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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Nashville’s M.L.Rose Craft Beer and Burger has found its niche, with a beer list that goes through a process like no other beer list in Music City.
There is actually a special council convened to vote on beer. It is called beer council—and yes, like a city council there will be different opinions, there will be voting, there will be beer that wins its way onto the menu, there will be beer suffering heartbreaking loss.
Austin Ray opened his first M.L.Rose 13 years ago. He still remembers his “aha” moment.
“I don’t know where you were when Starbucks came to wherever you lived but everybody already knew what it was and everybody wanted it. It was the same thing with Fat Tire, and everybody drank Fat Tire like it was the end of the world, and we became the number one seller of Fat Tire in the state of Tennessee for maybe two years, and that set off some light bulbs in my head maybe craft beer is what people want.”
And so a small list on a green piece of paper, became 36 taps and at least 50 cans and bottles.
Now, understand Ray never wanted the biggest beer list in Tennessee. He wanted to be best. After all, you haven’t you surfed aimlessly through channels on your TV looking for something to watch only to be paralyzed by the number of choices.
There are 8,500 craft breweries just in America—and say they produce six beers. That’s a daunting 50,000 beers.
“You never want more than seven items in any menu category, because the human brain just can’t absorb a whole more than seven. I love the moment after a long day of work, and you want to find the beer you want to taste, if you can find the category you are after it makes it so much easier,” said Ray.
A hand-picked group of beer lovers tasted 50 beers Monday. These beers have been vetted from 200 by M.L.Rose bar managers.
You will taste, rinse, cleanse your palette and vote, this happens four times a year here. A new list for each season. This tasting is all about summer.
“We are thinking you are on your patio, it’s 98 degrees its going to cool you off, its going to be refreshing, its going to be light, straight through, what you need in a Tennessee summer when the humidity hits 90 percent,” said Tommy Gall, General Manager M.L.Rose.
This is an old-fashioned majority rules tasting. Whoever gets the most points goes on the list. Even the boss gets just one vote. You might wonder, is this really worth the trouble? The answer is, how can you actually be extraordinary without doing something extraordinary.
“Craft beer is everywhere now, you can get craft beer at Exxon, why do you go to M.L.Rose? We believe we are the craft beer authority in Nashville we want to be trusted as the craft beer authority in Nashville,” said Ray.
The M.L.Rose summer beer list goes into effect June 1.
