Nora McGunnigle

So, Mardi Gras has come and gone. It was a whirlwind of awesome, as usual. Definitely some somber notes, but that's New Orleans life, partying through the pain. I did a fun interview with Polly Watts about how things are at the Avenue Pub during Mardi Gras. (spoiler: pretty crazy). And in Gambit news, I ran down a bunch of beers that were new in cans this Carnival , announced the new Bayou Teche-Dat Dog beer collaboration , and checked in to see how everything was going at the Snooty Cooter . Otherwise, things are settling down after ALL THE SHENANIGANS that Carnival brings.

Beers we can get here, hooray! Last week, a new best of list came out from RateBeer.com . While of course user rated boards have their own issues, I thought this was a pretty solid list in general. Polly Watts at the Avenue Pub also pointed out that the list was based on reviews only in 2014, so it could be considered more a "what's hot" list, which might explain the few head scratching inclusions (no comment) and exclusions (Cantillon!!!!!!!!) But all in all, pretty good list. And like a third of it is available here, which is very cool, especially considering how sparse the selection was when I moved down here in 2010. So, I wrote my Gambit column on it, analyzing the trend a little, but I also wanted to post the list of all the stuff that New Orleans gets, either regularly or occasionally. Some of these you'll only see at the Avenue Pub and Stein's a couple times a year, but we get them. Here's the New Orleans/Southeast LA availability of the