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.

www.blackstonebrewery.com

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Downtown across from Hard Rock Café and within walking distance to the Tennessee Titans football stadium, BIG RIVER GRILLE opened around ’93 (and visited August ’08). A red neon sign and brown-tan awning lead patrons into spacious red brick-walled sportsbar. Redwood furnished dining areas surround central bar (with two widescreen TV’s and glass-enclosed brew tanks).

Light Americana food goes well with low hop-profiled beers such as tangy apple-peach-fronted, mildly orange peel-embittered, phenol-hopped 16^th Avenue Pilsner, yellow-fruited honey-malted corn-sweetened maize-dried Southern Flyer Light Lager, and honey-fruited spice-hopped corn-buttered Nashville Steamer Golden Ale.

Mild orange-bruised tangerine tartness picked up soft hop astringency vaporizing vanilla-cocoa sweetness of Summer Wheat.

Fine medium-bodied alternatives came next. Dry Cascade-hopped, orange-peach-pear-quince-sequenced Thick Brick Red Ale revealed deep wood tones. Caramel-chocolate-malted honey-roasted peanut-finishing Sweet Magnolia American Brown Ale gained floral-hopped nicety. Chocolate-sweet hop-roasted vanilla-extracted cappuccino-milked Iron Horse Stout made fine dessert treat.

www.bigrivergrille.com

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.

www.boscosbeer.com