Yazoo Brewing Spotlight
Everyone is talking about the upcoming Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville. When discussing Tennessee’s top craft beers, most people mention one of Music City’s pioneers, Linus Hall — Founder and Owner of Yazoo Brewing Company.
Let’s raise a bottle to Linus Hall as he shares his story, his insights, and his plans for the future of Yazoo Brewing Company.
Q&A with Linus Hall of Yazoo Brewing Company
Tell us about some of your home brewing experiences in college.
Linus: I went to college at the University of Virginia, and my third year, lived with four other guys in an old farmhouse out in the country. Another guy and I started home brewing. We bought a kit from an ad in the back of Rolling Stone and planned a party for when the first batch would be done. The beer was actually pretty good, except we used table sugar to prime the bottles, and after a few weeks, the beer began tasting like cider. My friend gave up on home brewing, but I kept at it.
What were some of the most important tricks of the trade that you learned during your internship with the Brooklyn Brewery?
Linus: I had an engineering background, and the American Brewers Guild had prepared me for the mechanics of brewing. But only working in a brewery—especially around someone like Garrett Oliver—can teach you what ingredients and which parts of the process contribute each flavor in a beer. Brooklyn had its own distribution company then, and Garrett would send me home each night with a mixed six-pack of classic beers from around the world, with instructions to come up with a recipe and process to replicate them. He’d critique my work the next day and tell me everything I did wrong. That was the most valuable part of the internship.
What made you decide to settle in Nashville?
Linus: I was working in my hometown of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the rubber industry, waiting for my girlfriend to finish college. Eventually, we got married and moved to Nashville, where I landed a job with Bridgestone/Firestone as an engineer in one of their tire factories. When I decided to start a brewery, Nashville seemed like a great place to be.
How has the craft beer scene in Nashville evolved since you opened Yazoo Brewing?
Linus: When I started, Yazoo was the only packaging brewery in the state, I think. Nashville had several good brewpubs, but if you wanted craft beer, you had to go there. Now, middle Tennessee has more than 26 breweries—many focused on their taprooms with limited outside distribution. The explosion of options and styles has been great for Nashville, but I think we’re nearing a saturation point where breweries that aren’t producing high-quality, interesting beers—or are undercapitalized—will struggle.
When you look back to when you started the brewery, what stands out the most, and what lessons have you learned?
Linus: We didn’t know what we were doing outside of making the beer. If I had known what I didn’t know, I probably wouldn’t have jumped in. Two big lessons: one, hire good people early—don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed. Two, 99% of success is showing up and being prepared for good things to happen.
In hindsight, what were you most wrong about when planning the brewery?
Linus: I underestimated demand from the beginning. We met my five-year projections pretty quickly, and the initial business plan was out the window.
Can you tell us a little about what you have planned for CBC this year?
Linus: Our annual FunkFest will be the Sunday before CBC. It’s a party for sour and wild ale lovers at our barrelhouse, featuring brewers and friends sharing their beers. It’s limited to 500 tickets, so it may be sold out by the time this goes to press. Our taproom will also have extended hours all week, and we’ll have several new collaborations and surprises to share.
What’s next for you? Any new releases coming up?
Linus: The big news is we’re selling the property the brewery sits on now—in the heart of Nashville’s rapidly developing Gulch—and moving to a new location in mid-2019. That’s a big project for us.
What’s the best part about being a craft brewer?
Linus: No matter how stressful or tough the day is, you can always enjoy a pint of what you worked so hard to create at the end of it.
Linus Hall is a testament to what happens when hard work and passion come together. As he puts it, “99% of success is showing up and being prepared for good things to happen to you.”
I hope you’ll drop by Yazoo Brewing while you’re at the Craft Brewers Conference and raise a pint to one of Music City’s true craft beer pioneers.
Cheers!
BOB
