next 12 months.

In short, it’s a great time for Memphis craft beer and craft beer fans. And it’s about to get better.

There will be growth, for sure. But it won’t be like the rapid ramp-up of 2013 when three new breweries — Wiseacre, Memphis Made, and High Cotton — all opened within six months of each other.

But here’s a big win: Every craft brewery that has opened here since 2007 is still open. Maybe that sounds small, but it’s huge. Craft breweries in other cities open and close, sometimes with the regularity of local restaurants. That hasn’t happened here, and it speaks volumes about Memphis’ craft scene.

As craft beer’s profile has deepened, Memphians understand craft better than ever before. Our breweries continue to up production volume, settling their beers into more and more places and into the mouths of more and more consumers. And they ain’t slowing down.

The next 12 months will bring changes — big and small but all good — for the city’s craft scene. I’ll raise a pint to that. You should, too.

Ghost River

Bob Keskey and a group of partners bought Ghost River Brewing just more than a month ago. One of their first moves? They’re bringing back the tree.

Ghost River’s original, iconic logo — that spooky-looking bald cypress tree — will return soon to the spotlight of the iconic brand’s aesthetic. The tree was replaced with a lantern (another apt nod to the brand’s “wandering” spirit and to the Ghost River itself) in a brand redesign a few years ago.

Keskey says he started the pursuit to buy Ghost River about two years ago. It was an “on-again-off-again” situation for awhile with the Feinstone family (the previous owners). It was a “long dance,” he says, but the deal closed in January.

Keskey lives in Memphis but is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where “beer is a staple of our diet.” He originally fell for Ghost River Golden, a “nice, easy, drinkable beer.” Then he was “hooked” on Grind House, tried the rest of the beers, met head brewer Jimmy Randall, checked out the taproom, brought his investor group in to do the same, and began the pursuit to purchase the operation. He says Ghost River “just fit well with me.”

Changes at Ghost River will go well beyond the logo. The new group is investing capital (Keskey wouldn’t say how much) for a new canning line and a new keg line. He says they “completely redid the back production area” with new floors, new LED lighting, and new paint on the walls. “We’re giving the whole thing a facelift,” he says. Out front, work is underway for an expanded taproom to include a private area for indoor and outdoor events. All of it, Keskey says, will be complete by March 30th.

“Everything we’re doing comes either at the suggestion of the employees or customers or from [taproom manager] Victoria Keskey,” he says. “I’m not one of these owners that pushes his way through. So, this is about what the employees need, and I just made it happen.”

Memphis Filling Station

A simple question set Memphis Filling Station (MFS) on a new path, a journey that may conclude this year.

You may already know MFS, or think you do. The company began as a growler filling station, and they’ve poured other companies’ craft beers at dozens of events. But things changed when MFS co-founder Bryan Berretta was invited to bring some of his beers to an annual Brew Movement Against Muscular Sclerosis event.

“I was like, uh, no one drinks mine,” says Berretta. “I’m the only person who knows what it is. [The event organizer] said, ‘Well, bring it anyway.'”

So, Berretta and co-founder Heather Reed showed up with about 120 bottles and poured through almost all of them. At the end, Reed asked a path-changing question: “Why are we selling other people’s beer?”

That question led Berretta and Reed to negotiating on a space to allow them to sell MFS beer. The space would be shared with a food vendor in a sort of co-op situation. But Berretta isn’t providing more details than that.

As for beer, Berretta says he wants to do something different in the market. He says he’s into beers with “heavier, fruited, stronger flavors” and “crazy stuff” like a salted caramel pastry stout. “I want to be seen as the brewers’ brewery, where the other brewers feel comfortable coming in and doing collaborations with us, and it’s just fun and creativity and just forget the rest,” Berretta says.

Wiseacre

“We expect summer.” And that’s as close as Kellan Bartosch, owner and co-founder of Wiseacre Brewing Co., could predict for the opening of the company’s second location, a 43,500-square-foot, $7 million taproom and brewery now rising from the earth Downtown on B.B. King Boulevard between Butler and Vance. The taproom will make up only 5,000 square feet of the space. The magic for Bartosch and his brother and co-founder Davin Bartosch is in the rest of the space — the brewhouse, warehouse, lab, cellar, and grain mill.

“The biggest thing that [the new location] does for us is just allow us to fulfill our potential as a business,” says Kellan Bartosch.

Production capacity at the original Broad Avenue location was frustrating and tough, he says. The new location will allow growth. While many have asked, Bartosch says the opportunity for a regional brewery to go national (like Bell’s or Founders) just doesn’t really exist anymore, especially with the amount of breweries in the country now.

But for Davin Bartosch, Wiseacre’s head brewer, it’s more than that.

“The new location has more to do with us being able to make the best beer we can,” he says. “My goal, ever since we opened, was to make the best beer in the world. Having nicer equipment allows us to get much better at making beer.”

A new canning line will help eliminate more oxygen in the cans, which extends shelf life and creates consistency.   

For now, look for Wiseacre’s Regular Pale Ale year round, a fresh series of “new-age-y” IPAs, and new packaging, including 16-ounce cans, more 12-packs, and even 24-packs.

Crosstown

It was a hell of a party, especially for a 2-year-old.

The planning was intense, tons of new beer was made and poured, tons of friends came, and at its height, the party was a raucous, full-tilt boogie. It’s not every day a brewery turns 2. Even though Crosstown Brewing Company sold more beer on its second birthday than it did on its opening night, co-founder Clark Ortkiese won’t ever forget that first night.

“Of course, we’re better at serving than before, and our point of sale [system] didn’t crash, and the draft system wasn’t completely screwed up like it was on the first day,” Ortkiese remembers.

Two years on, it’s creativity that keeps Ortkiese feeling like work ain’t work.

“That’s how I get to cut loose creatively and how [head brewer] Stephen Tate gets to cut loose,” Ortkiese says. “We just figure out how we’re going to do this … and work toward it.”

Look for that creativity in new, seasonal cans including Delta Cat, a low-alcohol, Euro-born grisette (dropping this week), and a New England IPA called Chowda, out later in March.

Ortkiese says taking risks on esoteric styles comes easier as the Memphis craft beer market matures. For proof, he points to two “successful” sour-beer can releases over the last two summers.

“So, yeah, I trust the market enough to say let’s go do some weird stuff and some old-school stuff,” Ortkiese says.

Meddlesome

Meddlesome Brewing Company is readying to answer the question its fans have been asking since they opened: When can they find Meddlesome beers in stores?

“Every day we get phone calls and Facebook messages: Where can I buy your beer?” says Meddlesome owner and co-founder Ben Pugh. “Well, I can give you a list of places, but if you’re not going to bars or restaurants you’re probably not going to find it.”

Pugh says Meddlesome is a self-funded operation, and canning (either contract or in-house) was put on hold until they could afford it. Now that time has come. The award-winning 201 Hoplar is now flowing into silver cans, 12 ounces at a time. Pugh says to look for Meddlesome on shelves this month.

The brewery hit the ground running after they opened about two years ago, winning the hearts (and tastebuds) of Cordova craft fans and enough votes to win our Beer Bracket Challenge for three years in a row. They’ve been competing for taps all over town and will now compete for shelf space.

At the same time, they haven’t stopped meddling (you knew it was coming) creatively. Meddlesome did a special bottle release each Saturday in November, including Hot Mess, an imperial red ale made with Red Hots; All the Cookies, an imperial oatmeal raisin cookie brown ale; and Devil’s Water, a Belgian quad.

Memphis Made

You (probably) haven’t had a beer in the Ravine yet. But you (probably) will have come this time next year. The Ravine is a $5 million public greenspace concept now underway by Development Services Group and the Downtown Memphis Commission.

Before long, you’ll be Instagramming the hours away and drinking craft beer in a ravine on an old rail spur behind nondescript buildings between Union and Monroe (close to the old Commercial Appeal building).

“We kind of specialize in unique spaces here at Memphis Made,” says company co-founder Andy Ashby. “Our taproom is definitely different than a lot of others. So the unconventional design [in the Ravine] didn’t faze us in the least. We actually think there are opportunities there.”

New production space there will allow Memphis Made Brewing Co. to up its volume. It’s good timing, as the company readies to enter new markets after a recently signed distribution deal with Ajax. But the location came first and the distribution deal came second, says company co-founder Drew Barton.

“Finding that second location and knowing that we could push production was not a necessity to go find a distributor, but it definitely made the choice a little easier,” Barton says. “Had we not gone and found the second location or knew that we wanted to expand that way, we would have been totally happy just brewing on Cooper. But we knew that we could move beyond the volume we were doing to get to that next level.”

Timelines on projects like these can get squishy, but Barton says to look for the Ravine location to open “this year.”

Memphis Made also recently signed a separate distribution deal with Clark distributors in Mississippi. So, very soon you’ll be able to find Junt, Cat Nap, and more in stores outside of Shelby County for the first time.

Grind City

Back then, the area didn’t have a fancy name, really. There was a hill with a ragged collection of decrepit buildings. But there was that view. When Hopper Seely climbed the hill and saw the view, he knew.

“Once I saw that view, I was like, I don’t care how bad this place is to open …” Seely says, trailing off amid the construction noise. “Some days I wish I really didn’t ever say that. Once we got construction started — and if I’m ever having a bad day — I just look at that view and know it’s going to be worth it.”

Seely’s Grind City Brewing Co. sits behind the carriage and horse barns on North Second, above the east bank of Wolf River harbor. Signs in the area herald it as the “carriage district,” but it’s always kinda sorta been in the Uptown area and is now in what developers call the Snuff District.

All of it sits just north of Downtown, and now, atop that small hill, is a site under full construction, with one modern building that shines like an iPhone at a barn-raising. Walk out the back of Grind City Brewing’s massive taproom and onto its patio and you’ll see that view — the Pyramid, some of the city’s most iconic skyscrapers, and the big “M” of the Hernando de Soto Bridge.

Open in the “spring-ish” time, according to Seely, that patio and view should be very Instragram-friendly.

But Grind City is way more than a patio. Seely was 12 when he began brewing beer with his dad. He was 19 when he quit college and entered a brewing school in England. And in his early 20s, he won awards for his beers and business plans.

Seely and Grind City head brewer Mark Patrick are already cranking out beers. Out of the gate, Grind City will offer a light beer, an IPA, and a black (nitro!) lager. Later, they’ll begin offering up seasonals and one-offs. 

Soul & Spirits

“We are in very deep construction,” says Soul & Spirits Brewery co-founder and head brewer Ryan Allen.

Soul & Spirits is planned for an old building, also in the Uptown/Snuff District on Main Street. But Allen says it’s way too early to talk about a timeline to get the doors open, though the company’s Facebook page says “coming 2020.”

But Allen did talk beers: “We make a diverse range of beers for a diverse range of people,” he says. “We’re looking at both old-world styles and new-world styles and even being creative in our right, doing some of our own things that you may not have seen before.”

Allen earned his Masters Brewing Diploma in Germany. It’s much of that “old world” education that leads him to the mindset that brewers should really know how to brew “a great light lager beer.” Then, apply that knowledge to any kind of “new-world styles.”

High Cotton

You’ve definitely started to see more High Cotton out there. Thanks to a November distribution deal with Eagle, the Edge District brewery plays farther afield in the Memphis market (like the suburbs) in more grocery stores, convenience stores, and other spots.

Ryan Staggs, High Cotton Brewing Co. co-owner and co-founder, says for the first years of operation, “We were a man in a van. Now we’ve got dozens of delivery drivers and trucks that are out there every day, beating the street and putting more craft beer in more places than we can dream up.”

But those first years of self distributing were crucial, Staggs says, as the market was developing and they slowly ramped up production volume. 

Consumers are now well used to seeing three High Cotton beers in cans: Scottish Ale, IPA, and Mexican Lager. A fourth can — a seasonal — will be added later this year.

This spring, the brewery’s Thai Pale Ale will replace another saison as its seasonal beer. Staggs says the beer’s exposure in the Flyer Beer Bracket Challenge and the demand for the beer in the taproom helped High Cotton make the switch.

In the next couple of months, keep an eye out for a Flanders red ale. It’s been fermenting in wine barrels for two years, Staggs says, and so far, “It’s pretty phenomenal.”

Memphis Brewfest

If any of this has you craving a craft beer, you’re in luck. Memphis Brewfest is returning to Liberty Bowl Stadium. So far, 33 breweries and cideries are set to tap their stuff on the field on Saturday, March 28th, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $50-$100 at eventbrite.com.