Late last week, East Nashville Beer Works invited local drinkers and diners by its new taproom for a soft opening, officially rounding out the trio of much-anticipated new craft breweries in the neighborhood.
Nashville on the whole has grown prodigiously over the past handful of years as a destination for delicious local beers. But over the past year, East Nashville in particular has become a neighborhood that could accommodate a craft beer enthusiast looking for a small-but0mighty taproom crawl.
The East Nashville brewery count might still be small, technically (and since Fat Bottom Brewing is moving to The Nations — close to our Ashland Place townhome listings — it’ll be down one soon). But the offerings are unique and exciting. And who knows? The big embrace from the community might mean we’re just getting started.
Not familiar with the small rush of East Nashville craft breweries that have popped up recently? Here’s a quick primer:
East Nashville craft breweries

East Nashville Beer Works
320 E. Trinity Lane
The newest of the three new East Nashville beer names, East Nashville Beer Works is “a community and taproom-centered brewery,” which means it’s aiming to be something special specifically for us locals. The Middle Tennessee-centric thrust is obvious in the names of the beers they’re brewing: a Woodland Street IPA, Cumberland Punch wheat beer, and many other Nashville-nodding names. Beginning on August 8, the ENBW taproom will be open seven days a week (hours on the Beer Works website) sharing small-batch brews, pizza and salad.

Southern Grist
1201 Porter Road
For a brief time, 1201 Porter was home to a market/cafe called Boone & Sons. After it abruptly shuttered, Jamie Lee, Kevin Antoon, and Jared Welch made some folks in the Rosebank/Inglewood area (and the rest of East Nashville, really) very happy, reinventing the building as Southern Grist’s brewery and taproom, and opening the doors this past February. Innovative flavors are a big part of the Southern Grist approach, and that’s obvious as soon as you walk in and read the menu — you’ll see options like a wheat beer brewed with fresh lime zest, lime juice and ginger (called the Nashville Mule) and a Sugar Baby Gose beer, made with Sugar Baby watermelons, lemon zest, white pepper and black Hawaiian lava salt. The taproom is open Tuesday through Sunday; hours on the Southern Grist website.

Smith & Lentz Brewing Company
903 Main Street
Late last year, Smith & Lentz opened in the Main Street building that was long home to gardening stop Worm’s Way. Since then, they’ve been perfecting a mix of classic beer flavors, from German Pilsner and Vienna Lager to a deeper Nitro Stout. You typically won’t find super left-of-center brews here, just really excellent versions of a bunch of your best-loved varieties. The taproom is open seven days a week too; hours on the Smith & Lentz website.
Determined to live in this craft beer-loving neighborhood? We have several beautiful East Nashville listings up right now, including 1409 Lillian Street (right in the heart of Lockeland Springs) and two properties in cottage community Porter Road Place, walking distance from Southern Grist (1421 Porter Road Lot 2, and 1421 Porter Road Lot 3). If you’d like to know more about/take a look at any of them, let us know. If we can help you find something else in East Nashville, we’d be more than thrilled to do that, too!