NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
Near Route 40 on Broadway, freestanding red-bricked BLACKSTONE RESTAURANT & BREWERY (opened New Year’s Eve ’93), had an estate-like feel, with its brick archway-fronted private library, exquisite dining area, and tile-floored open space surrounding wood-furnished front bar (visited August ’08). Extensive beer bottle collection adorned shelving across interior walls and menu included wood-fired pizza, sandwiches, burgers, and salads.
Side entrance brew tanks served soft apricot-tangerine-grapefruit-centered maize-dried Summer Ale, fizzy hop-spiced banana-brightened clove-coriander-teased Hefeweizen, and berry-tart citric-sweetened mild-grained Kolsch-styled Chaser Pale Ale.
Peat-smoked hazelnut-honeyed peanut-shelled Nut Brown Ale, woody-hopped dark-spiced apricot-grapefruit-draped Red Springs Ale, and subtle brown chocolate-y hazelnut-snipped St. Charles Porter were arguably better.