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30 beers on tap: ranging from New Belgium, Sweetwater and Yazoo to Lucky Bucket and Fort Collins. Most of it is standard craft beer fare.
30 Microbrew bottles: Rogue, Oskar Blues, Brooklyn, etc.
16 High gravities: Chimay, Delerium, Oskar Blues, etc.
Standard domestic and imports
12South Taproom is a well known and popular restaurant in the 12South neighborhood of Nashville. Surrounded by other great restaurants and shops, 12South Taproom is famous for its beer and crowd. With a standard bar area, large outdoor patio and decent indoor seating, it can hold quite a crowd, which it always does on most nights, especially Friday and Saturday. Getting a table when it’s busy can be a challenge, as its first come, first served, and seat yourself; however you can order a beer while you stand and wait, which makes it much more enjoyable.
Selection: Though the selection is large, it’s pretty standard for the world of craft beer. Lots of the big players like New Belgium and Rogue, but part of that could be due to Tennessee’s lack of small brewery distribution. But what they do have is great, and represents a good cross section of beer styles and regions. 12South Taproom is also a big supporter of the craft beer movement in general, and during Craft Beer Week had special cask ales they tapped throughout the week. The microbrew bottle selection is slightly more varied than the tap selection, but with 30 or so of each, and a good rotation of new beers, everyone is sure to find something they’ll love.
Atmosphere: The Taproom is famous for its neighborhood vibe, and on the Friday night we were there, it was packed. The weather was perfect, so we sat outside on the crowded patio, but the mood was very relaxed and lighthearted. People were meeting friends after work, having a beer (or 3), and unwinding for the weekend. Almost everyone was drinking beer, which is a good sign, although considering the selection available, there were a few too many Miller Lights going around in our opinion. It is a taproom, but there were a number of young families there, and the diversity of the crowd seemed to represent the overall demographic of the neighborhood. There is smoking allowed on the patio though, so keep that in mind if you are bringing kids along. Also, on a busy night the indoor and outdoor seating areas can be loud, so don’t come expecting to have a nice quiet conversation.
Food: Burgers, sandwiches, pretty standard just from reading the menu, but certainly not standard when eating it. Everything was excellent; I had a black and blue burger with potato wedges that was great, tangy blue cheese with a well seasoned burger. From what we have heard and from previous visits all of the food is above average.
Service: For as busy as it was, service was pretty good. Seeing as how packed they always are on Friday nights though, I thought there could have been a few more servers. We had three different people checking on us and bringing food and beer, which could cause some issues with tracking checks, but both were spot on. Everyone was friendly and down to earth, and they did keep an eye on our quickly emptying glasses, always a plus at a taproom.
Beer presentation: We didn’t really order any beers that would require special attention, but our first choice was a Belgian Strong Ale, just over 9%, and it came in a 16oz pint glass, which is a large pour for a high gravity. It was one of the cask specials that night as well and only $4, another pleasant surprise. We both had a Yazoo hefeweizen later on, and it came with a lemon wedge, perfect for that particular beer. They don’t carry a large Belgian selection, which most often comes is specific glassware, but we also didn’t order any of the ones they do carry, so we didn’t see what they would have been served in. There were a number of people drinking something from a smaller tulip glass, which was probably the Terrapin Hopsecutioner, another of the cask specials for the night, and that would have been a good choice for that glass, accentuating the hop nose of that big IPA.
