The Black Abbey Brewing Company

 

 

the beer is solid in here, but i had higher hopes for this place. their website sort of casts an old church vibe, like their taproom would be a lot more unique than it is. its a warehouse with a few arched wooden things to barrier off the taproom area of it, but its not old worldy or cool really at all, its new and kind of cheap feeling, i felt a little duped when i walked in. huge fermenters and stacks of cans all the way to the ceiling too, clearly making some volume in here. they have a nice list of beers here, lots of belgian styles of course, but some cool barrel aged offerings too! i liked the couple of beers we had in here, the coffee porter in corsair triple smoke barrels was excellent. i think its cool that belgian beer is making a bit of a comeback lately, in that more and more places like this specializing in them are popping up, and based on all the cans to be filled in here, they are drinking them. we had a good visit here, liked the beer fine, but the vibe was a little disappointing and there are definitely cooler places to hangout and drink good beer in town in nashville...

 

 

 

 

 

Belgian beer is the focus here. Which is a good thing. They do a pretty decent job. The strip mallish location isn't great, but they do a nice job on the inside, to make it feel like a proper taproom. One of the older places in Nashville, which seems crazy, but still a place you should check out, especially if Belgians are your flavor.

 

It's a little bit south of Nashville central, but my wife wanted to visit Gaslamp Antiques and a few others so my treat in trade-off was a stop at the Black Abbey.

There was a food truck sitting outside with a short line, and inside it was set-up a little like a church with the beer behind the altar. There are five 8-person picnic tables over a concrete floor with few long pews by the front window. A wood frame "surround" keeps everyone "in the right place" while also acting as a kind of bar-rail, and determining where the line for beer is. There are reclaimed church lights hanging from the ceiling and stacked barrels by the brewhouse giving it a kind of an abbey feel. It's generally just a stark grey decor, but nicely done.

Being a small place it can fill up but my wife and I were able to grab a spot at a table, and enjoyed taking a look at the brewery even though nothing was going on. I was very tempted to try the food coming off the truck as it looked and smelled great, but we'd just come from lunch.

They had 8 beers on tap, with 2 of those being seasonal. I had the Rose and the Special, both of which were great, and if I'd had more time I'd have tried a third or fourth, but as it was we had to get back. Still, I felt the visit was worth it even though I was able to find Black Abbey beers in the city.

My favorite Nashville brewery. Tasting room is not huge, but very cool. Open to the brewery, you get to see the barrels stacked everywhere. And the barrel aging program is producing some fantastic beers. Glad they are bottling these. Great place to have a flight.

 

 

One of my new favorite breweries in Nashville. Carl and the crew at BA are knocking it out of the park on a regular basis. Their brews are tasty and the varieties they offer are refreshing. The vibe at the tasting room is very cool, with open views of the brewery's production area. Definitely get down there for a flight if you haven't already. It's tucked in behind 100 Oaks, but worth the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tasting area is a little small but I really like what they have done with that space in keeping with the theme. Are you a hophead? This place isn't for you. However, they do some fantastic stuff with malt and yeast as they should with the latter if they are a Belgian style inspired brewery. Good people and good beers all around and IMO, one of the best breweries in Tennessee.