NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
Central Tennessee’s countrypolitan capital, Nashville, is home to Vanderbilt University (near the historic revitalized Hillsboro Village), Music Row (where Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and the Everly Brothers recorded), an exact replica of Greece’s Partheneon, and three fine brewpubs, visited August ‘08.
My wife and I were impressed by BOSCOS (with other locations in Franklin, Memphis, and Little Rock, Arkansas), one of the state’s first brewpubs.
In a red brick building with yellow-white awning, tan-terracotta checkerboard squares, high blue-tiled ceiling (with exposed pipes), and smallish bar (surrounded by dining space), Boscos not only offered worthy rear-tanked beers, but also terrific food (such as wood-fired pizza, pan-seared tuna salad, and artichoke-enhanced calzones).
Stalwart German-styled wood-fired granite-stoned ‘steinbier,’ Boscos Famous Flaming Stone Lager, a sourly yellow-fruited, stone wheat-centered, caramel-glazed, dry-hopped pale ale, retained subtle peculiarities any adventurous beer lover should experience.
Other respresentative Euro-designed libations included dry rye-fig-soured caramel-chocolate-coated Germantown Alt, engaging Pabst Blue Ribbon knockoff BBR (using ‘cheapest ingredients’ for glutinous soft-hopped syrupy corn-malted session beer), and barley-roasted Scotch-like cocoa-leafed fig-date-dried Isle Of Skye Scottish Ale.
Honey-dripped orange-peeled lemon-soured Boscos Bombay IPA may’ve lacked apropos Asian sway, but moderate-bodied vanilla-chocolate-sweetened cappuccino-milked hop-roasted Export Stout bettered some British Isle rivals.
Bitter orange-grapefruit-peeled dry-hopped Boscos XXX Pale Ale suffered from oxidized malfeasance while lightly citric mildly grained Boscos American Style Wheat got soapy.