Memphis has a rich history of food and music, and there’s a certain grit to my hometown that I haven’t found anywhere else. The city has undergone an incredible transformation over the past decade, bringing up new businesses and schools, but I’m happy to see that distinct unpolished shine has been preserved. The Midtown area has always been a hub for the arts and a meeting ground of Memphis’s disparate neighborhoods, but a small number of microbreweries have recently opened their doors as well. Jessi and I paid a visit to Wiseacre Brewing, the first Memphis brewery to open a taproom, and here’s what we found…

With most of its businesses being less than a year old, the Broad Avenue entertainment district is still brand new, but it does its best to capture that old and familiar Memphis grit. Wiseacre Brewing is no exception, adopting a lived-in warehouse feel with a glassed-in brewery room and an expansive lit outdoor patio. I want to be sensitive to the fact that we were there on a Friday night at 8pm two days before Christmas on a bottle release day, but still, our taproom experience was disappointing. The designers made some questionable decisions: a diagonal bar that makes patrons far to either end somewhat invisible, many outdoor benches with no tables, and a number of partially-partitioned areas that limit table space inside. In honor of the Astronaut Status release, they had a DJ present, but this felt very out of place at a craft brewery. Given that it was a special release on a Friday night on a holiday weekend, the crowd was smaller than I would have expected— maybe 50 patrons and 5 servers.

Even with the smaller crowd, the bar staff were slow in getting to us. While they were cordial enough, they didn’t make small talk or offer recommendations (even after I tipped my hand that I was there to write a review). Given the volume inside and the somewhat chaotic vibe, we were happy to take our samples out to the patio, which is a beautiful venue with plenty of open space and warm vintage lighting. Despite being December 23rd, it was in the 60s with a pleasantly cool drizzle. We found a picnic table over to one side near a food truck and sat side-by-side under my umbrella…ella ella. We sampled six Wiseacre beers:

Astronaut Status Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
My friend Brandon had given us a heads up that this was the top beer on the menu, and he couldn’t have been more right. This stout was the unquestioned winner of the night, and Jessi even commented that it’s “what every stout should aspire to be.” The beer initially hits you as flat and creamy, but cinnamon and vanilla notes shine through creating a pleasant spiciness. We had heard it was good; we didn’t realize it would be that good.

Bird Upon a Hippo Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Think dark chocolate on this Belgian strong dark ale. The initial taste is rich and slightly bitter, but your palate soon fills with a peanut buttery aftertaste. This was a really solid beer, and were it not for Astronaut Status and Gotta Get Up to Get Down also being on the menu, it might have shined out even more.

Blackadactyl Black IPA
[sigh] This black IPA was the unquestioned loser of the night. I found its strong bitter and hoppy notes unexpected (though not out of character for an IPA). Even though I didn’t initially like it, it grew on me a bit through the evening. I wouldn’t order it again, but I would drink it if I were trapped on a desert island with only a keg. Jessi was even less thrilled: “If you took the tobacco out of a cigar, mixed it with pine needles, and brewed it, you’d have this.” Can’t really recommend this one.

Gotta Get Up to Get Down Coffee Milk Stout
This is one of my favorite coffee stouts, and I’m planning to bring some cans back with us. Jessi described it as “the latte of coffee stouts— lighter weighted but very satisfying.” The coffee flavor comes through strong on this one, but it’s not overpowering. The texture is full and solid, and it manages to balance the biting coffee with a creamy stout. Couldn’t recommend this beer more.

Holy Candy Belgian Dubbel with Figs
Jessi and I were a little conflicted on this one. This beer is light and sweet with a distinct sourness to it (so much so that I had to double-check that it was a dubbel and not an outright sour). The intense sourness, which hits strongest on the finish, likely stems from the inclusion of figs, to the point that Jessi even commented, “Reminds me of a Fig Newton.” Jessi found this to be a good Christmas beer due to the fig inclusion, but with its light texture and sour tones, I’d rather drink this one outside on a summer evening. It’s an outstanding beer, but it’s potentially controversial.

Starless Schwarzbier
From Jessi’s notes: “It tastes like a burnt piece of toast, but in a good way— smoky and malty at first with a sweet, almost chocolate caramel residue.” Part of the lager family, this schwarzbier presents a light, almost effervescent texture that I hadn’t really expected from such a dark beer. That burnt flavor Jessi described comes from the roasting of the malts, but I also detected some sour notes. Perhaps a little Holy Candy was still rattling around in my taste memory, but I think there’s some serious complexity to this beer. It wasn’t my favorite of the night, but I’d have it again if the opportunity arose.

Over all, with the exception of Blackadactyl, our beer experience was outstanding. Wiseacre’s beer is solid, but their taproom just wasn’t a welcoming space that night. Again, I understand that 8pm on a Friday night two days before Christmas during a special release party isn’t ideal conditions, but bartending is a hospitality industry, and Wiseacre is in a city that oozes Southern Hospitality. They have got to step up their game; this beer is too good to let poor service overshadow the experience. Jessi would like to give the taproom a second chance on our next visit, but I’d rather get this beer in cans and bottles for a while. There’s incredibly potential in this venue, but right now, it’s still just potential. It will be interesting to see how this part of town continues to grow with time.