Photo by Luca Trovato

Side of beef with your turndown service? Well, not exactly, but the Hermitage Hotel and Capitol Grille have just purchased a 245-acre farm in Dickson County, Tennessee, approximately 30 minutes west of downtown Nashville. The property, located on a conservation easement adjacent to Montgomery Bell State Park, will be known as Double H Farms.

Photo by John Guider

Tyler Brown / Photo by Luca Trovato

There, chef (and farmer) Tyler Brown and Greg Sligh, the hotel’s managing director, plan to raise grass-fed Balancer cattle (a Gelbvieh/Angus hybrid) under the group’s Double H brand. In addition to serving the beef on the menu at the Capitol Grille, they plan to sell it to other restaurants around town, such as Tandy Wilson’s City House.

It’s no secret that the hotel and restaurant are committed to local, sustainably raised food. For the past several years, they’ve been allowed to grow vegetables and tend Balancer cattle at the Farm at Glen Leven, a 66-acre urban farmstead managed by the Land Trust for Tennessee. In exchange, the 122-room hotel initiated a line-item charge on guests’ room bills: a $2 per night donation to the Land Trust. (Guests can ask to remove the charge.) Since the program’s inception in July 2008, hotel guests have contributed almost $300,000 for land conservation.

Photo by John Guider

In the near future, look for the team to begin vegetable production at Double H. They also plan to plant corn and rye, and eventually build a gristmill.

Of course, you know what else corn and rye are used for, right? Whiskey. If the Hermitage homesteading continues, Double H Farms might just be the next micro-distillery out of Tennessee. Fingers crossed!

Photo by John Guider