TailGate prepares to open East Nashville taproom

Lizzy Alfs | The Tennessean

It’s been a whirlwind four years since TailGate Brewery owner Wesley Keegan entered the Nashville beer scene.

Keegan is preparing to open a taproom/brewery at 811 Gallatin Rd. in East Nashville in the next couple weeks – his third TailGate outpost in the city – with a production focus on sour beers and wild fermentation.

The expansion comes shortly after Keegan opened a taproom on Demonbreun Street near Music Row, embarked on a major expansion project at TailGate’s West Nashville headquarters and launched an in-house cider program. His brewery is known for small-batch and experimental craft brews, with dozens of beers on tap at any given time.

“We want to continue to open up more tasting rooms in Nashville. As Nashville has become more neighborhood-driven, people in East Nashville just don’t cross the river as much and vice versa. We knew early on we needed to put something in East Nashville and this opportunity came up,” Keegan said.

At 2,500 square feet, the East Nashville taproom is smaller than the other two locations, but it was important to Keegan that it be a fully operational brewery.

“I think the key point is that we do continue to brew in these locations if we’re going to call them brewery taprooms,” Keegan said.

The East Nashville site will serve the same food as the other taprooms, with pizza, pasta, sandwiches and salads on the menu. The brewery’s popular pizza menu offers the classics, such as a veggie pizza or meat lovers pizza, in addition to some more unique options, such as a lasagna pizza or mac & cheese pizza. Customers can also build-their-own, choosing from regular, gluten-free or cauliflower pizza crusts.

“We’re pretty commonly recognized by customers as having great beer, great pizza or both,” Keegan said.

The East Nashville taproom will have 24 taps featuring beers from the headquarters, cider from Demonbreun Street and the sours brewed on-site. The sour and wild fermentation program will give Keegan and his team a new avenue for experimentation.

“It’s going to be a little slower, more artistic and more expensive for us,” Keegan said. “…It is a little more of a boutique market, it’s a little more niche.”

In addition to the East Nashville taproom, TailGate plans to bring an unfiltered sweet cider to market soon. TailGate’s brews are already sold in hundreds of stores and bars in the state.

“Simply said, I want to continue to open up taprooms in Middle Tennessee, that’s my focus, and to continue selling and distributing only in Tennessee,” Keegan said.

Reach Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.