Brewery Spotlight: Mayday Brewery

A couple of days ago, I had the great pleasure of visiting the Mayday Brewery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. For all you non-Volunteers, Murfreesboro sits about 45 minutes east of Nashville and is the home of Middle Tennessee State University and the Stones River Battlefield (Civil War).  Luckily for Murfreeburrowers (I like to think that's what they go by), the city can now add its first brewery, Mayday, to their list of attractions.

Welcome to Mayday Brewery

After numerous years home brewing and three years of preparation after deciding to take the commercial plunge, owners Lee "Ozzy" Nelson and his wife Pamela officially opened their former silk factory doors on November 30th of this year.  Mayday not only already has its own enormous brew space (many new breweries contract out before moving into their own facility), but it also features a great tasting room and bar where four-beer samplers, pints, and growlers flow freely.  I visited on a Thursday evening, and the tasting room was booming with happy patrons eager to embrace their community's first brewery.

Tasting room bar.  Say hi to co-owner Pamela when you visit.

Co-owner Pamela works the tasting room bar serving the breweries first four offerings: Boro Blonde, Angry Redhead Red Ale, Velvet Hustle Distinguished Pale Ale, and Evil Octopus IBA (India Black Ale).  Each recipe has been painstakingly perfected via trial and error by owner Lee for almost two decades.  In addition to the original four, the Jubilee IPA was scheduled to be released several days after our visit, so I unfortunately didn't get to try it.  It's very rare for a new brewery to open with more than one or two beers in the lineup, but Mayday proudly adheres to a "balls-to-the-wall" mentality, and it shows in their decision to brew five ales in the opening month.

Literally, Mayday's balls of steel hang from these steps.  Figuratively, however, they are very much to the wall.

After stints at the Goose Island and Metropolitan breweries and training at the Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in Chicago, Nick "Wiz" Wisniewski helms the 30 barrel (945 gallons) Mayday system as head brewer and sometimes tour guide.  Wiz expertly adapts owner and former home brewer Ozzy's longtime recipes to a commercial scale. 

Head Brewer Nick "Wiz" Wisniewski.  Despite visiting on a non-tour day, Wiz hospitably volunteered to show us around.

Mayday's 12,000 square-foot facility houses four 30 barrel fermenters, and it takes about three weeks  to fully produce one batch of beer from the milling of the grains to kegging the end product.  By Tennessee law, all fermenter tanks have to be either named or numbered.  Naturally, Lee, who is an avid Ozzy Osbourne fan, named each tank after a member of one of his and this blogger's favorite bands: Black Sabbath. 

Owner Lee "Ozzy" Nelson proudly standing by the Black Sabbath frontman's fermenter.  Rock on Iron Man, rock on.

 Ozzy and Wiz aim to ". . .Make beer that you want to drink more than one of. . .easy-to-drink, balanced beer," and that's exactly what they've managed to do.  All four offerings feature a delicate use of hops that adroitly complement and balance their malt profiles.  By antiquated Tennessee law, all four come in at 6.2% ABV (Evil Octopus sits right at the limit of 6.2%) or below, which adds to the sessionability of the lineup.  If you're a fan of extreme IBUs with no consideration to balance, then these beers might not be for you.  However, if you enjoy well-balanced sessionable brews in the mode of traditional British ales, Mayday's lineup will perfectly satiate your tastes.  In a world gone mad with IBUs and extreme ABVs, a brewery like Mayday is a very welcomed addition. 

Like championship banners, the Mayday lineup hangs from the atrium ceiling

In the long term, Mayday plans on rolling out a canning line and adding more members to their eclectic line of ales.  In the short term, the brewery is very content with their grateful local Murfreesboro fans who, in less than a month's time, have already openly embraced their city's newest, and best in my opinion, attraction.

The cozy sitting room with visitors drinking pints and four-ale samplers

Next time you're driving up to Nashville, or are anywhere in the vicinity, do yourself a favor and stop by the brewery.  Pick up a growler, order a sampler, and enjoy the company of the Mayday crew who like to relax in the tasting room and chat with visitors after a hard day of brewing. You definitely will not be disappointed.

I want to thank the Mayday family for their hospitality and hope to visit again very soon.

 Cheers!

Thumbs up for the Evil Octopus IBA.  My favorite of the four, its eight evil arms signify the beer's eight naughty hop additions