If you’re looking for reasons to get out of town, several cities within just a few hours’ drive of Chattanooga boast dozens of craft breweries ready to wow you with their fermentation skills.
Birmingham, Alabama
Driving time from Chattanooga: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Birmingham may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of beer tourism destinations, but the city has a surprisingly robust beer scene.
Located next to the Birmingham Barons baseball stadium, Good People Brewing Co. gives tours on Saturdays, and the taproom also offers good views of the brewing process. Avondale Brewing’s historic location — previously home to a brothel, pharmacy and saloon — has an outdoor music venue and a separate taproom dedicated to sours and cocktails. Cahaba Brewing in the East Avondale neighborhood is likewise in a historic setting, located in an old mill where gin, vodka and bourbon are also produced.
Back Forty Beer Company Birmingham, located in the industrial Sloss Docks area, is known for its good food and space to lounge, in addition to its brews. Nearby Ghost Train Brewing Co. is home to Alabama’s first high-efficiency brewing system, along with 96 taps, a cocktail bar and an outdoor patio along Birmingham’s Hugh Kaul Trail.
Louisville, Kentucky
Driving time from Chattanooga: 5 hours
While Louisville is better-known for its bourbon, the city’s craft beer scene is worthy of attention. Head to the downtown/NuLu area for a handful of options, including Falls City Beer x PARLOUR, West Sixth Brewing, Akasha Brewing Company (known for its sours made with wild fermentation) and Against the Grain Brewery (which, along with its beer, is notable for good food and art). In the nearby Irish Hill neighborhood, check out Gravely Brewing Company and Mile Wide Beer Co., which some say is home to the area’s best New England IPA.
If you’d rather have a guide show you the best of the Louisville brew scene, Derby City Brew Tours offers a shuttle tour of three craft breweries that includes 12, 5-ounce samples (about four or five pints) or walking tours of several breweries in the Germantown or Irish Hill neighborhoods.
Or check out the Summer Beer Fest at Frazier, a block party featuring more than 200 specialty brews, food vendors and live music on Main and Ninth streets. This year’s event on July 27 celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, which also serves as the welcome center and starting point for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Asheville, North Carolina
Driving time from Chattanooga: 4 hours
A four-time winner of the Beer City USA title, Asheville is known as a top destination for beer tourism for good reason. About 100 different beers are locally brewed in Asheville, which is home to more than 50 breweries — more breweries per capita than any other U.S. city.
See where Asheville’s craft-brewing tradition began at Highland Brewing, which was Asheville’s first legal brewery in the post-Prohibition era when it opened in 1994 and is now the state’s largest local brewery. Another of the city’s original breweries is Green Man, which expanded in 2016 with the 20,000-square-foot Green Mansion, featuring a “brewtique” retail shop and third-floor tasting room with a view of the mountains.
The South Slope neighborhood is perfect for hopping between breweries, with several located within walking distance of one another. This neighborhood is home to Green Man, Wicked Weed Brewing’s Funkatorium, which produces only sours and barrel-aged brews, as well as Burial Beer Co., known for its crisp and heady Surf Wax American IPA.
In addition to the city’s homegrown breweries, Asheville has also attracted outposts of breweries from Western states, such as California’s Sierra Nevada and Colorado’s Oskar Blues and New Belgium breweries.
(READ MORE: Why you should visit Asheville’s new ‘urban campground’)
Nashville, Tennessee
Driving time from Chattanooga: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Explore Nashville’s wide selection of breweries with a hop-on, hop-off tour on the Music City Brew Hop, a vintage trolley that stops every hour at eight Nashville breweries and offers unlimited rides on the day of your tour. The company’s West Loop option provides a similar tour of seven breweries in a different area of the city.
Slightly off the beaten path in the SoBro neighborhood of downtown Nashville, Tennessee Brew Works features a two-floor taproom with views of the production floor. For family-friendly options, try Southern Grist Brewing Co., located in The Nations and East Nashville neighborhoods, which is known for its pastry stouts, sours and New England IPAs; or Bearded Iris Brewing, renowned for its hoppy brews and outdoor patios at both locations in Germantown and Sylvan Park. To try some of the city’s more unusual brews, head to Living Waters Brewing, which offers small-batch craft beer and coffee in its small East Nashville taproom.
(READ MORE: New Tennessee Ale Trail features breweries in Chattanooga and beyond)