One thing’s for sure: Nashville’s Tailgate brewery has a lot of different beers. Most of them, of course, you will mainly find at the brewery, and as they say on their website:
The majority of our beers are small batch and change daily. If something changes on our menu by the time you visit, we are confident there will be something you will like! Just ask one of our awesome Beertenders for advice!
Still, they also can a few of their beers. I had tried one previously, Blacktop Blonde Golden Blonde Ale, and found it to be an excellent example of the style. To be sure, it’s an offering meant to offend the least number possible, but hey, that’s what the style is about, and I enjoy it from time to time. On my most recent visit to Nashville, however, I picked up a 4-pack of Tailgate Fire Emoji IPA, a beer they peg as in the New England style. On the label, they call it a “Northeast Style Hazy India Pale Ale. They also cite the use of Galaxy and Citra hops.
Now, I had just had another “New England” style IPA before this one, Bearded Iris Scatterbrain, and was less than impressed. I liked the Fire Emoji far more. Fire Emoji has an alcohol content of 6.9% by volume with 73 IBUs. It wasn’t cheap, running $14.29 for 4 16-ounce cans at Wild Hare Beer Company in Spring Hill, TN.
Tailgate Fire Emoji IPA pours to a lightly hazy orange amber color with a minimal head formation but a robust grapefruity and minty herbal hop nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a medium maltiness up front followed by robust grapefruit zest, resiny pine, herbal minty notes and a long dry very bitter finish.
Why did I like this and not the Scatterbrain? To be fair, the Scatterbrian was juicy enough, but it was far too thin malty, even for this style. Fire Emoji had at least enough malt to support the hops and juiciness. It had a zesty citrus character, and a robust bitter hop finish.
4 ½ stars for me, less a half star for the high price.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled, Canned
(D)=Draft