Feature Beer Friday! - Great Raft Southern Drawl

Louisiana brewery time! I get to some of the local guys every now and then in this segment, so today will be the first review featuring Great Raft's Southern Drawl lager. Great Raft Brewing is just about a year old now, hailing from Shreveport. They really found a nice space up there with plenty of room for expansion and were able to build out a nice tap room. I highly recommend you stop by if you're ever in the area. Husband and wife team Andrew and Lindsay, along with head brewer Harvey, have quickly created one of Louisiana's best craft breweries. They aren't available in Baton Rouge yet, but it won't be too long.

Today's offering is their Southern Drawl Pale Lager. It's a 5.2% house lager intended to be a sessionable flavorful beer for the long Louisiana summers and anytime you're looking to drink something easy-going and local. Pale lager isn't a style that gets most people excited, but it can serve as an excellent bridge between drinking mostly BMC and really appreciating the full spectrum of what craft beer can offer. 

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (Bite And Booze), Brenton Day (The Ale Runner), Chuck Pierce (Me And My Big Mouth), and Buddy Ethridge (Baton Rouge Adventures in Beer).

Serving: Poured from a 12 oz. can.

Appearance: Slightly hazy golden color, could be described as a "straw" color. Definitely hazier and deeper than the big boys.

Aroma: Bready sweetness, a little funk to it, not a whole lot of hops. Brenton thought it had a little bit of floral hoppiness, and we all agreed on the breadiness of the aroma.

Taste: Same as the aroma with a little more funk to it. And not funk in a bad way, just a good flavor coming from the yeast that makes it more than a boring beer. 

Mouthfeel: Very easy to drink, the funk doesn't linger and each sip leaves you wanting a little more. Jay described it as a "good pizza beer" and I know he meant that as a compliment.

Overall: It's a good beer, very well done and we can tell that it nailed what they were going for, but it's a pale lager. I think even the best pale lager is going to score lower than mid-range IPAs or stouts, that's just the nature of the game. I think it's fantastic that Great Raft is putting out a beer like this one to help increase the footprint of craft beer in Louisiana. I think it's going to convert a lot of BMC drinkers out there.

Overall Rating: 60
My Rating: 60

Brewery Update: Great Raft Brewing in Shreveport, LA

Another takeaway I had from the Beer Bloggers Conference is that Louisiana - with seven active craft breweries and two brewpubs - is woefully behind almost all the other states in terms of number of craft breweries.  With that in mind I shot an e-mail to co-founder Andrew Nations up at Great Raft Brewing to see how things were going for one of Louisiana's breweries in planning.  

Here's what Andrew had to say about the brewery progress: "We are in full build out mode. Our cooler will be installed tomorrow (now today) along with most of our trenching. We will pour new concrete next week and install our Big Ass Fan. Right now it’s all the boring but necessary stuff. Boiler, RO Water filter, chilled water piping, epoxy coating for floor etc."

About the next steps in getting up and running: "Next week Harvey is headed up to Upland to pick up a DE filter we bought from them. Soon after, we are all headed to Portland to sign off on the system before it ships. Between now and then we might have finished can designs to share..."

And of course I asked when they were hoping to be in production mode: "Our goal is to have draft beer to market by Halloween. That’s pretty aggressive but we are working like crazy to make it happen."

I have to agree that Halloween is aggressive, but their brewhouse is coming soon, and it sounds like the building will be ready for it. They have an experienced brewer and it's entirely possible they can make it happen. They are even working ahead on the can designs for label approval, so the team at Great Raft seems to have their ducks in a row.

One of the biggest points, that I didn't actually ask about, was that Great Raft is planning on canning their craft beer.  After losing a handful of bottles on the way back from the Conference, this makes me happy.  I'm becoming more and more of a fan of canned craft beer... I don't think there is a huge taste/flavor factor, but cans can go places that bottles can't, and they are lighter and safer for transporting.  Andrew outlined many of the reasons they decided to go for cans in a blog post in late 2012. 

Their Ermahgerd Hops Double IPA was one of my favorites from WYES, so I know that Great Raft has the potential for some awesome beers.  Cheers to Louisiana Craft Beer! Here's to 8 breweries (or maybe more...) by 2014!  

 

Looking Back At WYES - Friday Private Beer Sampling

Alright, I've had a few days to recover from a weekend of drinking in New Orleans at the two-day WYES Beer Tastings.  In case you didn't make it... here's what you missed at the Friday night Private Beer Tasting!

First off, the location this year for both events was at Mardi Gras World, in adjoining spaces.  This is phenomenal for people like me from out of town because I can get a hotel (went with the Hilton Convention Center location) and easily walk to both nights, plus be in range of everywhere else we want to go.  Last year the Friday night event was at the fairgrounds and the Saturday night event was at the UNO arena.  This location plus having the events at the same location is far superior.

That said, how about the venue itself?  For Friday night we were in a faux-plantation room complete with trees and illuminated night sky.  The beer tables were spread all along the perimeter and honestly the only complaint I could have about the space is that it was really dark.  Too dark to take good pictures of the scene as a whole, but I took some of the highlights!

A few weeks back I wrote about all the beer I wanted to try at the Friday night event and honestly, I didn't even get to them all.  There was just too much good stuff. 

My regrets were not getting to Abita at all... you all know I'm not the biggest Abita fan in the world, but they had the Strawator and a specialty cask on hand and I missed them both.  I also missed out on a couple of new offerings from Sam Adams.  I also missed most of what Cajun Fire had to offer... by the time I made their table it was just the Root Beer Ale left.  Damn. 

The Highlights!
Parish Single-Hop IPA series: Andrew had Pacifica, Calypso, and Chinook single-hop IPAs, and all were delicious while also education regarding the hop profiles.
Great Raft Ermahgerd Hops: Awesome double IPA from this Shreveport brewery in planning.
Gnarly Barley Porter Rican: Delicious as expected.
Mudbug Cajun Stout: Really a well done beer.
Tin Roof Rougarou Black Ale: I hope we see this more often from the local guys.
Covington Anonymous IPA: I hope we see this more often from the North Shore! 
The Homebrews: Brasseurs A La Maison, Brewstock, Mystic Krewe of Brew, and George's Beers all had some great stuff.  I didn't try every one, but I cam close.

The Misses.
Chafunkta Brewing FontaineBlue Berry Wheat IPA: I love these guys, but this just didn't do it for me.
Mudbug King Cake Lager: The beer itself was tasty, but I spent the next several still tasting the cinnamon sugar from the glass.  I think it would be a great addition to a regular pint but didn't work well in a festival setting.
Old Rail Cow Catcher Milk Chocolate Stout: I wasn't too impressed with this one... fortunately their Seven Sisters IPA was quite nice.
Main Grain / Bombastic Brewers Crawfish Beer: I don't think I'm alone in this one.  Yikes. I applaud the creativity, but sometimes it's a swing and a miss.  Fortunately Ron's other beer was a Rum Barrel Russian Imperial Cream Stout, and it was a home run.

The WINNERS!
Alright, as hard as it is to pick a winner, I came away more impressed with Crooked Letter Brewing out of Mississippi than anyone else.  Maybe it's because they were new to me, or maybe it's because they brought a couple of awesome beers.  Their Mystery Romp Coffee Chocolate Porter was phenomenal and probably my favorite beer of the night.  Their other offering, the Mariposa Pale Ale brewed with mango, jalapeno, and cilantro was also delicious.  Mystery Romp is the only one I went back to for seconds, so congrats to Crooked Letter for impressing me the most of anyone Friday night!

And now for some pictures...

Brasseurs A La Maison

 

Crooked Letter Brewing... in case you can't read the shirt!

Great Raft Brewing

George's Homebrewing

Brewstock Homebrews

Great Raft Has A Brewery Space!

Looks like one of the up and coming Louisiana breweries now has a space to call home, and what a space it is!  The press release is below, but here are the highlights:  36,000 total square feet, 27,000 of warehouse/brewery plus 9,000 of office, retail, and tasting areas.  Great Raft Brewing operations should begin this summer (the 20-barrel brewhouse is on order already!) and the grand opening at the brewery is expected in Fall 2013.  Taking advantage of new legal decisions made possibly by the LA Craft Brewers Guild, Great Raft Brewing expects to also be able to sell beer from their front-of-the-house operation.  Now that's progress in the Louisiana beer scene!  Read more below the picture... also check out my older post about some of their beers. 

Great Raft Brewing Secures Location in Shreveport, Louisiana


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lindsay Nations, Press Contact
info@greatraftbrewing.com
318-734-8101 (office)

Apr. 30, 2013, SHREVEPORT, La. -- Great Raft Brewing, a locally created and owned craft microbrewery, signed a lease for 1251 Dalzell Street in Shreveport, Louisiana. This 36,000 sq. ft. facility will serve as the brewery’s location for all operations and packaging, as well as a tasting room. The building consists of 27,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, along with another 9,000 sq. ft. for office, retail and tasting areas. Operations are scheduled to begin this summer, with a grand opening at the brewery in early fall.

The size and location of this building are both critical to Great Raft’s strategic vision and growth plan. In March, Great Raft ordered a custom 20-barrel, three-vessel brewhouse, five fermentation tanks and two brite tanks, with a capacity of 3,500 barrels (BBLs) annually. Great Raft intends to produce approximately 1,000 – 1,500 BBLs in its first year – increasing production in future years to enter new markets and meet demand.

Co-founder Andrew Nations said, “One of the reasons we selected this location for Great Raft’s operations is that we wanted to have room to grow. We didn’t want to be in a position where we were looking to change locations after a year or two due to space constraints.”

Great Raft Brewing recently applied and received approval for a use variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). Not only will Great Raft be allowed to manufacture its products at 1251 Dalzell, but it can also open its doors for public tastings and tours. During those hours, Great Raft intends to serve samples of products, provide educational tours of the brewery, and sell beer to-go.

“This location affords us the opportunity to not only produce beer of the highest quality, but also educate the public about our products and the beer making process. We are excited to have a visible location, close to Interstate 49 and Downtown Shreveport, and hope to be a fun destination for locals and tourists alike,” said co-founder Lindsay Nations.

Great Raft Brewing will be located less than one mile from the last known brewery to exist in Shreveport – Shreveport Ice and Brewing. Shreveport Ice and Brewing operated for years before closing its doors in 1908 when Shreveport went dry.

“Locating our brewery near the historic Shreveport Ice and Brewing building is a cool thing for us as we work to awaken Shreveport’s brewing culture. We want to continue the history of brewing in Shreveport, and being near that landmark is a constant reminder and inspiration to our team,” added Lindsay.


About Great Raft Brewing: Great Raft Brewing is a Shreveport, Louisiana based craft brewery dedicated to making creative, authentic beer and helping to build a great beer culture within communities it serves. Co-founders Andrew and Lindsay Nations are Shreveport natives with a passion for beer. Born from their desire to bring exciting, flavorful, fresh craft beer to their hometown, Great Raft Brewing is bringing the craft brewing tradition to Northern Louisiana.
Information about Great Raft Brewing can be found at www.greatraftbrewing.com. Learn more on Twitter https://twitter.com/GreatRaftBeer and Facebook www.facebook.com/greatraftbrewing.

Great Raft Brewing - Coming Soon In Louisiana!

It's always exciting to hear about up and coming breweries in the Louisiana area, so I was thrilled to hear about plans for the first North Louisiana brewery, Great Raft Brewing!  A few weeks ago Jay brought me a couple of samples that he had received from Andrew Nations, one of the co-founders of Great Raft along with his wife Lindsay.  Both samples I tried were unique and had a little lagniappe, so to speak, which I think is exactly what Andrew and Lindsay are going for. Read more about their story here.

Andrew told me he was looking to focus more on Belgian brews (one of the first two I tried was a saison) but that they weren't going to be an exclusively Belgian brewery.  The one I tried was a saison with a little lemon zest and pine needles.  I really enjoyed the way the pine needles and citrus gave the beer a lot of hoppy feel without the actual hops, and the Belgian yeast gave it the right amount of funk as well.  According to Andrew this wasn't going to be one of the flagship brews, but he did expect it to be a seasonal at some point.

What most of you probably want to know, though, is an expected date.  Andrew told me that they were targeting late Summer 2013 for their launch, and it would start out just in the Shreveport area.  Their plan was to be in South LA by year two, but as we've seen with Parish Brewing, if the demand is there up north then it'll take it longer to reach us down here.  I'm hoping for another Louisiana brewery success story, so if he's selling all he can up in Shreveport, I won't be holding any grudges that we can't get it here.  As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats. 

All in all, more exciting brewery news for Louisiana.  If Great Raft can make a 2013 debut then that will likely be at least 3 new breweries this year, and maybe more if some of the NOLA area breweries in planning can get online.  Good times to be drinking local, and only getting better.