One of the pioneers of the now thriving Nashville craft beer scene, Bosco's, closed it's doors for the last time on Sunday. The brewpub had been open 18 years, and was the second oldest craft beer brewer in Nashville, behind Blackstone's 20 years. When both of those establishments opened, all that was available in the Nashville market was the thin, yellow, fizzy stuff. Bosco's (and Blackstone) broke that trend, offering rotating taps of a wide range of beer styles well before that was in vogue here or in many other places. Seeing them unexpectedly close up shop was a bit jarring. They cited rising leases and construction around their location as factors, but ironically, the boom of the craft beer scene that they had a large hand in starting here was a big factor. With the brewery boom and the rise of craft beer bars, they were no longer the only place in town to get great craft beer and their bottom line suffered.
Unfortunately this wasn't announced ahead of time. I would have loved to get one last pull of Flaming Stone, Isle of Skye, or Bombay IPA. They had just tapped their O-fest last week, so I had thought of going out this week to get a taste of it. Such a bummer... Fifty people out of a job (and probably as many from their July closing of the Cool Springs location as well). They will continue to focus on their Memphis and Little Rock locations, as well as their Ghost River production brewery in Memphis.
