By definition, craft breweries focus on their craft: creating great beers. The South is blessed with scores of master brewers, but when it comes to food, not every brewery places the same emphasis on its offerings. Many breweries prefer to outsource options by inviting food trucks, welcoming patrons to bring their own snacks, or providing menus for nearby restaurants that offer delivery.
Among the breweries that do offer food, you’ll sometimes see limited options like pretzels, cheese dips, pre-made charcuterie trays, and the like. But some of the best craft breweries in the South rise above the rest by committing to both great beer and fantastic culinary offerings. These are some of the best breweries around the South for carefully curated beer-and-food pairings!
Southern Grist Brewing Co./Lauter | Nashville, TN
More info:Â southerngristbrewing.com
The members of the ownership group at Southern Grist are a scrappy lot. Three friends and co-workers discovered a mutual love of home brewing and opened their first tiny brewery and taproom in East Nashville in 2016. The space was so small that they really didn’t have room for a kitchen and depended on pre-made pizzas and gourmet mac n’ cheese plates from local vendors that could quickly be heated up in a small oven. This set-up worked for a while, but they quickly outgrew their initial facility. Two years after pulling their first pint, the trio opened a much larger production brewery in the burgeoning Nations neighborhood of West Nashville. Still, they depended on food from nearby restaurants as a way to get something other than beer into their customers’ tummies.
Finally, with their third big move, Southern Grist cut the ribbon on a new East Nashville facility late last year. The space features two expansive outdoor patios and the ability to pour 25 beers at a time from 40 tap handles at two bars. It also contains a full kitchen that creates a fantastic menu of internationally-inspired cuisine to pair with the brewery’s equally-inspired beers.
Co-owner Kevin Antoon explains their motivation: “Having more than just snacks at our locations enabled Southern Grist to go from a tap room bar to a universal establishment where customers want to spend more time with us. One of our core values is Southern hospitality, which means having room at the table for everyone. We can now cater to those under the drinking age with food options and welcome customers that are foodies more than beer lovers.”
Named Lauter, after the stage in the brewing process where beer is separated from the spent grain, the restaurant is open seven days a week, serving weekday lunch, dinner, late-night bites, and a popular Sunday brunch. Chef Andrew Coins has experience in some of the best kitchens in Charleston and Nashville, and he is quite talented at creating dishes that specifically complement the flavor of different beers.
Elevated bar snacks like Marcona almonds with truffle and flake salt or freshly roasted dates sprinkled with smoked honey and sumac stimulate different parts of the palate to accompany Southern Grist’s thoughtful approach to the unusual flavors in their beers. Shareable appetizer platters are meant to be enjoyed by the table as part of a more extended visit that might include sampling a flight.
Coins’ international bent shines through in dishes like his Asian-inspired fried chicken, which is marinated in umami-rich koji and finished with hot honey and togarashi, a Japanese dried chili and spice powder blend. Larger plates such as the lamb bolognese and dry-aged burger smothered in mushroom gravy are better suited as a meal for a single lucky diner, but don’t be afraid to share with your friends!
Tuesdays are a special time to visit because that’s when Coins whips up bowls of his deeply rich Tori Paitan Shoyu ramen with crispy marinated ground chicken, wood ear mushrooms, shishito peppers, marinated egg, narutomaki, and green onions. Add-ins like pork, garlic butter, pickled peppers, and more are also available to change up the dish on subsequent visits. Because once you try Lauter, we’re betting you’ll want to return soon.
Hippin Hops Brewery and Oyster Bar | Atlanta, GA
More info:Â hippinhopsbrewery.com
When Hippin Hops opened in East Atlanta Village, it became one of the first Black-owned breweries in Georgia. The brewery has added some exciting food options to its offerings at both the original taproom and the second location in the Hosea and 2nd complex in East Lake.
Owners Donnica and Clarence Boston hired Derrica Snow to design the menus and head up culinary operations at both outposts of Hippin Hops. While both kitchens share a few food items, each has its own personality, with East Atlanta concentrating on Cajun-inspired seafood and po’ boys plus plenty of baked and smoked oysters to slurp down with a beer. At East Lake, the fare leans toward elevated pub grub, featuring options like pan-fried trout, blackened salmon, lobster rolls, and fried mac n’ cheese. You’ll still discover a few piquant Cajun flashes in East Lake, including a turkey and andouille sausage pasta and fried crawfish tails.
A planned third Hippin Hops near Stone Mountain will be their most significant location so far and will focus on soul food. As long as chef Snow is in charge, it’s definitely something to look forward to!
WISEACRE Brewing Co./Little Bettie | Memphis, TN
More info:Â wiseacrebrew.com
WISEACRE Brewing Co. has quickly grown into one of Tennessee’s largest independent craft breweries since opening in Memphis in 2013. When they decided to open a new taproom downtown, they decided pizza would be an excellent addition to the menu — but not just any pizza. They reached out to Memphis natives and chef/restaurateurs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman to help them design a restaurant they named Little Bettie.
WISEACRE owner Kelan Bartosch considered it a no-brainer. “If we were going to have food, pizza was the best route to go in our minds, so we reached out to our friends Andy and Michael to help develop the menu at Little Bettie,” he explains. “They are five-time James Beard nominated chefs with restaurants in Memphis and New Orleans, but they’ve truly felt like great friends since we opened WISEACRE, so there is a great vibe of communication and ideas. We went with New Haven-style pizza and a complimentary menu of snacks, desserts, salads, charcuterie, and a burger.”
While chefs Ticer and Hudman are busy running their own restaurant empire day-to-day, the staff that they oversee at Little Bettie executes a menu of some next-level bar food, including chicken wings with Sicilian crunch and dill aioli, kimchi spicy shishito peppers, and a Bettie Melt served on Texas toast with caramelized onions and beer cheese.
The roster of pizzas is long and impressive, featuring the thin, chewy crust that characterizes the New Haven style. Offering red sauce, white sauce, and even cheeseless pizzas, the inventive toppings set Little Bettie and WISEACRE above other pub pies. Pimento cheese on a pizza? Heck yeah! A fan of bologna? Try the “Thud Butt” with mortadella, ricotta cream, black pepper honey, pistachios and stracciatella cheese. Looking for some local color? Opt for the “Highway 78,” topped with local Central BBQ smoked chicken, white and red barbecue sauce, pickled jalapeños, red onions, and mozzarella.
Southern Prohibition Brewing | Hattiesburg, MS
More info:Â soprobrewing.comÂ
Hattiesburg boasts one of the best brewery/restaurant combinations in Mississippi with Southern Prohibition Brewing. The state was pretty late to the craft beer game, and “So Pro” (as the locals call it) was the second brewery to open after laws changed in 2012 to encourage craft brewing.
Their beer sales have skyrocketed over time, so when the brewery decided to add a kitchen, they knew they needed to go big. That splash came from chef Jeremy Noffke, So Pro’s Culinary Director. With more than 20 years of cooking experience, including working with Hattiesburg’s legendary chef Robert St. John at Purple Parrot Cafe, Noffke brought a wealth of experience to the Kitchen at So Pro.
His menu showcases innovative takes on traditional bar food, informed by his fine dining experience and the fact that Hattiesburg is only a short drive away from New Orleans and its legendary cuisine. Take the boudin egg rolls, a spicy rice-and-sausage blend combined with collard greens and green onions, and then fried in egg roll wrappers and sweetened with earthy Louisiana-based Steen’s cane syrup. Chef Noffke elevates an intentionally lowbrow dish he calls Totino’s Pizza Roll Nachos. Admittedly sourcing that ubiquitous football-watching snack from the local Costco, he tops them with queso blanco, spicy serrano peppers, and the most famous smoked meat in the South, Benton’s country ham.
Sandwiches and burgers are also decadent and delicious, particularly the open-faced pot roast melt and the french onion grilled cheese made with gruyère, provolone, and slow-cooked onions on toasted brioche. The “Things in Bowls” section of the menu features one salad, but we’d point you toward the gravy and cheese-laden poutine because you didn’t come to a brewery for health food, did you?
Cheers!
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