Louisiana Craft Brewers Week Continues...

We are now getting into the real "meat" of Craft Brewers Week. I hope some of you made it out the last few nights to try the Gnarly Barley / Chafunkta collaboration or a few sour beers from Tin Roof, but if not, there is still plenty more craft beer week to go!

Tonight will be one of the biggest events, the Louisiana Craft Brewers Bash at The Irish House in New Orleans.  I'll be there for sure, and also hopefully will be making a stop at Avenue Pub to try some Parish stouts and I'm sure the plenty of other good stuff they'll have on tap. 

If you can't make it to New Orleans tonight, then I'd highly recommend an afternoon trip on Sunday to the "Make Pour Decisions" party at NOLA Brewing where they plan on rolling out 18 (yes, EIGHT-TEEN) beers for the event. If you can't make it to New Orleans at all, there will be a couple of chances to catch Abita's pumpkin and peach SOS in Baton Rouge.

Happy drinking!

Founders Brewing coming to LA this week!

Hey everyone, Founders Brewing out of Grand Rapids, Michigan officially will be in Louisiana starting... well... now.  Avenue Pub already has Founders' All Day IPA on tap and will be tapping some KBS in their upstairs bar at 5.  The Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) is one of the most coveted beers around, so it should go fast.  Before too long look for some Founders beers in Baton Rouge bars and stores, personally I'm really looking forward to some All Day IPA, a great session IPA and perfect for the warm weather we are about to receive.

Cheers! 

Louisiana Craft Brewer Week - Event Schedule!

Okay, yes, it's officially called "Louisiana Craft Brewer Week" and not Craft Beer Week or even Craft Breweries week.  Yes, I also think that's pretty dumb, but I didn't write the legislation and I'm sure there's some legal reason.Okay, not that that little rant is over, it's on to the fun stuff.

Louisiana Craft Brewer Week kicks off on September 23rd, next Monday, and runs to September 29th, the following Sunday.  There will be good stuff happening throughout Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and elsewhere, so I thought I'd share what I think are the most relevant to beer lovers in Baton Rouge.

Monday, September 23rd:
Avenue Pub - 6 PM - NOLA Brewing / New Belgium Brewing collaboration Swamp Grape Escape is released.  This is a limited beer brewed with muscadine grapes, and Louisiana Craft Brewer Week might be the only chance to try it.

Tuesday, September 24th:
Bulldog BR - 5 PM -  NOLA Brewing cask night, with a "Smoky Praline". This is their Smoky Mary with praline, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.  
Niche BR - ?? - Parish Dr. Hoptagon's first Baton Rouge tapping.

Wednesday, September 25th:
Chelsea's - 6 PM - Abita tasting featuring Oak Aged Pecan Harvest Ale.
Chimes East - 6 PM - Tin Roof Brewing features a cascade dry-hopped cask of Voodoo Bengal Pale Ale.

Thursday, September 26th:
Bulldog BR - 6 PM - Tin Roof Brewing features a citra dry-hopped cask of Blonde Ale.

Avenue Pub - 7 PM - Stone tap takeover with Greg Koch.  Greg Koch is the founder/owner of Stone Brewing, and he will be in town to promote an impressive lineup of Stone beers, including many cellared releases and some fresh hoppy brews. 

Friday, September 27th:
Mathernes - 4 PM - Tin Roof tasting at both locations, featuring all products.
Tin Roof Brewing - 5 PM - Tours and tastings, featuring one of Tin Roof's beers on a hop randall.
Bulldog BR - 5 PM - Abita tasting featuring Oak Aged Pecan Harvest Ale.
Pelican House - 6 PM - Tin Roof "Blonde Sugar Sex Magic" release, this is a chili pepper infused blonde ale.
Avenue Pub - ?? - Lips Of Faith feature with Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing.  Lauren is the director of New Belgium's Lips Of Faith series and the whole lineup will be available plus some limited releases that Lauren is bringing from Colorado.

Saturday, September 28th:
New Orleans City Park - 1-7 PM - New Orleans On Tap - Lots of beer and live music, a good way to end the week of beer drinking!
Churchill's BR - ?? - Oktoberfest sampling.

I've also heard that Parish will be releasing Dr. Hoptagon, their new Black IPA during Craft Brewer Week.  If I hear any exact details I'll pass them on!

Green Flash is in Louisiana!

Hey everyone!

A while back I mentioned that Green Flash Brewing was expected to make its Louisiana debut at the WYES International Beer Tasting... well that didn't end up happening (silly rumors) but the time has finally arrived. 

The official roll-out will begin tonight, June 19th at no place other than Avenue Pub in New Orleans.  I know it's a bit of a tough call for Baton Rouge people to make a weeknight trip to the Big Easy for some beer, but they will be breaking out the West Coast IPA and Hop Head Red to start.  Tomorrow night will be even more Green Flash beers making their debut and then Thursday night will feature even more, including their Imperial IPA, Barleywine, and Belgian Tripel. Tempting, I know.  Hey, I might end up there on Thursday night yet!

 

For those who find the North Shore a little easier to get to, the Barley Oak in Mandeville will be having their Green Flash roll out this Thursday, the 21st.  I don't think they will have the full range of beers that Avenue Pub will feature but they will have some of the standards.  

And for those who can't make it to New Orleans or Mandeville, Cuban Liquor in Baton Rouge will be hosting a Green Flash tasting this Friday, June 22nd from 5-7 PM.  You can expect to see me make an appearance and try out a few of these brews for sure.  It won't be long until they are in bottles around town, and hopefully even on tap at a few places.  Green Flash is a fantastic addition to the local beer scene, and hopefully more craft brewers will follow their lead and open up to the idea of distributing in Louisiana!

Congrats to Cochon! - 20 Best Restaurants In America

I know it's not really beer news, but I happened to come across this and notice that Cochon in New Orleans was named one of the 20 best restaurants in America!  It was actually part of the best 101, but why not focus on being in the top 20?  The sad part is that I've only been to two of these 101 restaurants, and neither of them are among the 4 in New Orleans.  Yeah, I feel pretty bad that I've never been to Galatoire's, August, Commander's Palace, or the aforementioned Cochon.  

 

I have, however, been to Cochon Butcher, the accompanying sandwich shop and butcher that makes for an absolutely awesome pre-Avenue Pub meal.  I know Avenue Pub has some pretty good food of their own, but don't hesitate to take the short walk to the warehouse district and try Cochon Butcher, or if you're really up for it, Cochon.  

Well done guys, way to represent New Orleans and Louisiana!

Review: NOLA / Stone Pour Me Somethin' Mistah!

Alright, finally the big day had arrived... not that I was turning a whopping 32, but the release of the NOLA Brewing / Stone Brewing collaboration beer, Pour Me Somethin' Mistah.  Appropriate for any big New Orleans beer release, the party was taking place at Avenue Pub, my New Orleans beer bar of choice.  The release was announced back in mid January, so it had a month of hype building up to it.  After a quick early lunch at Cochon Butcher (delicious) it was over to the pub to wait for 1 PM to hit and the beers to start pouring. 

While waiting, the balcony bar had a few tasty warm-up brews, so it was the right time to check out the Saint Arnold Bitter Belgian, a very nice Belgian take on their Elissa IPA.  Not a bad beer and a great way to get the day started.  I followed that up with the NOLA 7th Street Wheat with grains of paradise and orange peel on cask and then it was time for the showpiece beer, the Pour Me Somethin Mistah.  

The first hint at the beer came from The Beer Buddha, who brought one out and immediately made a face like it wasn't rocking his world.  Uh oh... not a good start.  Dan brought one out for me, and my first taste was the same reaction.  It was still really cold, and tasted like an over-hopped porter, out of balance and not as rich and complex as I was hoping.  Damn.  Fortunately, I still had some cask 7th Street Wheat so I finished that while letting the Pour Me Somethin Mistah warm up a bit.  

Pour Me Somethin' Mistah, and 7th Street Wheat on cask.

Letting the beer warm was a great decision, as it really opened up and turned into quite the drinkable porter closer to room temperature.  The orange peel and molasses started come out in the flavor and the hops took more of a back seat to those flavors.  What started off disappointing finished a very nice brew.  For those in Baton Rouge, The Cove will have this one on tap in their front bar on Wednesday... just be sure to request a room temperature glass and take the time to let it warm up to unleash the full range of flavors.

My rating: B for this one.

January Resolution Results!

Hey everyone, for those who missed it, my 2012 goal was to walk at least a mile per drink consumed.  You can read all about the rules here, but I wanted to take a quick look at how January went.

 

Total Miles: 127.55

Total Drinks: 118.5

Average Miles: 4.11

Average Drinks: 3.82

Highest Daily Mileage: 9.41 Miles (1/9)

Highest Daily Drink Total: 9.5 Drinks (twice, 1/21 and 1/28)

Lowest Daily Mileage: 1.58 Miles (1/23) and 1.63 (1/24)

Lowest Daily Drink Total: 0 Drinks (5 times)

 

So what does this tell me?  I think the most eye-opening bit is the two lowest days, of 1.58 and 1.63 miles.  Both of these days were weekdays where I spent most of the work day sitting at my computer, then headed home and had things to do where I didn't get a chance to go walking at all.  A simple walk around the block with Abbey could have added about a mile to those totals.  Unfortunately I think this is what a lot of my days looked like in 2011.  The good news is that it's really easy to take that under 2 miles per day and turn it into an average of slightly over 4.  

 

The highest mileage was a day where I walked Abbey in the morning, then walked the full LSU lakes with Mandi, and walked Abbey a short ways again after the BCS championship game (BOO!!) that night.  I didn't quite get to 10, but still, 9.41 miles is a good bit.  

 

The two highest drinking days were Saturdays spent going out.  The first one was Avenue Pub for their Swedish beer tasting, followed by a few drinks at Mama Ford's birthday party.  The only reason this day wasn't higher was that Avenue Pub was only pouring half-pours of all the Swedish beers and they were almost all below 7% abv.  The second 9.5 drink day was a Saturday in Houston where Mandi and I went to the Karbach Brewery then to the Petrol Station for some more beers.  Both of those places serve a lot of high alcohol beers so even though I tried less beers they counted for more drinks.

 

What's the plan for February and beyond?  Basically more of the same... walk more and drink less.  As long as I can keep those miles above the drinks I'll be doing just fine.  

Coming in February - Stone / NOLA Collaboration Beer!

I'm sure that any of you who read any beer forums or have Facebook and follow the local breweries/bars already know this, but get ready for some Stone Brewing / NOLA Brewing collaboration beer!  It's going to be an Imperial Porter that is brewed with satsuma orange peels and Steen's molasses.  The name will appropriately be "Pour Me Something Mistah" which I think is great despite the length.  

Look for a release party on Feb. 11th (if all goes to plan, and that's my birthday, so thanks Stone and NOLA for that awesome present!) at Avenue Pub, then hopefully the beer will make its way to local tap lines.  It will only be available on draft it seems, so that limits the options for drinking some, but I'm going to make damn sure to try it.

Stone has been one of the best craft beers in our market since they entered a couple of years ago so it's extremely exciting to see them teaming up with one of the best local breweries.  This is nothing but a good thing for Louisiana craft beer.  Cheers!

Draft Magazine's 100 Best Beer Bars in America - 2012

And it's back, Draft Magazine's list of America's 100 Best Beer Bars!  The 2011 version featured a couple of New Orleans beer bars... Avenue Pub (duh) and Cooter Brown's.  This year, however, Cooter Brown's failed to make the cut, so Louisiana is down to one of the top 100 beer bars in the country, as Avenue Pub is on the list yet again.  So congrats to Polly and everyone at the Avenue Pub for some much deserved recognition!  

Unfortunately it's also time to talk about a few bars that I feel were snubbed... two from Houston, the Petrol Station and the Ginger Man Pub.  Neither made the list, and in fact only one beer bar from all of Texas made the cut this year, the Draught House Pub & Brewery in Austin which I have not had the pleasure of visiting.  I guess it's hard for me to REALLY be critical when I've only been to two beer bars on the list, Avenue Pub and Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse.  Despite that, I really feel like the Petrol Station especially is deserving of a spot as they were named the most bitter bar by Stone Brewing!  That's a pretty special accomplishment and it shows up in their tap list.

I guess there just isn't enough room for all the great beer bars out there, but maybe in 2013 I won't have to mention who I feel got snubbed!

Coming Soon: Bayou Teche Beer Noire

At least that's the rumor!  

The beer is listed on the Bayou Teche Brewing website with the following description:

On our grandparents’ farm, our grandmother would brew a grègue of café noir every morning for our grandfather’s pre-dawn breakfast.  At the end of each week, after the obligatory Sunday dinner, she would brew numerous pots of it.  Each and every one of the adults would then sip demitasses of the strong black coffee, laughing loudly and speaking French even louder.

We wanted to create a beer that paid homage to what café noir meant to our French speaking ancestors.  Café noir was more than a cup of coffee – its presence conveyed love and appreciation, and expressed a cheerful welcome.

We use specially roasted German malts and select American hops which provide our LA-31 Bière Noire a small bite of noble bitterness and a dry, French roasted coffee flavor.  It goes great with grilled steaks, hamburgers, or sausage po-boys, any spicy blackened Cajun dish, or a dinner table surrounded by those you most cherish.

À votre santé.

 I also saw a little more info on The Beer In Me forums with the following additional info:

Biere Noire is brewed loosely as a German Alt Schwarzbier - a style of beer not brewed anymore. I drank some while stationed in Germany, I believe the Brewery was Alt Marburger - and I think they stopped brewing in the 90s sometimes. The beer was like a traditional German black lager, brewed with the tastier Alt style ale yeast. We wanted to resurrect this wonderful style with our Biere Noire. We will release a limited number of bottles in July and early August, by the end of August you should be able to find bottles wherever Bayou Teche bieres are sold.

So... looks like it might be coming soon!  Very cool... I'm still not a big fan of the Biere Pale, but I've enjoyed the Grenada and Boucanee' and especially the XXX Grenade I was able to try at Avenue Pub.

Image Credit: The Beer In Me

American Craft Beer Week In Full Swing!

Hey everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying a fantastic American Craft Beer Week so far, and if you haven't partaken in any of the festivities it's certainly not too late.

As for me, I kicked off the week a little early with a guest appearance on Jay's Bite And Booze Radio Show.  I've also been to the Tin Roof Brewing Company for a couple of their open houses, plus spent last night trying new beers with good friends at The Avenue Pub in New Orleans while Jay and I interviewed The Beer Buddha for our upcoming radio show called "Raise A Glass."  Yeah, another radio show!  I added 5 new beers to my 365 in 2011 list while at The Avenue Pub, my favorite was almost certainly the Dieu Du Ciel Equinoxe Du Primtemps (which I'm pretty sure means Spring Equinox) although the coconut heavy Bayou Teche XXX Grenade was also awesome.  I also tried a Raftman from Unibroue, the Dieu Du Ciel Recousse, and the Brookyln EIPA.  All fine beers but the first two really stood out.

Bayou Teche XXX Grenade and Dieu Du Ciel Recousse Altbier

Tonight I'll be at The Gingerman Pub in Houston with Mandi and a few Houston friends checking out what's going on across the state line for this beer celebration.  No matter where you are though, there are sure to be lots of good beers on tap at the local watering hole.  I know Tin Roof in Baton Rouge will be having an open house tonight from 5-7 with free beer samples and a brewery tour.  And The Avenue Pub will be celebrating more tonight leading up to their huge tasting tomorrow afternoon.  I wish I could make it, but I can't be everywhere at once.  And for that, my liver thanks me.

Cheers!

The BR Beer Scene - On The Radio!

Hey everyone!

I encourage you all to tune in to Talk 107.3 from 10-11 tomorrow morning for the Bite And Booze Radio Show.  The show this week will be all about American Craft Beer Week, and will feature Charles Caldwell and William McGehee from Tin Roof Brewing, Andrew Godley from Parish Brewing, Polly Watts from The Avenue Pub in New Orleans, and CJ Webre from Calandro's Supermarket.  Plus, I'll be in studio with Jay for a portion of show asking questions and talking about craft beers!  Thanks to Jay for having me on and I'm looking forward to it.

Garret Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery coming to New Orleans...

Thanks for Dustin Davis for bringing this article from NOLA.com to my attention!

Now that the World Cup is over it's time to get back to some local beer events... and here is an exceptional one in New Orleans.  The head brewer from Brooklyn Brewery (which can be found in South Louisiana these days) will be in New Orleans July 23, 24, and 25 to host a series of beer tasting events!  That Friday night he will be at The Avenue Pub on Magazine for a tasting of 5 rare and vintage Brooklyn beers, and the bar will have several other offerings on tap.  It's only $12 for the tasting, so I'm certainly going to try to attend and I encourage others to as well!

Saturday will be the event the food and beer lovers want to attend... a six-course dinner paired with six beers at Boucherie, which from all I've heard is a fantastic restaurant!  I've been to the accompanying Couchon restaurant and was extremely pleased with the food.  And the fact that they had the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout available!  The cost is $100 all included, and although I doubt I'll be able to attend, it should be a great meal and experience.

I hope to see some beer loving friends in NOLA that Friday night... and enjoy!

A tasting of the top 100 beers in the world, in New Orleans!

I know this is a blog about the beer scene in Baton Rouge, but one place I've really been wanting to check out that's close to home is the Avenue Pub in New Orleans.  As best I can tell they have the best craft beer and import selection on tap of anywhere in the state.  Not the biggest quantity, but the most harder to find and more sought after taps.   Starting tonight for the next four Wednesdays they will be hosting a tasting of a selection of beeradvocate's 100 best beers in the world!

From their website:

Top 100 beer Tasting series for April

Wed. March 31st 7pm balcony

• Boulevard Saison Brett
• Goose Island Night Stalker
• Olfrabrikken Porter
• St Bernardus Abbott 12
• Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Wed. April 7th 7pm, Balcony

• Lost Abbey Angel's Share
• Russian River Pliny the Elder
• Russian River Damnation
• Oskar Blues Ten Fidy
• Chimay Grand Reserve

Wed. April 14th 7 pm Balcony

• St.  Bernardus Abbot 12
• Goudens Carolus Cuvee Van de Kaiser
• Supplication by Russian River
• Consecration by Russian river
  

Wed. April 21st 7pm Balcony

• Stone Ruination
• Stone Imperial Russian Stout Vintage
• Stone Double Dry hopped IPA
• Stone Double Bastard (Vertical 3 yr tasting)
  

I highly encourage anyone who loves trying new beer to check these tastings out!  I believe the price is only $20 each, and I'm hoping to make it to at least the April 7th tasting.  The Lost Abbey Angel's Share and Pliny the Elder are two beers I'd love to try, although everyone on the list is sure to be fantastic.

So, check it out if you can, maybe I'll see some of you there!