beer NOLA » New Arrivals

Ho Ho Ho it’s Winter Beers!

vasu tummala — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:24:10 +0000

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…

I used to think that Winter beers just meant spiced beers, which isn’t a bad thing to me. But this notion probably came from the fact that Abita Christmas Ale is a spiced beer, and that’s the first one I ever had. But historically, Winter beers are a different animal. Rich in flavor and body with a higher alcohol percentage to keep you going during cold winter days.

A whole batch of Winter/Christmas beers popped into town not too long ago, and you should be able to get them from Whole Foods, Stein’s Market & Deli, Martin Wine Cellar, and Cork and Bottle.

Père Noël (Strong Pale Ale)
Mikkeler Santa’s Little Helper (Strong Dark Ale) - My Favorite of the Bunch
Mahr’s Christmas Bock
Hop Back Pickled Santa (ESB) - This does not taste like pickles.
Bad Elf (IPA)
Santa’s Butt (Porter) - This does not taste like butts.
Corsendonk Christmas (Strong Dark Ale)

Brewdog - Ridiculously Hip Beers

vasu tummala — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:38:21 +0000

I’ve gotta admit upfront that I’m a real sucker for products with a great design behind their labeling, packaging, marketing, etc. So with that in mind, I’m really impressed with the whole aesthetic and branding behind BrewDog, a little brewery in Scotland.

Named for the brewmasters’s chocolate lab, and billed as “Beer for Punks,” this sorta seems like the craft beer for the same kinda indie punks that’d rock PBR. Despite the artisan-ness and only-a-year-old-ness of the brewery, there’s just something weathered and underground about them .. again, it’s probably just the label design.

As you can guess by now, these beers are now available in New Orleans at Martin’s Wine Cellar. Read on for the lineup of what we’re getting…

All of their beers seem really interesting and the writings on them are full of beer geeky lingo. I mean how many brewery sites have things like “4 Hop Cones willingly sacrificed themselves in fiery cauldron that is our brew kettle to ensure your mouth is left feeling punished and puckering for more..” in their official descriptions? None, that’s how many.

While I want to try all their beers, I think my first purchases will be their stouts. The Rip Tide is described as “the beer equivalent of the big, cute chocolate monster.” If that’s isn’t enough to make you wanna buy a bottle of this, I dunno what magic sentence will. The Paradox series of stouts are Brewdog’s line of trendy whiskey aged beers. I’m not a big fan of Islay Scotches, so I may grab a bottle of that Speyside Glen Moray aged version.

I will end this post with another witty quote from the Brewdog site about their “The Physics” beer:

“A historically accurate beer based on the recipe devised on the 8th of February 2007.”

New Beer Arrivals - Chocolate, Banana and Honey Edition!

vasu tummala — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 03:57:23 +0000

I’ve always argued that what we lack in availability of beers from microbreweries from around the US, we make up for in beers from Europe.. specifically Belgium and England. In keeping with this trend, a slew of beers from these two drunken nations have recently dropped in on New Orleans.

While all of these beers are tasty and are worth a pint, a couple of these are real favorites of mine…

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is an intense sweet stout from London with chocolate tones that are both over, under, and in the middle. It’s the chocolate milk shake of beers .. thick, creamy, malty, roasted, and damn right delicious. There’s also an interesting balancing act between the mild bitterness of the hops which break and give way to a mild sweetness from the malt; it happens every sip and I never get tired of it. This is one of those stouts, along with any of the Rogue stouts, that will convince non-stout drinkers that this genre of beer is neither defined nor dictated by Guinness. This is also one of the better beers for paring with dessert. Get it at Martin’s and Stein’s.

I’m also pleased to welcome De Konik, all the way from Antwerp, Belgium. I’ve had this on tap a few times before (sadly, not here) and the first thing I remember looking for was some kind of descriptive title for it on the tap. Usually when an ale isn’t a standard ale, it has some kind of title to denote it’s specialness..but this one didn’t. For this brewery, this is just a standard fair beer .. but to me, I was impressed with it’s spiciness and subtle fruitiness with a dry finish. This is a pleasantly complex brew as we head into the summer, as it’s light enough to quaff your thirst, yet complicated enough to give you something to savor.

Further more, Dan Stein over at Stein’s Deli was also able to order some of the Urthel and Rader beers that I was able to have on tap in Chicago last summer. I’ve had the Rader Blonde and Urthel Hop-It, and both were great. That Urthel Hop-It is particularly interesting: an effervescent, peppers, citrusy, spicy, incredibly hoppy Belgian ale that defies all logic and convention.

The other beers in this new arrivals salvo are listed below. I haven’t had any of these personally, but they seem well enough reviewed to be giving a taste, particularly the Banana Bread and Honey Ale…

These should all be available at Martin’s with some select appearances of the better ones at Stein’s.