Nashville Barrel Co. has been on a remarkable trajectory since I first talked to Michael Hinds back in 2020, when his inventory could fit into a closet. Since then, along with co-founder James Davenport, Hinds has acquired, aged, blended and released hundreds of barrels of excellent bourbon, expanded his line to include rye whiskey, vodka, rum and agave spirits, and opened a popular production facility and tasting room at 222 Fesslers Lane.
At that facility, guests can taste different products and purchase bottles along with some impressive swag, taste a flight of spirits directly from the barrel or even re-create the experience of a single-barrel selection, where they can sample from four different barrels, decide on a favorite as a group and each take home a bottle from that barrel.
Admittedly, the crowd at the Fesslers location skews a little male and whiskey-nerdy, and Nashville Barrel Co. began to think about ways to broaden the appeal of their experience. One answer has come in the form of a line extension that now includes four California wines. Leveraging their experience as tasters, blenders and bottlers, Hinds and Davenport sourced good juice from California and created their own proprietary blends of pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon, which they had delivered in totes from California and bottled in their own local facility. In a nice touch for tourists, the company’s wines are sealed with the same removable cork as used in their spirits, meaning you don’t need a corkscrew in your hotel room to open it and can reseal it if you don’t finish the bottle. (As if.)
The latest development has been the opening of The Tasting Room downtown in a historic building at 425 Church St. The former bridal boutique has been converted into a pretty large tasting facility with a bit of a speakeasy vibe. Visitors walk through a doorway stacked tall with barrels to a tasting bar where they can enjoy flights of spirits or wines. A small bottle shop offers many Nashville Barrel Co. products for sale along with those souvenirs they showcase at their larger Fesslers facility.
The attractive space has room for plenty of folks to sample and purchase wine and spirits, but the real surprise is tucked away toward the back of the long shotgun-shack building. A few high-top tables are set among the exposed brick walls for guests who want to linger over their flights after the more (ahem) educational part of the experience has ended. In truth, anyone is welcome to come in and buy a flight of four 2-ounce pours of their wines — which as the neon sign says, is classier because it’s called a tasting.
Continuing though the surprisingly long building, the company has built out two private tasting rooms behind sliding wooden doors where a group can rent the spaces for their own individual experience before a night out — or maybe as an elevated pregame before walking across the bridge to Nissan Stadium to see the Titans play.
Beyond that lies yet another surprise that I don’t want to give away too much about. Suffice it to say that Nashville Barrel Co. takes the speakeasy experience to a new level with a secret private space that is suitable for up to two dozen guests to take part in exclusive tasting experiences, blending opportunities, educational classes and basically anything they want to develop in collaboration with the company’s whiskey concierge.
Trust me when I say it’ll be worth checking out and that you’ll thank me for not giving away all the secrets. Aimed at locals who want to experience something fun downtown without wading through the neon canyon of Lower Broad, wine lovers who love whiskey lovers and vice-versa, anyone who loves cute dogs, and serious spirits aficionados who want to experience something like a single-barrel selection process without having to drive to Kentucky, The Tasting Room is a fantastic addition to downtown.
