hq Taproom
Located at the corner of BB King Blvd & Butler Ave, just a few blocks from the legendary Beale Street, our downtown taproom is a huge, art-forward space offering 30 different beers on tap and featuring a top-notch pizza kitchen, Little Bettie. The HQ taproom is open seven days a week, allowing for both on-site consumption and the purchase of packaged beer. At the downtown brewhouse, we concentrate on brewing our year-round beers using a 50bbl Braukon and a cutting-edge packaging line that can handle 250 cans per minute!! There is always something happening at WISEACRE, whether it’s Wednesday night trivia, weekly brewery tours & tastings, or enjoying a beer & a slice before catching a Grizz game!
YEAR ROUND BEERS
SPECIALTY & SEASONAL BEERS
We found inspiration in the beautiful and precocious dog breed known as the Italian Greyhound who is often parti-colored. It sounded like a fun name and we’ve been known to get on the Venga bus + parti a bit too. This beer is brewed with Weyermann’s Italian Eraclean Malt, which is actually grown on the Adriatic coast of Italy, northeast of Venice. Dry hopped with Hallertau Blanc, which is a daughter to Cascade, it’s a great blend of grassy German hops and fruity American hops with a wonderful vinous character. Crisp, clean, with a touch more bitterness than your German Pilsner. But what is an Italian Pilsner?
Made by our now former resident lollygagger and expert on redneck dentistry Andy McQuary. Descendent of Scottish sheep thieves, the name McQuary has long been associated with avoiding “the man” which is why in days of yore, you could barely spot his mustachio hiding behind the shadows of the silos but for the glow of his BLKs. Zingy flavors and aromas of bergamot orange come from the generous post-fermentation addition of Earl Grey Tea dreamed up by Davin’s classmate, a fellow graduate of Siebel Brewing School and veteran brewer of Great Northern in Whitefish, Montana.
Today is the day to reach for a beach. For each beach you breach, You may make a speech about beaches or reaches or star-bellied sneeches, but this beach within reach will be just out of reach unless you get Screech To teach you to preach. For our Beach Within Reach. Is not aged on beech. For a day, a month or a weech. This we beseech.
One time Mr. Raccoon took a long walk through a long field of tall grass. When he got to the edge, there was nothing. It was space. A vacuum. Being an adventuresome tiny bear rodent, he jumped off, but not into something, into nothing. As he fell through the starless abyss, in swooped Senorita Nighthawk, grabbing him by the neck scruff and flapping him off further into the darkness. There they came upon Archduke Flying Bear, and they all sang a song of bliss and ignorance and beers and laughter before going poof and becoming nothing. This nothing becomes an ethereal smooth dark lager from Thuringia.
Unicornucopia is our “Grand Cru” (a special beer we make every year for our beer fest, Taste the Rarity; the recipe changes every year). Festbier is the lower ABV and lighter colored cousin of Marzen. But this one is special. Uni ’25 was dragged through the garden in France. We got a hold of a bunch of Chardonnay barrels, filled them with festbier, and then aged them in our “cave” over the winter. What resulted is a lovely balance of malt, fruity white wine, zippy lemon, toasty oak, and crispy cracker. Round mouthfeel and subtle grape notes accentuate the finish. This is one of the lowest ABVs we have clocked on Unicornucopia, perfect for a strong sipping spring session. This unfiltered beer came out brilliantly clear, and the lovely light amber hue looks great topped with white foam. Prost!
Oktoberfest is a Marzen, a smooth, clean, and malty German lager that was released each September for Oktoberfest in Munich. The word “Gemütlichkeit” is a German word referring to communal joy usually involving a beer or two and is a part of the traditional German Oktoberfest song “Ein Prosit.
Skip the mall, put on a flannel, grab your CDs from the quad, and take “a voyage to the moon” for this amber ale that will totally take you back to the 90’s (you can pick up your plumeria-scented lotion later). This beer is full of biscuits and honey malt with low-key hops will make you come back for more…not sporadically, we hope! Ask our incognito cellarman if he loves it and he’ll tell you yes where he is and back again “Tonight, Tonight”. Word.
Our take on a classic German Festbier! This golden-straw colored brew is your perfect companion for any celebration. We brewed this beer to have a rich, satisfying body that’s both substantial and incredibly smooth. Grassy and herbal hop aromas and flavors that perfectly balance the beer’s richness, leading to a truly harmonious and refreshing experience. Inspired by traditional brewing methods, Thomas Says Smile is a nod to the past, bringing you a beer that’s both authentic and incredibly enjoyable. So go ahead, take a sip, and smile!
NON-BEER OPTIONS
5% ABV | 0 SUGAR | 0 CARBS | 99 CALORIES | GLUTEN FREE
The City of Memphis is full of dive bars, juke joints, social clubs, and lounges whose character is created from hand-painted signs, neighborhood boogie bands, juke boxes from yesteryear, graffiti that never washed off and traditions rarely seen elsewhere in BYOL (bring your own liquor establishments). A “SET UP” is the accouterment to the liquor: a bucket of ice and a soda to compliment. We pay homage to the set up by setting you up with a canned cocktail that is good to go when you CRACK THE CAN!!
DO YOU LIKE SELTZERS?
Then this is for you… But cleaner. Seltzers derive alcohol from malt and yeast fermentation like brewing beer which can leave unwanted flavors or aromas. The Set Up are liquor-based sparkling beverages using high-quality liquor.
DO YOU LIKE SPARKLING WATER?
Have you ever poured a shot into fizzy water and called it a drink? That’s what we did for you here! Memphis has some of the finest water in the world and we added bubbles, booze, and a little flavoring to keep the specs in line with beer. It’s not a fancy 20% ABV cocktail, but a refreshing sparkling liquor drink.
Non-alcoholic OPTIONS
Our cold brew coffee project has been years in the making. Our friends at Metropolis Coffee have helped us through every step. It is well known that we are fans of coffee and other caffeinated beverages and this cold brew coffee is certainly another way for us to get up in addition to getting down. We are using a blend of coffees with particular attention being paid to Central and South American varieties. The end result is a slightly tart, refreshing brew with plenty of roast and a peanut buttery finish. This coffee is brewed using a cold method of extraction which produces a smoothness quite different from hot brewing methods. The bitterness normally associated with coffee is almost completely absent. There is however, plenty of caffeine. It may not be a good idea to drink more than one of these. This brew can be enjoyed straight from the can, but it is best poured over ice to maximize refreshment.
Zip Zero Nada when it comes to alcohol, sugar, and calories, but not when it comes to flavor! Hydrating and refreshing, Hop Zip is charged with Mosaic hops’ resin and tropical fruit notes plus a flavor spritz of natural lime, reminding your palette of a balance between delightful hop flavors and aromas, all wrapped up in a tasty, flavorful sparkling water. What exactly is hop water? This new category is beer adjacent, as it features an ingredient that is unique to breweries (hops) but is closer to hop tea or sparkling water. Hop Zip is non-alcoholic with zero carbs and zero sugars but retains the therapeutic qualities of hops. For ours, we chose Mosaic hops, which create amazing tropical and melon flavors/aromas in beer. An all-cold extraction process led to some different expressions of Mosaic hops.
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Location
Parking
The entrance to the HQ Taproom is located on the East side of the building. Parking is available on the South side of the building. Overflow parking can be found on Able Street or E. Butler Ave, but please do not park on BB King Blvd. Kindly avoid blocking or parking in our loading dock area.