2020 Jerry Feinstone
MidtownMemphis.org Mojo Award recipient Jerry Feinstone and music by Keia Johnson . Music sponsored by Eclectic Eye.
"Boscos was the first craft beer in Tennessee," Jerry Feinstone says, with authority. He was making craft beer before many beer drinkers knew what it was. Maybe Jerry should have his own category; The Mojo of Midtown Award for Great Craft Beer. And one for a great Midtown place to enjoy it. Jerry and his "beer partner" Chuck Skypeck opened Boscos in Germantown in 1992, moving to Overton Square eight years later. The Square at the time had seen better days but Jerry could sense a comeback coming. He liked the young vibe of Midtown, with people willing to try something new. Now, looking at Midtown from his front window, he's amazed. "There's an incredible amount of investment that's been made from Parkway to downtown," he says. "There's a new front on a building almost every street I go down. And it's great. "In Jerry's view, what's happening in Midtown and in Memphis is, in large part, the result of what urban experts call "infill." In other words we're building a reimagined city in the footprint of the original city. "Midtown is a beneficiary of and a part of growing a much, much better infill. I think it's important that a city grow internally, not just move out of town. "Jerry Feinstone might remind you a bit of Mel Brooks with his twinkling, sly wit. He's eighty now, and sort of retired. The day we met he walked us around Boscos, pointing out the medals framed on the walls for winning beer competitions. Among them is a gold medal from the World Beer Cup for a summer beer called Hefeweizen. He stops often to talk beer with a customer and share a laugh. Jerry's a Connecticut Yankee originally, went to college in Indiana, moved to Memphis while working as a stockbroker. "Making beer is a whole lot more fun than being a stockbroker," he told us, walking into the glassed in room where Boscos' beer is made. The water beer brewers start with really does matter and ours, he says, is in fact "world class." And what's in the glass proves it. "We don't take back seat to anyone on the quality of beer we brew here. "The Boscos menu is "comfort food" and the centerpiece of the place isthe wood-fired oven where they make pizza in the daytime, bread at night. Jerry told us how they came up with the name. The one Memphians couldn't pronounce. "The Italian word for forest is 'Bosco,' "he said, pronouncing it with a hard 'o.' "And since we had a wood-fired oven it would be called Bosco al Forno." Then he laughs and leans in. "However, we did not use Bosco al Forno (with the hard 'o') for the name of the restaurant. We just shortened it to Boscos because they were going to call it that anyway."
