The Commercial Appeal - Go Memphis
9 MEMPHIS BEERS YOU NEED TO TRY
There has never been a better time to enjoy an ice cold beer in Memphis than now.
Ten craft breweries have popped up across the city in the past 14 years. Each creating original – and award-winning – brews.
The craft beer movement has not only given Memphians better beer drinking options, but these breweries’ taprooms have also created gathering places that bring Memphians together over a cold one.
With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, beer is the topic of conversation for many.
Instead of drinking a green beer to celebrate the holiday, consider drinking a Memphis-made brew. We promise you won’t regret that decision.
To help you decide which ones to enjoy, we asked members of The Commercial Appeal newsroom team to share their favorites.
Here are nine Memphis beers you need to try. Most can be found at stores across the city; all are available at the brewery’s taproom.
My sentimental favorite Memphismade beer comes from none other than Memphis Made Brewing Co., after – on my very first visit to Memphis – a helpful bartender at the Blues City Café Band Box started pouring me vast quantities of their Rockbone IPA to wash down a Sunday catfish dinner and put me in a partying mood for the Freeworld show I did not know I was about to see.
However, it doesn’t appear Memphis
Made makes Rockbone anymore and that’s no help to you, dear reader.
So, allow me to sing the praises of WISEACRE’S schwarzbier, Starless.
This sturdy black lager packages the roasty, malty satisfaction of a heavier porter in a brew that’s as clean and easy-drinking as any pilsner. It favorably reminds me of dark Czech beers like those from Krušovice or Kozel. It’s a great beer to re-acquaint yourself with a traditional European style in a world awash with fruit-bomb IPAS that are more smoothie bar than Reinheitsgebot. Starless is a winter seasonal, so stock up now to get you through until the Oktoberfest offerings hit the shelves.
– Spencer Elliott, planning editor
Scottish Ale by High Cotton Brewing Co.
A friend of mine, Ged Walls, is from Scotland and I’m pretty sure if he came to Memphis, he would enjoy cozying up to a bar with a pint of Scottish Ale from High Cotton.
While I don’t usually drink ales as they tend to be overly hoppy, Scottish Ale is an exception as the hops are muted, making this beer smooth to drink with an almost sweet finish.
In the glass, it has a darker brown – almost Scottish red – color with a taste that reminds me of Killian’s Irish Red or Honey Brown from Dundee Brewing in New York where I grew up.
If you want a beer that’s more substantial than a lager or pilsner, but want to stay lighter than a porter or stout, give Scottish Ale a try. You’ll enjoy it.
– Dann Miller, senior consumer experience director
Junt from Memphis Made Brewing Co.
Some days, a nice, hoppy IPA is not so nice without a chalky heartburn tablet handy. It’s easy to love sipping a milkysweet stout when you don’t mind ruining your appetite for dinner. There’s plenty of fruity, chocolatey or even peanut-buttery beers to sample and share but for a delicious easy-drinking local brew, consider Junt by Memphis Made Brewing Co.
The mini-fridge in my Midtown ga
rage is often stocked with at least a few of the colorful cans of Junt, which the brewer describes as a delicately-hopped cream ale with a “healthy dose of flaked maize” which might account for the beer’s drier finish.
At 4.5% alcohol by volume, Junt is one of four year-round offerings from Memphis Made, along with pale ale Cat Nap, amber ale Fireside and a hard seltzer named FUN. The brewer also makes a plethora of limited and seasonal options – malty, Scottish, citrusy and oatmealy, if you like.
Junt proclaims its local bona fides on every can. The term “junt” was popularized by iconic Memphis hip-hop act Three 6 Mafia and means, well, whatever you want it to mean. For me, it means an easy drinker that’s here all year but always just in time for spring.
– Jess Rollins, content strategist