Last fall when I reported that chef Maneet Chauhan planned to add some specialty beers to the menu at Chauhan Ale and Masala House, I guessed that the perfect partner for the collaboration would be brewer Derrick Morse of Cool Springs Brewery. My reasoning was that Morse has a reputation as a fearless mad scientist sort of a brewer who is fond of creating some especially innovative beers and is comfortable with using exotic flavors in his recipes.
It turns out that the relationship has worked out so swimmingly that Chauhan and Morse have decided to actually move forward together and create their own craft brewery to create more of the beers that have been so popular at her restaurant as well as other varieties for resale both on- and off-premise.
The new venture will be called Mantra Artisan Ales and will be located in the former location of Turtle Anarchy Brewing Co. at 216 Noah Ave. in Franklin. (Fear not, TA fans. That brewery is in the process to moving to a new larger location at 60th and California Avenue in West Nashville with an opening date TBA. Stay tuned to this space for more details.)
Other partners in the Mantra business include Morse's wife Kaleigh and Chauhan's husband Vivek, plus Chad Frost, who has previously worked with Morse at Cool Springs. Local beer fans might recognize Kaleigh from her work in the taproom at Black Abbey, and she will be involved in operations at the new brewery, including the taproom, which they hope to expand to expand to 24 taps in the near future to feature Mantra's products plus other local and regional craft specialties.
The Mantra brewery has a relatively new 15-barrel brewhouse system that happens to be exactly the same type of system that Morse worked with at Twisted Pine Brewing in Colorado before moving to Nashville. The company has also purchased a new version of the same bottling line that Morse operated at Twisted Pine, but it is currently sitting in his garage awaiting their impending entry into the packaging business.
Mantra Artisan Ales is depending on the increasing demand for the products that they have been selling at the Chauhan Ale House as well as the principal's relationships with other restaurateurs to keep their tanks filled as they expand their distribution, first in Middle Tennessee, then across the state by the end of the year and into other cities in the region in 2016. Their initial lineup will include six beers, some of which are already popular features at the restaurant. Their Saffron/Cardamom IPA has quickly become their most popular brew at the Ale House.
That beer, along with a Flanders Red Sour Ale and a Belgian Sour Pale (similar to Petrus) will be the brewery's first release in bottles as well as kegs for placement in bars and restaurants. Three other beers will start out as keg-only options: a Belgian amber; a saison/wit blend, flavored with coriander and bitter orange peel and made with a unique Belgian yeast strain; and Chai Milk Stout, which has also been quite popular at the restaurant. Plans are for all six beers to be available in retail six-packs by the end of the brewery's first year of operation.
Morse will remain at Cool Springs Brewery through the end of July, and has already spent time training his replacement. However, once Morse leaves, CSB has chosen to cease brewing Chauhan Masala and Ale House's special recipes for the restaurant, to allow themselves more time to concentrate on their own unique offerings. To make sure Chauhan's fans won't be disappointed by a discontinuity in supply while waiting for Mantra to begin brewing sometime in the next few months, Morse has contracted with another local brewery to produce those proprietary beers from his recipes until he can fill up his own new tanks.
Morse and Chauhan promise some even more unique products to flow from the taps of Mantra in the future. They intend to begin barrel-aging beers soon, but it might take eight or nine months from grain to glass for those to show up in the market. In the meantime, they're already planning for a future series of seasonal ales. "We intend to compete with breweries like Wicked Weed, Bell's, Tin Man and the others who are known for the ways that they develop flavor," explains Morse. Chauhan is confident about their future. "Once I met Derrick, the cauldron really started boiling. People have to drag us apart because once we get together, we can't stop coming up with new ideas and recipes."
Between Turtle Anarchy's expansion, Cool Springs Brewery gaining a new brewer and this exciting venture at Mantra, this seems to be a harmonic convergence of great beer news for Nashville.
