The Perfect Place to Have a Beer?

Rick Lyke over at http://lyke2drink.blogspot.com recently blogged about an article he'd written in the new issue of All About Beer magazine titled "150 Perfect Places to Have a Beer". Check it out here: http://lyke2drink.blogspot.com/2010/06/beer-traveler-150-perfect-places-to.html - it's a very good list.
However, in our opinion, some of the best places are missing. Here is our brief list of some of those places.

*In your local pub
*In a pub or brewery you're visiting for the 1st time
*On the deck, with dinner
*On the front porch with friends as it pours down around you
*Beside a bonfire while camping
*Overlooking the water
*With fellow homebrewers
*With other beer snobs
*At a homebrewer's gathering, such as with your local beer guild!
*At the judges' table during a brewing competition
*At someone's homemade bar
*On someone else's tab
*When you're accepting the gigantic lottery check

.. Ok, now we're getting silly. But you get the picture. Some of the best places aren't named, don't have websites, and are just moments in time.

Yazoo Brewing Co. - Nashville, TN

This past Saturday, May 29th, we passed through Nashville and decided to stop and check out the local brews. Our first stop was at Yazoo Brewing Co. Click here to check out their website: http://www.yazoobrew.com/home.php

They opened at 2pm. When we got there there was already a guy standing outside the door. We weren't sure if he was an early bird like us or an employee. Turns out, this is apparently the place to be on a Saturday! We weren't there more than 90 mins and the place was PACKED!! It was really insane!
One of the first things we noticed about the place was the style. Very cool. Paintings hung everywhere, great colors and layout.

~Carrie did misread this painting from across the room as 'Yazoobre Wing Company'. We could make lots of fun at her expense, but she had been driving all day & had a migraine, so we'll cut her some slack~

~Left to Right: Sly Rye Porter & Onward Stout. Extra points for British-style pint glasses!~

As soon as we got there we ordered a pint of their Sly Rye Porter & a pint of their Onward Stout. Here is their description of the Sly Rye:
A rich, chocolaty English Porter with a clean finish. We use the finest floor-malted Maris Otter malts from England, the same malts used for the best single-malt scotch. A portion of malted rye gives a spicy, slightly dry finish.
Our thoughts on it? GOOD!! We were definitely more impressed with the Sly Rye than the Onward Stout. It was very nice, quite surprisingly so.
Onward Stout was good too, but we preferred our Ruby's Deep Winter Stout over it. It just didn't blow up our skirts. Here is their description of the Onward Stout:
The tan lace clings to the glass as you raise the pint to your lips. Close your eyes and smile as the rich espresso notes fade to a dry, roasted finish. Exceptionally smooth and satisfying. Made with English Pale malt, roasted barley, black patent malt, and flaked barley. Hopped with East Kent Goldings and Target hops, and fermented with our English ale yeast.
Not a bad beer, but like I said, didn't blow up our skirts.

We also signed up for the first tour @ 2:30. Nashville has sustained some pretty nasty flooding recently. Luckily, the main floor of the brewery wasn't affected. Unluckily, the AC unit was stored in the basement, where they got 3' of water. And it was HOT on Saturday.
Some serious sweating aside, the tour was a good one. The gal who gave the tour (a nice change, usually tours are given by guys) was really enthusiastic and fun. It definitely wasn't your typical boring tour.
During the tour we sampled three more of their beers. Dos Perros was the first one. They claim it is one of their best sellers, but we weren't terribly impressed with it. Their Pale Ale was the second one. We had just smelled some Cascade hops and you could definitely taste the hops when you tried the beer. Not a bad Pale Ale at all. Finally, we tried their Hefeweizen. The tour guide pointed out the banana aroma with a hint of cloves, but honestly, we found it lacking in aroma. Again, not a bad beer, just lacking in aroma.


Apparently, at one point in time, the back of the brewery used to be a boxing gym. You can still see things that were written on the wall. Pretty cool, though we all know not to let Carrie get too many boxing thoughts in her head.
The brewery also used to hold a police training area in the back at one point and, presumably at another point in time, had a Swinger's Lounge upstairs. Pretty interesting past.

Overall thoughts?
If you're in Nashville, definitely take some time to swing by here and check the place out. The beer wasn't bad at all. Their growlers were clear which was a bummer. The souvenir pint glass that you got with the tour was definitely cool.
They apparently are working on renovating the upstairs because people keep wanting to come there and have birthday parties, wedding receptions, and other types of gatherings. This was a little foreign to us, since we haven't really been to just a brewery where people were packing the place, but it was cool.