beer NOLA

When I wrote about the WYES Beer Tasting last year, I mentioned that while I loved the event and all the great beer, I was a little let down that event was short, and the quality of beer was a little too generic apart from the homebrewers. Apparently this got the attention of the folks over at WYES and I, among others like Dan Stein, the folks at NOLA Brewing and Derek Lintern of Crescent City Homebrewers were called in to consult for this years event.

A lot of things have changed in a year! While the main tasting on Saturday will be much like last years, except with better beer as the Craft Beer scene has gotten better in NOLA, there’s a new event tonight, the 1st Annual WYES Private Beer Sampling (or PBS for short, haha get it?!). The PBS will feature 50 beers that represent the best NOLA has to offer from American and European brewers, as well as new special batch beers from NOLA, Abita and Lazy Magnolia. There will be food, music, a chance to talk to brewers, and a more relaxing 3 hour long window for tasting.

I hope to see everyone out there this weekend, exploring some of the best beers American Craft Brewers have to offer. Tonight’s tasting is $50 with food. Tomorrow is $35 in advance or $45 at the door. Check out WYES for ticket info.

Here’s a PDF of all the beers and descriptions for this weekend’s two beer fests!

From 2pm-6pm, Avenue Pub will be hosting an beer tasting for American Craft Beer Week, featuring an impressive and surprising list of beers. $12 gets you (12) 4oz tasters of any American Craft Beer available on tap or in bottles. House smoked meats and cheeses courtesy of J’Anita’s will also be available. If you miss the 2-6pm window, there will be $1 off American Craft beers all night.

After looking through the list of beers available, this is the most impressive beer tasting I’ve seen in town in a long time, and the best beer deal possibly ever. Continue reading for a complete list of the 50 beers available for the choosing today. (more…)

America’s small and independent craft brewers are making special plans for the annual American Craft Beer Week (May 11-17), a national celebration highlighting the culture and contributions of American craft beer. These brewers want the week to inspire beer enthusiasts to declare their independence by supporting breweries that produce fewer than 2 million barrels of beer a year and are independently owned. To celebrate bars, restaurants and shops across New Orleans will be hosting dinners, bar specials, classes and tastings. Continue reading for this week’s lineup of ACBW events (more…)

I’ve been talking about all the wonderful beer dinners that have been taking place over the last year, but for many, the $50-$90 price range has been out of reach.

Tonight, Avenue Pub will be hosting their first beer dinner, and at just $12 for three courses, it’ll be a more attractive option for many.

Thursday May 7th @ 7pm
The Avenue Pub | 1732 St Charles ave.

Featuring NOLA Brown and Blonde Ale and Spaten Optimator.

With food by J’Anita’s

Caprese salad

Roasted duck sandwich with cheddar and blue cheese, shallots, and currant tapenade

Gingerbread cupcakes with creme cheese and currant filling

For reservations, please email polly@iglou.com or call Avenue Pub at 586-9243

Back for the 2009 Season, Abita’s Strawberry Harvest Lager is hitting stores this week! It’s kinda like their Purple Haze, but instead of raspberries it’s..surprise surprise.. Ponchatoula Strawberries.

Hopefully Abita will be able to make as much as they did last year. The first couple years they made the Strawberry Harvest Lager it sold out within a month, but last year I saw bottles in some stores well into the Fall. The earlier you get it, the fresher and more Strawberryey it’ll be, so go grab a six pack to welcome back the warmth.

A hundred years ago, New Orleans was the brewing capital of the south, boasting dozens of breweries. But by the 70s all that was left was Dixie, Fallstaff, and JAX.. and we all know only one of those is still around. But since Katrina, this city with its rich brewing history has been devoid of a brewery. Dixie is made under contract in Wisconsin, and Abita and Heiner Brau are on the Northshore.

But all that changes this weekend, as the new NOLA Brewing company unleashes kegs of its beer to bars across the city. Conceived in the weeks following Katrina, Kirk Coco and Peter Caddoo (formerly of Dixie) decided to start a new brewery offering fresh, tasty, local beer for our fair city.

They wont be bottling for a while, but you can get their Blonde and Brown ales on draught at bars this weekend. As of this writing, Bulldog, Avenue Pub and Cork & Bottle all have it available.

So get out there this weekend for a cold NOLA beer! And look out next week for my reviews of their beers!

The Monks of Europe have got this whole Lent thing figured out. Fasting for 40 days means finding sustenance elsewhere .. so why not beer? The Roman Catholic monks of Germany certainly hold this belief, brewing beers to sustain them for the Lenten season.

Dating back to the 17th century, the Bock beer style is a stronger, denser beer, creating a drink that’s not only more filling and has more calories to help you get through the day, but actually has more vitamins, minerals and disease fighting polyphenols! See what I mean, the Monks have got it all figured out. As if the Bock style wasn’t already suited to being a drink that’s great for fasting, the Doppelbock (or double bock) style was specifically created as a liquid meal for these Monks during Lent.

So if you didn’t give up alcohol for Lent, or already caved on something else, pay tribute to the Catholic Monks of Germany by having a cold pint of Bock or Doppelbock beer.

Keep reading on some ideas of what to try out… (more…)

What started as a fairly small event 10 years ago has now grown into a huge seasonal drinking event. Every season, Abita has a special beer and they celebrate it by selling it for a buck across a few bars on a very drunken night.

It’s no surprise that after 10 years, the brewer, who now sells nearly 3 million gallons of beer each year, has a huge following in its local market. This is the first Abita Pubcrawl I can remember that doesn’t celebrate a seasonal beer (although the Christmas ale is the current brew). Instead, they’re celebrating 10 years of crawling around, 4 times a year.

These pub crawls get more and more crowded each season, but one thing hasn’t changed: tasty beer for a buck, from just after work till the beer runs out.

The first 500 people get a t-shirt. Checkout the full list of bars after the jump… (more…)

Spring has Bock and Summer has Wheat but it’s the Fall and Winter with its Oktoberfests, spiced beers, and big, rich beers that’s yield my favorite seasonal beers of all.

In the past, Fall seasonal beers have been limited to Oktoberfest styles and spiced pumpkin styles, but there’s a new style for the Fall. What better way to celebrate the Fall harvest with actual fresh fall produce … in the form of fresh hops! Traditionally, hops are picked, processed, and compacted into little pellets and then shipped off to breweries. But, the new Wet-Hop style is a style of beer where the hop leaves are picked off the plant just moments before going into the kettle. The result is a fresher, fuller, more diverse flavor. Not many breweries are doing this yet, but Sierra Nevada’s already 12 years in. You’ve seen Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in bars, grocery stores, restaurants, and maybe in your fridge, so give their new Harvest Ale a try. You should be able to find it at Whole Foods and Stein’s Market and Deli.

This brings us to Christmas beers… (more…)

As the Beer vs. Wine Cheese Pairing event from September illustrated, beer can be every bit as good at pairing with food as wine, if not better. So with all the eating, drinking, lounging around and watching football, I thought I’d make some suggestions on how you can incorporate beer into your Thanksgiving holiday.

Lets not forget that the Pilgrims on the Mayflower landed on Plymouth rock because they ran out of beer… (more…)