From live-band honky tonks and dive bars with character to whiskey spots and smoky speakeasies crafting delicious cocktails, bar-hopping in Nashville, TN, is a lot like the city itself – dark, relaxed and refusing to call it a night!
There is no dressing up to worry about here, the drinks are strong, the music is loud and the locals are about the friendliest you’ll find in bars anywhere in the United States.
Drinking your way through Nashville makes for some hollerin’ good times, but if your visit is short in the city and you want a napkin list of just three bars you absolutely cannot miss, here’s where we from Hydralive would want to send you:
# 1: Bar No 308
What makes Bar No 308 so special? Tasty, innovative cocktails, cozy but energetic atmosphere and a friendly neighborhood vibe.
No 308 in Nashville is hip. Really hip. The decor will remind you of some sort of a hipster’s hangout with checkerboard flooring, bright color blocking in the entranceway and a simple open bar ambience. And the drinks are good! (Try their signature Whisky Ginger to see what we mean…)
They make their own colas. The bartenders mix up homemade syrups infused with soda carbonation that pair seamlessly with the wide variety of whiskeys on offer.
Happy Hour’s from 5 pm to 7 pm, Sunday through Friday. Try their well drinks, offered with soda, on the rocks, neat or as a shot. Or enjoy half-off bottle of wine.
• Address: 407 Gallatin Road, Phone: 615 650 7344, Website: bar308.com
# 2: Mickey’s Tavern
No DJs at Mickey’s Tavern. No bands, no karaoke, no trivia nights either. Mickey’s Tavern describes itself as `just a world famous neighborhood bar where East Nashville’s local can drink’. They have pool, foosball, darts, an award-winning jukebox, and a nice deck out back.
Walk into Mickey’s Bar before dark and you’ll need some time to get used to the lack of lighting. Two tiny windows leak some daylight into the space that is otherwise illuminated by some moody neon lights.
Mickey’s is the place to try a wonderful list of established and pedigree whiskies. They specialize in having the Antique Line from Buffalo Trace as well as many other specialties that are hard to find elsewhere. “We have over 75 varieties including selections from all five regions of Scotland,” they say. “Our well drinks are better quality and cheaper than you’ll generally find elsewhere.”
If you’re looking for the opposite of a raucous, bawdy bar scene, consider grabbing a drink at Mickey’s Tavern. They do have some food, like Cuban sandwiches and hot ham-and-cheese, but
there’s a great restaurant next door called Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen. You can bring food in from Nicoletto’s to eat with your drinks.
• Address: 2907 Gallatin Pike, Phone: 615-852-5228, Website: mickeystavernnashville.com
# 3: Husk
Husk is as popular with locals and they are with tourists who are looking to check a famous Sean Brock restaurant off their bucket lists.
The kitchen boasts of its commitment to seasonality and Southern ingredients only – which means the menu is changing all the time and the flavors are unapologetically homegrown. Seed-saving, heirloom husbandry, and in-house pickling and charcuterie-making is foundational to the cuisine at Husk.
There’s an on-site cocktail apothecary program serving some of the most delicious drinks in the South. The wine list will impress any terroir-loving oeneophile: it’s first broken up into categories and then subdivided by soil type.
• Address: 37 Rutledge Street, Phone: 615-256-6565, Website: husknashville.com
HUNGOVER IN NASHVILLE?
Trying to keep up with Nashville, a medium-sized city with an XXL-sized bar scene, means waking up most mornings with a killer hangover.
Quite fittingly then, Hydralive Therapy® already has two locations here where pm partiers can rebound from an am hangover with something a lot more curative than Bloody Mary and a bacon sandwich: IV therapy.
Reverse your hangover (or get a treatment before you go bar-hopping) with a high dose of fluids and vitamins that rehydrate and detoxify cells, plus anti-nausea and acid reflux meds that alleviate headaches and distress.
All served up in a safe, soothing, spa atmosphere by experienced health and wellness professionals at:
Broadway Location:
212 Broadway, Suite 400
4th Floor
Nashville, TN 37201
Phone: 615-678-5493
The Gulch Location:
1207 McGavock Street, Ste. B
Nashville, TN 37203
615-902-3858
Click HERE to book an appointment!
