The Super Bowl is not an excuse for crappy beer. So we’ve decided to highlight some beers that are easy to find in the grocery store but won’t make you sacrifice quality as you watch the biggest game of the year. We got it started yesterday with the pregame show. Light beers will always be the “pregame”, “minor leagues”, “arena league” of beers. Face it, good beer has calories. Don’t waste ‘em on this or this…save ‘em for a few great brews!

We’re kicking off the big game with Pale Ale. Pales are a step up from the basic and mass-produced types that you find spending millions on witty or sexy Super Bowl ads. Most of those are Lagers or Pilsners (barely) and many of these just don’t taste good at all.

A good Pale Ale will be slightly bitter (because of the hops) but for the most part, balanced. We like these three: Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Yazoo Pale Ale. All three are easy to find in your local grocery store.

Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale comes from Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta. They make a bunch of great beers that you can get pretty much anywhere in the Southeast. It’s a classic pale…one of the better we’ve had.

Yazoo Pale Ale is brewed in Nashville and distributed throughout Middle Tennessee and Northern Alabama. If you’re in town, you know how good this one is. If you’re ever coming through Nashville BUY SOME! It’s our favorite pale ale. *especially great straight from the Yazoo Tap Room*

Finally, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is probably the most widely distributed craft beer in the USA. You can get it just about anywhere and it’s good! If you’ve seen it in the store and wondered about it…try it!

Next up: our picks for the perfect halftime beer.

Mellow Mushroom on the square in downtown Franklin, TN.  We know what you’re thinking…..well actually no we don’t because if we could truly read peoples minds we’d be chillin’ on some island somewhere (well separate islands of course…that’s just weird) because we would have made a bunch of cash from being on the t.v. reading peoples minds…..Anyhoo….. Our point is, Mellow Mushroom might not be what comes to mind when you think of a good place to drink some different beers.  Well, this restaurant has surprised us.  They have a large selection on tap (around 20) and at least twice that many in the bottle.  Plus if you’re there before 7 pm, the beer is cheaper.

Brian grabbed a Sweetwater 420 for $2.25 and Josh had a Red Hook ESB for $2.  The Sweetwater 420 is becoming another one of our favorite pale ales.  If you’re looking to dive into the world of pale ales, this is a good one to start with.  A lot of people say that they don’t like the after taste of some pales.  Sweetwater is great and it doesn’t have a funky after taste.  Some would say “it finishes clean”  but all we know is it doesn’t make your face scrunch up after you drink.  This is good, especially if it’s date night : Grade B+

Mellow Mushroom in Franklin has at least 3 Sweetwater beers on tap and host of others that are sometimes harder to find including Magic Hat #9.  Saga and Introverted One (shout outs) have both posted about that beer so it’s cool to know this is one place to find it in the area.

It’s always cool to find something great when you’re not expecting it.  Cheers to you Mellow Mushroom, we’ll review the Vandy location soon.  Keep it……er…..mellow?  :: lame

p.s. name the movie that this blog is titled after and win!

Our review of 3 Crow Bar in East Nashville: This place is amazing! We tasted 2 beers. 1 was awesome. 1 was bland.

Classroom: 3 Crow Bar

Total of 30 Beers on tap, over 70 beers in the bottle!  A brand new bigger patio and a food menu that includes Sandwiches, wraps, pizza, snacks….etc  But enough “classroom” details, on to the BEER!

Josh started with the GROLSCH FLIP TOP and Brian went for the COOPERS PALE ALE.

The Grolsch is one of the best lagers we’ve had.  Right up there with Samuel Smith’s.  It’s really smooth, a tad sweet (but not over-bearing) and it’s really easy to drink.  Hahaha that makes us laugh, “really easy to drink” …. like beer is ever literally ‘difficult’ to drink ~ GRADE : A

The Coopers Pale Ale.  hhhmmmm, hhmmpphhhh, ugh…. and all those other words.  We really wanted to like this one.  We drank the Coopers Lager at Olde World Leaf and Ale in Brentwood and it was a decent Australian lager.   The lager is like the next step up from Foster’s.  You all probably know the Foster’s “Oil Can”…. that was the good beer we (Brian) would buy in college, aaahhh the memories.  Anyway we digress.  If Foster’s is Australian for beer, Coopers lager is Australian for “great” beer, Coopers Pale is Australian for bland.  It’s just kind of……there.  There is sediment in the bottle of this pale.  Which normally indicates a good, healthy, strong brew.  Not so much here, we think they put it in for show.  GRADE : C-

So, back to 3 CROW BAR.  We really like this place.  It’s a no frills East Nashville bar.  Some of the best bar sandwiches we’ve had and they’ve got a killer beer selection.  Don’t be scared, venture into the East side, and go to 3 CROW BAR!