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As a fan of spirits, I knew there was one thing we absolutely had to experience on our first visit to Nashville – Tennessee whiskey! In Tennessee, there are over 30 distilleries, including the more famous Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel. In Middle Tennessee alone (where Nashville is), there are more than a dozen! While I would have loved to visit them all, we only had a few days for our first trip to Nashville.
In order to maximize our limited time, I created a DIY Nashville Distillery Tour that covered some of the distillery locations in Downtown Nashville. These distilleries are all accessible by walking or a quick Uber/Lyft ride so it’s easy to pack them all in in just one afternoon!
If you’re interested in creating your own Nashville Distillery Tour, I hope this itinerary gives you some good ideas. Or, you can follow it exactly and enjoy four awesome distilleries in the Nashville area. Happy sipping!
DIY Tour Notes
- Reservations are not required to stop into each of these locations and grab a tasting flight. For tours of any of the distilleries, you will need to reach out to each location for pricing and tour information.
- If you want to track your Tennessee distillery visits, check out the Tennessee Whiskey Trail! You can get a handy passport which gets stamped at each location you visit.
- Make sure you pack a bottle of water! You can get water at each distillery, but it can’t hurt to hydrate in between stops.
- Wear comfy walking shoes since most of this DIY tour is on foot.
- Three out of the four distilleries on this itinerary are located in the cool historic area of Marathon Village, which is an old motor factory!
Pre-Tour Lunch & Bonus Stops
We started our day off in Downtown Nashville with a bit of lunch and sightseeing. If this is your first time to Nashville, I recommend you do the same!
This DIY tour also only takes half a day, leaving plenty of time to see some famous sights before heading out on this DIY adventure. And of course, I always recommend having something hearty to eat before gettin’ your sip on.
Pre-Tour Recommendations
- Hit up Martin’s BBQ for an early lunch when they open at 11:00 a.m. Heck, you can even double dip on the food scene and grab some Hattie B’s on Broadway to get your hot chicken fix!
- Stroll down Broadway and catch a glimpse of Honky Tonk life.
- Pop into the Goo Goo Clusters shop and pick up some sweet treats for later.
- Walk across the pedestrian-only John Seigenthaler Bridge and get some beautiful Nashville city views!
From the John Seigenthaler Bridge, you can start to make your way over the first stop on this DIY tour – Standard Proof Whiskey, which is about an 11-minute walk from the bridge.
DIY Nashville Distillery Tour Itinerary
Stop 1: Standard Proof Whiskey
219 Rep. John Lewis Way N, Nashville, TN 37219
https://www.standardproofwhiskey.com/
The first distillery stop on this DIY Nashville Distillery Tour is Standard Proof Whiskey, which is is a cool spot in Downtown Nashville near Printer’s Alley. Pull up a seat at the bar, listen to some music, and sip on all the different spirits they have to offer!
Here, you can try a flight of their infused whiskeys for $22. This includes flavors of Pineapple, Mint, Ginger, Honeysuckle, Pecan and Coffee. I’m not typically a fan of flavored spirits but it was nice to try some new things. I thought the Pineapple was the best of the infused, followed by the Pecan which was basically dessert (this would go great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream). We also got a shot of the Traditional Rye as an add-on to one of their cocktail specials that day and I was a fan!
I recommend splitting the tasting flight with a travel partner (if you are able) to save on costs. Keep in mind there are three more spots on this tour to pay for!
After your tasting, you can also chill at the bar for a bit and sip on one of their many cocktail offerings.
Stop 2: Nelson’s Green Brier
1414 Clinton St, Nashville, TN 37203
https://greenbrierdistillery.com/
Next up on our DIY tour is Nelson’s Green Brier, one of the oldest distilleries in Tennessee dating back to before Prohibition. The Nelson Brothers resurrected their family business and have found great success!
From Standard Proof, we took a Lyft ride over to the Marathon Village area since it was a bit far to walk on our time schedule (though if you are up for it, it is about a 27-minute walk). Luckily, the rest of the stops are all within a few minutes on foot from each other!
At Nelson’s, we shared a flight for $12 that included the following:
- Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey
- Nelson Brothers Classic Bourbon
- Nelson Brothers Reserve Bourbon
- Louisa’s Liqueur
Our favorite was the Reserve Bourbon with notes of caramel, allspice, cherry, hazelnut, and cinnamon roll. Delicious! We visited on a Thursday afternoon and it was relatively quiet with plenty of available seating.
Stop 3: Tennessee Legend
1310 Clinton St #115, Nashville, TN 37203
https://www.tennesseelegend.com/nashville
From Nelson’s Green Brier, we walked down to Tennessee Legend (about a two-minute walk) and entered a very bustling tasting room! We could instantly tell this was the most popular distillery in the Village and I’m guessing it’s probably because they offer free tastings. I thought the bartenders did an awesome job of still being personable while tending to such a large crowd.
How it works at Tennessee Legend is you’ll stroll up to the bar and wait for an available server, who will then pop down five little plastic sipping cups. You’ll place one cup over each sample you want to taste on a large mat in front of you (see below) and they will come around and pour your choices. Note: you cannot share tastings here unfortunately, so you better commit to your five choices!
My favorites were the Apple Pie Moonshine and Peppermint Mocha Liqueur, while the husband enjoyed the Kingsnake Whiskey. I love how they had such a variety of things to taste! It was really hard to choose.
Stop 4: Corsair Distillery (Marathon)
1200 Clinton St #110, Nashville, TN 37203
https://www.corsairdistillery.com/marathon/
Last but not least was Corsair Distillery, also located in Marathon Village. At Corsair, we split one guided tasting for $11. The spirits at Corsair had interesting flavor profiles – probably not spirits I would typically have stocked in my cabinet; however, they do have an adjacent bar that serves up craft cocktails with their spirits which can give you some great ideas and inspiration for creating at home!
My personal favorite here was the American Gin. We also tried the Triple Smoke American Single Malt Whiskey and I’m glad we did that one last! The smoke flavor is intense – I’ve never had anything like it…
We decided to hang around for a bit after our tasting in their bar area, which had plenty of seating, including a nice relaxing couch area that we settled on. If you’re hungry by this point, you can also grab a pizza here!
Dinner & Evening Plans
If you don’t already have evening or dinner plans (and if you skipped the pizza at Corsair), I recommend dinner at The Mockingbird, which is owned by Maneet Chauhan’s restaurant group. They have amazing lamb chili totchos and mac and cheese, which are perfect foods to eat after an afternoon of liquor tasting!
I would also recommend walking over to Pins Mechanical after for some nighttime fun, including pinball and duck pin bowling!
Have you tried any of the above distilleries in Nashville? Would you add anything additional to this itinerary if you did it yourself?
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