In a Bourbon Town Like Louisville, It's Good to Go Against the Grain

The art of brewing is fluid and always evolving. While a brewer must be fundamentally sound in their processes and science in order to make excellent beer, there's a ton of room for creativity. Craft beer lovers increasingly want to try new or different tastes, so there's also a lot of opportunity for brewers to offer lesser-known or obscure styles. Take these considerations, and add in a local craft beer scene that's early in its development, and you have a recipe for success. Against the Grain Brewery and Smokehouse is a growing craft brewery in Louisville, Kentucky that embraces the foundations of brewing expertise and goes beyond the most typical popular styles out there, while also experimenting and innovating in its products.

I like to explore the Louisville beer scene when I go back to my hometown to visit my family. Against the Grain is one brewery that I'd heard a lot about but not yet experienced. It opened in September of 2011 and is housed within Slugger Field where the minor league baseball "Bats" play. Last year, after less than three years in operation, ATG announced that it plans to open a 25,000 square foot production space in the historic Louisville neighborhood of Portland in 2015. The expansion will allow the brewery to increase production by more than 400 percent, provide customers with a second taproom, and allow for tremendous expansion of its impressive barrel-aging program. Such growth is exciting news for a well-regarded craft brewery in a city with a smaller, but proud, beer scene. After all, Louisville and the surrounding area has long been known best for its fantastic bourbon distilling culture. Louisville's breweries have proven that craft beer can co-exist with bourbon, and even thrive in such a market. The creativity that ATG employs with its barrel-aging program also combines the best of both worlds, much to the pleasure of those who love complex beers enhanced by months spent in a bourbon barrel.

We checked out ATG for lunch on the day after Christmas, as it's also a full pub and smokehouse with a versatile food menu. With a broad range of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and meats, there are a lot of delicious and high quality choices to complement the eclectic lineup of beers. When looking at the beer list, you may not find the most popular styles around, or many beers that fit firmly into categories. For instance, they didn't have an IPA on tap that day, but they did have two different India pale lagers available. What you'll find is intriguing beers, many that give a nod to history and tradition. You'll find beers brewed using a wide variety of grains, including malted rye and wheat, smoked malts, and black malts. Lagers, which often take a backseat to ales in many breweries, are given equal consideration at ATG. Barrel-aged beers of all different kinds show the range of innovation at ATG, and really help set the brewery apart from most in the area.

Above all, the brewers at ATG know what they're doing. Their recipes accentuate the intricate and delicious qualities of the malts and hops varieties in the beer. The quality really shone through in each of the beers I sampled in the pub, as well as the beers I brought back to try with my co-workers last Friday afternoon. I'll admit that some of the more challenging offerings like their smoked malt beers won't automatically please every palate, but a big part of the fun of beer tasting is experiencing new flavors and finding out what you like. Against the Grain is definitely a brewery to watch over the next few years, and certainly one to visit if you're ever in downtown Louisville.