The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium

The Flying Saucer Draught EmporiumThe Flying Saucer Draught Emporium
The Flying Saucer Draught EmporiumThe Flying Saucer Draught Emporium
Bar, Eatery

130 Peabody Pl
Memphis, Tennessee, 38103-3718
United States

(901) 523-PINT | map
beerknurd.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.06
Reviews:
41
Ratings:
70
pDev:
10.34%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by HochFliegen:
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Reviewed by HochFliegen from Oregon

4.53/5  rDev +11.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4
Well Ive been to this place a few times in Memphis. I think this place is great. Im 26 and there tends to be a younger group in this place like others have mentioned. On Friday night I think they have music it gets pretty loud and quite packed. The food isnt too bad but the best part are all them taps. They have a good size menu with all the beers they have. Ive never been to a place with so many selections of beer before. And yes the gals working there...wow very nice shot plaid skirts and white stockings, totaly adds something to the place.
Jan 19, 2004
More User Ratings:
Photo of Argail
Rated by Argail from Louisiana

2.65/5  rDev -34.7%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 1 | food: 3
Oh not good place for a stout drinker 8( sad place... not many stouts porter on a tap place is regular bar
Dec 01, 2021
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

3.55/5  rDev -12.6%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3
From the outside, I thought this was going to be one of your wild party bars with girls pushing body shots and slushy drinks right at the front door, but relatively speaking, being so close to Beale street, it’s a fairly chill beer bar. Maybe I shouldn’t go quite that far, as it just happened to be round 1 game 1 of the Grizzlies v Jazz, but it was a nice time watching the game with the locals while enjoying some of their area craft beer.

It really is a fairly old school wooden bar through and through. It’s quite a long bar, with tons of off-bar seating, plenty of tables, as well as some outdoor facing stools to watch all the hooligans. It seems there’s a few of these bars around the states, and I’m guessing they’re all decked out similarly with plates tacked to the ceiling, large draft walls with chalkboard lists, and the now ubiquitous QR code menus.

The menu itself wasn’t half bad, featuring plenty of local drafts, but there wasn't anything exciting about it either. Service seemed to know as much as they needed to know without pause, and even got pretty short with the jackasses coming off the street asking “watchya got,” expecting a few domestics. "Oh, just 80+ beers, fool!" Still, they get overwhelmed, even if it wasn’t full capacity yet, and they forgot to put in our food order. All’s well, we filled up on beer and blended right in with the rest of the street shenanigans on the walk back to the hotel.
Jun 08, 2021
 
Rated: 3.85 by metter98 from New York

Nov 02, 2018
 
Rated: 4.48 by Rubezahl from Pennsylvania

Jul 29, 2018
 
Rated: 4.38 by Pav42 from Tennessee

Mar 05, 2018
 
Rated: 4.19 by likelee2b from Tennessee

Sep 26, 2016
 
Rated: 4.16 by chuckgietzen from Michigan

Sep 24, 2015
 
Rated: 3.81 by Ajlvt from Washington

Sep 01, 2015
Photo of SCW
Rated by SCW from New York

4.68/5  rDev +15.3%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.75 | selection: 5
insane amount of draft beers, lively atmosphere and a young crowd
Jun 03, 2015
Photo of jmdrpi
Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

4.51/5  rDev +11.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.75
Visited on a Friday night in February for a couple of beers

Vibe is beer hall - with a bar, tables, and real darts. We sat at the bar.

Draft beer list is expansive and a mix of local, national, import. Regular beers and a few limited releases. A smaller bottle list of special stuff. If you can't find a beer to order, you've got a problem. bartenders are nice and helpful.

Didn't have any food.
Feb 15, 2015
Photo of hmvalp
Rated by hmvalp from Tennessee

3.69/5  rDev -9.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.25 | food: 3.5
Best beer menu in town, food is mediocre, service is ok, can be loud
Dec 23, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by PhishNoC from Tennessee

Dec 10, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Seabass1964 from Arkansas

Sep 15, 2014
 
Rated: 4.2 by Desimoaj from Michigan

Sep 14, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by BigRedDog from Indiana

Sep 10, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Ohiovania from Ohio

Sep 07, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Elicoleman from Colorado

Aug 28, 2014
Photo of zeff80
Reviewed by zeff80 from Missouri

3.96/5  rDev -2.5%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4 | selection: 3.75 | food: 3.75
This is like every Saucer - huge with typical decor. The beer were all good quality, but as for selection -- I wish they had more local brews on tap. The service was solid and the food was okay.
Aug 06, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by midtownmphs from Tennessee

Jul 18, 2014
 
Rated: 5 by esanchlsu from Louisiana

Jul 15, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by SlightlyGrey from Minnesota

Jul 10, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by fastestmanalive from Florida

Jul 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4.75 by DeathMetalDan88 from Tennessee

Jun 22, 2014
Photo of yemenmocha
Reviewed by yemenmocha from Arizona

3.64/5  rDev -10.3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.75 | food: 3
Enjoyed a few Belgians here and was pleased that I could find them in the area. I didn't have time to look up and evaluate some local options in a hurry so I went with this chain location because I knew that they would have something decent. Food was rather average. Service was a bit neglectful. Beer was good though, but a little pricey for some options but not others.
Jun 16, 2014
 
Rated: 4.75 by AGoodStout from Kansas

Jun 14, 2014
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Reviewed by bditty187 from Nebraska

3.78/5  rDev -6.9%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 3 | selection: 4
Flying Saucer wasn’t on my list of stops in Memphis but I ended up parking right in front of it. And, hey, on Mondays its pint night all day, which means almost everything on-tap are $3 pints. So that’s cool!

We sat at the bar and our bartender was awesome. We told her we wanted a quick pint before moving on to Beale St. She asked if we needed help picking a beer and I said we just wanted something not sold in Nebraska. She offered some local beers but we had most. Ultimately we grabbed a pint each from Memphis Made, both beers were good, kind of malty per the style. But all was good. Great service. Good beer. Great price. We moved on…

We came back a few hours later for one last beer but didn’t sit at the bar. We sat in the open air area. The service was poor and the waitress was of little help. She knew nothing about beer and said they were out of everything we tried to order. None of the taps were cupped or pulled so I don’t know. She kind of killed my motivation to stay. We had one pint with her and left.

No food.

Overall, great location for somebody looking for good beer but I didn’t think finding local craft that hard… outside the area craft, yes, so this is your place.
Jun 12, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by user785335 from Florida

Feb 27, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by CraigTravor from California

Jan 31, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by mattmarka1 from Minnesota

Jan 21, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by crowbar540 from Tennessee

Dec 19, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by BillRoth from Maryland

Dec 12, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by elkinbrown from Tennessee

Oct 24, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by grahamboudreaux from Tennessee

Oct 10, 2013
Photo of ubenumber2
Reviewed by ubenumber2 from Arkansas

4.05/5  rDev -0.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 5 | food: 3
This place has tons of beer to try , the prices are not that great , but they have beers you simply cannot purchase in this part of the country. Some of the beers you can buy at a 1/4 of the price at Joes or Busters , but some you can only buy here. The food is ok, but then most "Irish" places who serve food in the US are sub par when it comes to food , beer first food second. The waitresses are pretty hot , the beer is cold , the price can be high, but hey to get what you cant get anywhere else Ill take it
Sep 29, 2012
Photo of KDawg
Reviewed by KDawg from Illinois

4.08/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5
In my short stay in memphis, Flying Saucer was clearly the best of the bars that I came across.

It certainly caters to a slightly louder scene. They had a band playing the night I was there and had some games on as well.

The service was always on point for me. Even with it being wednesday, it was a bit of a zoo. They had about 4 bartenders and it was never hard to get a beer.

The selection was very good. They had a whole bunch of taps available and had everything at great prices. They were blowing out prima pils, and I was able to get it for $3.

Flying Saucer was a great place to grab some good brews in Memphis. If I was staying longer in town I would’ve had some more here, but driving got in the way of spending a lot of time here.
Apr 28, 2012
Photo of slander
Reviewed by slander from New York

4/5  rDev -1.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4
After scoping out of the river side music scene, we dealt the natural progression towards the Flying Saucer. It was as local as local as local could be to our hotel, and I’m well done with drinking plastic cup beer on (is there anything that’s not painfully wrong with) Beale Street. I’ve taken in some of the other Saucer locations, and they’re consistent if nothing else. Bare min, you’ll get at some regional play; I suppose you just need to consider then how good your beer region be...

Atypical Flying Saucer set up; similar more so to Houston than Columbia, anyway. A large room with spicy yellow mustard high high ceilings & wall uppers of the same and brown trim angled over wood plank lowers. The walls & ceiling are plastered with name plate saucers and ornamental otherwise, ev-ery-where. All sizes, shapes, patterns & depths. 2’ X 2’ green & black checkerboard tiling run diagonally.

To the back of the room, high backed chair seating for 18 on a long straight stained stainless steel topped bar holding a fatty wood lip & base, and piping foot rail. Barback wall is a length of copper panel sheets, (‘non penny’, like the other locations I’ve seen), holding alternating upper lower upper lower taps; 75 in all. The wall of taps runs from end to end over stainless steel counter tops, split only by a center 2 door cooler holding bottled selections. Other bottle coolers on the far ends, with a smattering of bottles & booze about, and shelved glassware, mostly of the pint variety, running the lengths below.

Looking at the wall of taps, it would appear that most of the craft beer is on one end with the ciders, and then the imports, crap macros & stray craft on the other end. Personally, I feel that they need me as a consultant on some placement decisions, like switching the ciders to the import/macro side and moving the stray craft in with what would then become the all craft side. I have other great ideas and will work for beer, but it will have to be beer of my choosing (If you think you’re going to pay me off with the ‘fire sale $3 Abita Turbo Dog’, then I will quickly become a disgruntled employee, and my work performance will reflect as such).

Everything is contained on the ‘fly paper’ beer menu, split first by lagers & ales, and then grouped by style, with nicey nice brief descriptions of. All in all, 75 taps and 130 bottles listed (plus another 10 bottles on the specials board). Roughly ½ the taps hold craft beer and that which is borderline of that term. The bottle list is a mix of everything; American craft, the full range of good to garbage imports, ciders, Gluten frees and N/A’s, as expected. Server let me try a handful of things I ultimately rejected (Yazoo Pale Ale & IPA Project, Ghost River Golden Ale). Started with a Yazoo Dos Perros (a Vienna Lager from Nashville, TN), and then a Schlafly APA, and finished with a New Belgium Fat Tire. Marin started with a Fat Tire, and then a Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, and finished with another Fat Tire. She called it a ‘Fat Tire sandwich’ (She’s smiling now).

Wood panel overhang is bordered with dominoes and die in between, and the trim above there with gold chess pieces and alternating black pawns. A looong vertical board above lists what’s “just landed”, plus a smokes menu on one end, and events on the other (Hey! Stella glass give away this Wednesday brew night, sweet!) Sunken box wine rack pieces up there with pint glasses and random beer bottles displayed, house shirts & hats displayed, and flatscreens out past on both ends. Track spots above the bar on the big board, and all along the perimeter of the room. Drop spin tops about the room with fans & crystal star everlasting gobstopper lamps alternating (those, I like).

A pair of 6 seat bar counters adjacent to the bar, and nearly a dozen square & rectangular tables to the rear, as the room widens and beyond the bar counters. 2 dart boards in the corner ‘cause beer and sharp pointy things, yeah.

Olive colored front garden room as it is, holds 10 picnic tables in rows of 3 or 4 each running back to a rear stage area. Garage door panel window walls open on the front and side side off the corner all awned above. Seating for six or seven or so below, and oh yes, they are smoking there. Corner couching and cushy chairs. Brewery banners, flaggings, mirrors & signage on the walls, and ½ barrel cut planters hanging above. Entertainment provided by southern type looking folks on the single pool table.

Servers were attentive and pleasant, and didn’t roll their eyes when I asked to try a pinch of this or that. Place was fairly quiet this Friday afternoon, that always helps, and the beer seemed to be in good shape. It’s a Flying Saucer. And no, I was not scoping out serving girls in schoolgirl outfits, why do you ask?
Nov 03, 2011
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Reviewed by DoubleSimcoe from Pennsylvania

3.08/5  rDev -24.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2 | selection: 3
Memphis is not exactly a craft-beer meca, is it... but we were in town to meet The King, and wandering Downtown on a Friday night. On the mood for a beer and some partying (the wife, not so much)!

I loved the atmosphere at this Saucer (my first one, by the way). Huge place, with an open-to-the-street section and an enclosed bar and dining area. Busy-but-not-quite, just right, music was not loud. Plenty of room to play and admire the skimpy-skirt-outfitted waitresses. Damn they are hot (the wife agrees)!.

We didn't have food because we were coming out of a great dinner at nearby Automatic Slim's (grilled Chincoteague oysters!!??). Menu looked a lil' boring, except for meat and cheese plates.

Service started out good, but deteriorated almost immediately. I assume those cute girls don't know much about beer, but beyond that, I ordered a North Coast Old Stock '08 from the printed menu and she brought an opened '11. What! I told her and she didn't look like she cared at all.

So on to the beer list: massive indeed but boring. Some cool locals (Yazoo Hop Project, Lazy Magnolia, Ghost River Pale Ale), tons of macros and safe crafts (Sierra, Arrogant Bastard). Almost 50 taps and I ended up ordering from the bottle menu, if you know what I mean.

Then our server took 400 hours to bring me a sample, then she stopped to chat with her buddies at a nearby table while I waited to order a beer. When she finally came over again, I got the check and left.

I've always said it: I'd rather have an ugly dude who knows his beer than a beautiful-but-brainless waitress. That said, I would go back when in Memphis, mostly because it is the only option in downtown.
Aug 29, 2011
Photo of jsprain1
Reviewed by jsprain1 from Minnesota

3.73/5  rDev -8.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5
A- A pretty big bar with open air seating in part of it, some pool tables, darts. A long bar as well and plenty of tvs showing sports. Only complaint is it's loud and the acoustics don't help that much.
Q- Beer was served at proper temperatures, typically in a style-appropriate glass, with no major issues here.
Ser- Service has been a problem. I, and others in my party, have frequently gotten the wrong beer brought to our table. About one in three times there's an issue with our tabs/checks, and no one has struck me as particularly knowledgable about the beers.
Sel- Easily the largest number of taps in Memphis, with a good number of bottles as well. A broad varieties of styles as well, which is always nice.
F- Food is decent, but nothing beyond standard bar food, except for their Bratwursts, which were notably good.
For downtown Memphis, the food and beer prices were both reasonable.
May 25, 2011
The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Memphis, TN
Place rating: 4.06 out of 5 with 70 ratings