Joel Stickrod
Barrique Brewing and Blending | Nashville TN
July 2026
Staring at 12 barrels of home-brewed beer sitting in his basement, Joel Stickrod knew his hobby had gotten out of hand. While working as a sound engineer for Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish, Stickrod came across an inspiring lambic beer, Boon Geuze, on a trip to Belgium. Taken by its complexity, he started making his own increasingly experimental brews back home in Nashville, Tennessee with the help of online brewing forums and books. Stickrod, looking to get experience at a brewery, started doing cellar work at Mantra Artisan Ales in 2015 before moving to their brew deck to learn about sour brewing and production.
In 2017, Stickrod decided to scale his homebrewing business and strike out on his own. He saw the opportunity in a small music touring storage warehouse and turned 676 fenced-in square feet into his first brewing facility. In 2019, he started selling his naturally fermented brews as Barrique Brewing and Blending, and grew year over year from 200 to 300 barrels. After weathering the pandemic by offering drive-by pick-ups, he opened his first taproom in 2021 and launched Barrique's continental European lager program in the form of their Haus Pils. Stickrod's brews are distinctly Tennessee, using Tennessee-grown wheat and malted barley in his wild fermented ales like his Wet Hop Strata.
Stickrod still works as a sound engineer, using his down time in the winter to brew, and letting his beers sit for at least one season before tapping. Though their riverfront location closed this past spring, Barrique will continue brewing and blending. From buying them second hand to upcycling them, Stickrod likes to squeeze every last drop he can out of his French oak barrels. Stickrod cleans, repairs, and repurposes the wine barrels before using them to ferment his spontaneous wild ales and, once the barrels start producing off-flavors, Stickrod resells them as planters on Facebook Marketplace and to local furniture makers.
