The other night I was at Celtic Crossing in Cooper Young – which I recently declared to be my “local,” as the English do – enjoying a pint of Memphis’ finest: Ghost River Golden.
It’s probably my favorite beer at the moment, and I love that I can go to several bars right in my neighborhood and find it on draft. But as I was sipping the Golden, it occurred to me that I had an adventure a while back that I keep neglecting to tell you about.
I’m a big proponent of buying local, from handmade goods to fruits and veggies. And hometown-brewed beer is like taking buying local to a completely different level. A level made with hops and barley that glistens like the perspiration on a pint glass!
Ahem. Back to the adventure.
Every Saturday, the guys at Ghost River give free brewery tours. Take your taste buds down to South Main and Crump any given Saturday at 1 p.m. for a free poke around the place. There’s no catch, it really is free — all you have to do is give them a shout ahead of time by phone or e-mail to let them know you’re coming. From the second you arrive they’ll make sure you have one of their delicious brews in hand and they won’t let an empty cup stay empty long.
Their facilities are small, but the knowledge these guys have spills outside of the building — having been on a handful of brewery tours in my life (even to mecca, the Guinness brewery in Dublin) this tour was by far my favorite, and it was all down to the time these guys were willing to spend talking to us about the beer. Any question we had about the process, them, their involvement with brewing, you name it, we asked it, and they were happy to hang out, keep our cups filled and keep chatting.
You’ll learn a lot about the beer brewing process from the tour, but the one thing I think you’ll definitely walk away with is that this relationship between Memphis and good beer only makes sense. Because the best beer?
It starts with good water. And where else on earth can you get water like the H20 we’ve got in Memphis? Nowhere. During the tour we had the Golden, the IPA, Black Magic and a new seasonal they’re working on that tasted like a Hershey bar with alcohol content. So smooth, so rich, so tasty.
And if you needed another reason to drink the stuff, Ghost River supports the Wolf River Conservancy. They donate a portion of their proceeds from every single barrel sold to the organization.
I was already a fairly regular Ghost River drinker when out at bars around town, but I’d say now I’m a solid devotee. If Ghost River’s on tap, I really can’t be asked to order anything else. The beer is phenomenal, and I love supporting what they’re doing. I want them to be there on South Main for a long, long time. And if that means I have to single handedly carry the weight of the company, then by god, pass the Ghost River Golden.
