Posted by I figured I had better start writing this post as the year is running out and there are a lot of Beer Festivals about to happen over the next several weeks and until the end of the year. We are in the heart of the year for Beer Festivals and it’s time I start keeping track of all of them. This list will grow as I search to find them all, but I aim to make it the most complete and current list that you’ll find on the internet.
The ones I’m listing for 2023 are the ones that haven’t occurred yet (at least at the time of writing this). For the ones that have already occurred this year, I’m going to add to the 2024 list that I create in a new post, that will be a complete list of all of them. I will have that list out before the end of the year.
As I was developing this list, I came across other events that local breweries, taprooms, restaurants, etc. were having and decided to add to this list. I thought about creating an “Almost Beer Festival” list but decided just to include them all in this one. Even though they may not exactly be a beer festival – they are similar, and beer is involved.
These are in order of soonest to latest for the rest of 2023.
Nashville Brew Festival – September 29, 2023, from 8PM-11PM for General Admission and 7PM-11PM for Early Admission. 19 Gilliam Way, Nashville, TN 37219. Located at First Horizon Park. Tickets for General Admission are $50.00 each and $65.00 each for Early Admission.
Touch of Brews – September 29th and 30th, 2023. Gates open at 5PM on Friday 9/29/23 until 10PM and reopen again on 9/30/23 at 11AM until 10PM. 3021 Lealand Lane, Nashville, TN 37204. Located at Sevier Park in the 12 South area. General Admission tickets are $25-$40 each and cover admission for both days. Kids 10 and under are admitted for free.
Nashville Brewing Oktoberfest – September 30, 2023, from 2PM to 8PM with the official Oktoberfest beer tapping at 3PM. 2312 Clifton Ave, Nashville, TN 37209. This is at the Blackstone Brewery, and I believe this is the 7th year they’ve been doing it. There is no charge for admission, but it looks like you pay as you go. The first round of Nashville Festbier is on the house after the keg tapping. They’re going to have a stein holding competition, German food and music. The link to this website shows the wrong year (2021) but they haven’t updated it since then, it looks like they’re just using social media to advertise it.
Oktoberfest River Rounds – October 5, 2023, from 5:30PM to 7:30PM. 154 2nd Ave N, Nashville, TN 37201. This is on the rooftop Skydeck of the Studio 154 Luxury Hotel. This event has local singers and songwriters performing while tasting craft beer from local breweries. I don’t know of all of the breweries that participated but I know Half Batch Brewing was there. It looks like the event was free as well – maybe having to RSVP beforehand. I’m adding this 1 day after the event so I believe the original website has been taken down but I’ll look for that next year and hopefully have more information about the event.
Von Elrod’s Oktoberfest – October 5, 2023, through October 8, 2023. Opens at 11AM until 11PM on Thursday 10/5/23. On Friday 10/6/2023 they open at 10AM and close at 11PM. Saturday 10/7/23 they open again at 10AM until 11PM and on Sunday 10/8/23 they again open at 10AM but close at 9PM. 1004 4th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37219. Admission is free, and everything will be cashless. It appears that on Saturday 10/7/23 everyone has to be 21 or older to attend, there’s is an asterisk on their site stating this, but just for Saturday 10/7/23. Events will be a DJ during certain hours every day plus Stein holding contests throughout the day every day. They will have a food truck in their beer garden serving pretzels and bratwurst and they’re blocking off the street this year.
The Nashville Oktoberfest – October 5, 2023, through October 8, 2023. Events start at 5PM until 11PM on Thursday 10/5/23. Festival reopens at 11AM through 11PM on Friday 10/6/23. On Saturday 10/7/23 the Festival opens again at 11AM through 11PM and the final day is Sunday 10/8/23, where they once again open at 11AM and close at 4PM. 600 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243. Located at the Bi-Centennial Capital Mall State Park. General Admission is free and you purchase your beer as you go once you get your wristband. There is a VIP option that you can buy tickets for, they are $197.00 each for Friday 10/6/23, $247.00 each for Saturday 10/7/23, $197.00 each for Sunday 10/8 with another option on that day for $298.00 each for their Sunday Fun Day that gets you a Companion Pass. The VIP experience gets you unlimited beer & wine, a 2023 beer stein, an unlimited buffet, 2-hour unlimited beer tasting, luxury bathrooms with A/C, premium whiskey tasting and private seating.
Barktoberfest – October 6, 2023, from 3PM to 9PM. 800 44th Ave, Nashville, TN 37209. This is at the Fat Bottom Brewing Company location in The Nations. There was next to no information on their website about this event other than they invite you to bring your dogs to the beer garden and they will have a Polka DJ, sauerkraut, bratwurst, pretzels “and more”. The site says, “more details coming soon” and since it’s literally the day of the event – I assume we’re not getting any more details.
Brentwood Beer & Wine Festival – October 7, 2023, from 12PM to 4PM. 9100 Crockett Rd, Brentwood, TN 37027. This is a charity event on the grounds of Holy Family Catholic Church. (I love checking in beer at a church) General Admission tickets at $40.00 each and VIP tickets at $80.00 each. There is a special VIP party on Thursday 10/5/23 from 5PM to 7PM for those who bought VIP tickets – that location is yet to be announced. They also have Designated Driver tickets at $20.00 each, since they can only drink half as much. You can actually volunteer for this event as well through the same link above.
Oktoberfest at 6th & Peabody – October 14, 2023, from 11AM to 11PM. 423 6th Ave South and Peabody, Nashville, TN 37203. Admission is free, and you have to be at least 21 to attend. It’s an all-day event with football, pretzels, games and prizes. There is not a lot of other information out there. I think it’s a normal Saturday with an Oktoberfest theme.
Hope & Hops – October 19, 2023, from 6PM to 9PM for General Admission and 5PM to 9PM for VIP. 3597 Betty Ford Rd, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. This is at the Copper Ridge Event Venue. Tickets are $50.00 each for General Admission and $75.00 each for VIP, both prices are good through the day of the event (10/19/23). This is for a good cause to spread hope for survivors of domestic abuse. There isn’t a lot of detail of what the beer will be or how many, but it does say they will have a wide variety of craft beers along with music with an atmosphere conducive for conversation. General Admission tickets get you event drinkware, food from Moe’s, tastings from local breweries and to bid on a silent auction. VIP tickets get you an hour early entry (5PM), upgraded event drinkware, charcuterie boards and Moe’s as well as silent auction bidding.
Tennessee Beer, Wine & Shine Festival – October 21, 2023, from 12PM to 5PM. 3130 McGavock Pike, Nashville, TN 37214. This is at the Two Rivers Mansion. Early Bird General Admission tickets are $55.00 each through September 30th. After September 30th they are $60.00 each until the day of the event and they go up to $70.00 each at the front gate. VIP tickets are $95.00 each, which gets you a 1-hour earlier check-in time (11AM), private entrance and exit, special tasting with Lipman Bros with beer and wine, entered in a drawing for Willett Rye Whiskey and a gift bag. I will be attending this once again this year. I went 2 years ago and it was well done and laid out nicely.
Queen’s Legacy Beer Release Event – October 21, 2023, from 5PM to 9PM. 4319 Sidco Dr, Nashville, TN 37204. This is located at the Bedford Nashville Event Venue. Tickets are $30.00 each and supplies are limited. Tennessee Brew Works, Turner Haus Brewery and Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey are all joining forces to celebrate unity in the craft beer industry. This a bottle release of “Queen’s Legacy”, which is a barrel aged Stout that was aged in Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey Barrels. This is the second iteration of this collaboration and I’m sure it’s going to be stellar. Admission will get you tastings of this new beer along with samples of Uncle Nearest Whiskey, specialty cocktails, Turner Haus and Tennessee Brew Works craft beers, hors d’oeuvres and a live DJ. Victoria Butler from Uncle Nearest, Steve Turner from Turner Haus and Christian Spears from TBW will all be in attendance. This should be a very cool event.
Fall Fest by Southern Grist – October 22, 2023, from 11AM to 5PM. 5012 Centennial Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209. This is at Southern Grist’s Nations Taproom in West Nashville. Admission is free and all ages are welcome. They are having limited bottle releases, an outdoor beer garden, face painting, a photo booth, a local fall market and multiple vendors – including Honky-Tonk Heat which looks like they make sauces (mild to hot) – which I’d be interested in.
A Wicked Beer Tasting – October 29, 2023, from 12PM to 4PM. 1011 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville, TN 37210. This is located at Cledis Burgers and Beer Garden. General Admission tickets are $30.00 each and they get you pours from 6 breweries, a taster glass, a raffle entry and a donation to Cledis’s mission to combat hunger in the Nashville Community. 100% of the proceeds will go to their cause. Some of the breweries that will be there are Half Batch Brewing, Black Abbey Brewing, Cedar City Brewing and Fait La Force Brewing. There will also be a Halloween costume contest. This Event has been cancelled for 2023.
Real Ale Round Up – November 11, 2023, from 12PM until 4PM. 900 Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN 37208. This is at The Picnic Tap’s Farmers Market location. I have never heard of this event before today and it looks pretty cool. Early Bird tickets are only $40.00 each and that is through 10/11/23. On 10/12/23 they go up to $50.00 each and on the day of the event they are $65.00 each. Local Brewers brew “real ales” (from traditional ingredients and matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed). Admission includes unlimited tastings of all of the beers, a souvenir tasting mug and voting tokens to vote for your favorite cask conditioned ale and the winner gets the Golden Hammer Trophy. All of these ales are one of a kind and can’t be duplicated. This might be the most unique “beer festival” I’ve ever seen.
CiderFest – November 11, 2023. This is at Tailgate Brewery on Music Row at 1538 Demonbreun St, Nashville, TN 37203. This is their 7-year anniversary at this location and are having $11.11 Cider Flights, they’re releasing an Oaked Tailgate Cider and a Cellar Stout. There are no tickets to be bought for this event and it appears to just go all day during their normal business hours, which are from 11AM to 10PM. This isn’t your typical “BeerFest”, but I like Tailgate and they do a good job.
The Winter Warmer – December 2, 2023, from 11AM to 3PM. 1402 Clinton St, Nashville, TN 37203. This year it’s located inside of Marathon Music Works. Tickets go on sale on October 2, 2023 at 10AM and they are $91.75EA. There are only 750 tickets available this year and I already have mine. I’ve been to this one for the past 2 years and it’s great, it’s all high gravity, mostly barrel aged beer so this is not your typical Beerfest, this one is a bit more hardcore.