Smith & Lentz Brewing Company

Let me just say that hot chicken done hot is a total waste of a meal and unenjoyable and I care not who knows. I would have been so much better off having gone medium if not full on mild. And no, I’m not just shame saying that because of the group of small children at the next table who were noticeably laughing at the old hot chicken crying man who was me. Fucking Princes! Anyway, this is our last Nashville hurrah as we depart tomorrow for Atlanta to meet up with the talls, but we’ve got one more in us (one more brewery, not one more beer). Let us get our Pilsner on…

Side of the road standalone, in and around the bend. Light wood plank topped bar on the inner wall, black panel base, seating for a dozen on black swivel leather chairs. Barback holds a large window off center looking in over the brewery space. Wow, it’s funny you asked, but yes, there is a shark’s head mounted above that window. To one side, an American flag hung and to the other side, an 18 tap non-descript handle row on stainless with holes for 4 more. Printed sheets with the tap selections (beer, light descriptors, ABV) in 3 rows above the handles. Glassware countered and shelved below. Crowl crimper on the end of the bar, and a can cooler tucked behind that down past the end of the barback.

Walls in white concrete and painted play green lowers and two tone, at least in this light. Large front paneled windows. Concrete floors and wood rafter ceilings, ducts, spins, drop pan lamps, softball bulbs, & stung egg filament bulb lighting. And for all the lighting, they’re kept mad low. It be chill. Light art on the far wall and house beer prints in the front corner framed in rows. Potted plants free standing and set atop things and hanging dangling.

Nearly 2 dozen tables about the room; shorty, hightop, and raised roundy bar tables. Wood fired pizza kitchen to the rear. No, I did not fulfill my lust for crust as stupid hot chickenface happened just before our arrival, but daaaaamn those pies looked good! And I think there’s an outdoor outback space, but we didn’t get back there.

15 beers up. My god, 7 of them are Pilsners (German Style Pilsener, 4.8%; Happy Hearts Club Czech Pils, 4.4%; Slow Rise Pilsner, 4.9%; Killer Pulls Italian Pilsner, 4.1%; Pizza Palace Pilsner, 5%; Little Hearts Club Czech Pilz, 3.9%; Big Night Italian Pilsner, 5%), and then Lager Lager Lager (Kellerbier, 4.6%; Vienna Lager, 4.6%; Turn on the Lights Lager, Czech Dark Lager, 4.7%), and then 5 from Ale side of things (Kolsch, 5%; YUM YUM YUM, IPA, 6.3%; Must be Nice IPA, 5.5%; Mosaic IPA, 6.5%; One Time Thing IPA, 6.3%). Additionally, there’s a draft cider (Shacksbury Arlo Cider, 6%), a guest N/A can (Southern Grist Beacon IPA, 0%), a Kombucha (Walker Brothers High Gravity Kombucha, 5%), and an extensive ass wine list; some 4 dozen options there, mostly by the bottle.

As we had gotten in late, I had to double down with shortys to get through a few and then a few more. Having sampled though nicely, I have deemed Slow Rise Pilsner, Pizza Palace Pilsner, & Kellerbier to the bests of show. Although there was nothing even remotely of the suck here.

Returned 5 months later on a weekend trip and got it on again as this was really the only place I wanted to get back to. The bests of show were a few things I hadn’t gotten to last time out (Turn on the Lights, Czech Dark Lager, 4.7%; Mosaic IPA, 6.5%), and some new things up (Love That 4U West Coast IPA, 6.5%, Mariachi Static Helles Lager, 4.7%).

Cool vibe, chill crowd, and they apparently supposedly make great pizza. As for the beer... everyone knows that Lager X 10 = Love, that’s simple math right there. I mean, 7 Pilsners FFS! Who does that? (I wish everybody did). I found the beers, both on the Pilsner and IPA side of things, to be excellent. Well done, folks. I could do a lot of time here.

The outside at night looks inviting, nothing fancy inside, but a happy crowd, very good beer — we had eight different half pours, and six of them were very good — very good wood-fired pizza, and excellent service. We’ll very likely come back our next time through Nashville.

Best pizza in Nashville and the beers are really good as well....

Terrific attentive servers who are knowledgeable about their beers....pizza is just incredible...beers are high quality for the style....

Atmosphere is unique and the day we went it was a ghost town hence my score....

They had several pilsner and several IPAs on but no much else...a. larger variety would have been nice.mn

Still. A great stop for beer and pizza in Nashville...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty unremarkable location, generic taproom vibe, games and outdoor seating. Seems to be a lager focused brewery and they certainly do them nicely. Service was solid, the place was absolutely packed the night we went, but they managed to cope well for the most part. Definitely worth checking out if you are open to enjoying some craft lager.

 

Solid selection. Games, ping pong tables and bean bag toss make having a few beers even more fun.

 

 

 

 

 

Take an open space with block walls, paint them,erect a bar, throw down a floor with tables and ping pong tables, then start brewing---BAMM, you have Smith & Lentz.

Drinkability is difficult to gauge here. As with other breweries in the area, their beers are hamstrung by the law. Watered down beers just aren't that good. Having said that, give this crew a year after the law changes next year, and they should be positioned for much success.

Don't let that keep you away though. This is pretty cool place with number of selections.

 

Smith and Lentz should be considered a must-go for any beer fan in Nashville. These guys, frankly, are on a different level than Yazoo, Black Abbey, Jackelope, TN Brew Works, etc. Canceled other plans to go to the brewery and some of their other brews. The German Pils is among the best of the style I've had anywhere. Lentz was knowledgable and approachable and he got along with beer newbies and nerds alike. Plus, two ping pong tables. Great space.