Nora McGunnigle

Short rib ravioli in a pho-like broth from The Stokehold paired with Port Orleans' Slackwater brown ale (See below for the details on this) Moving on from my umpteenth mid-life crisis, (which is still real but doesn't do much good to keep focusing on it) today is the winter solstice meaning that every day for the next 6 months will be longer and brighter. It's a comforting metaphor going into a new year. Tonight, there are two cool beer events happening:

An oldie but a goodie - one of my fave memes of all time I have a few assignments for various publications due the first week of January, and I'm slogging through the motions to get on top of them before Christmas week, when I'll be out of town.  Instead, all I can do is scroll through Twitter and despair. That's pretty much been my year. In the run up to the 2016 election, I was cautious and quiet about my liberal leanings, worried about my "brand" in a white male dominated industry in a conservative geographic area. Now, I'm not super loud and proud about it, but that's because I'm tired and afraid and feeling beat down about the political process and priorities of this government. 

So, in addition to beer, you may or may not know, I also write about food and booze here in New Orleans. I had a separate blog for this, once upon a time, which I haven't posted to for like 5 years. But these days, I'm trying to expand my brand so that it encompasses all the stuff I do - eating, drinking, travelling, writing. So this website will expand in focus as I plan to write about Things Other Than Beer. Like today's post about two Uptown brunch experiences I've enjoyed recently.

It's a whirlwind week for me - I just got back yesterday from attending both session of the Shelton Brothers Festival , held in Atlanta this year, and will be heading out to Nashville tomorrow for the Southern Brewers Conference . Here are some musings on both.

Image courtesy of Southern Brewers Conference/Rhizome Productions <looks at date of last post> <sighs> Sorry I've been slacking about keeping up here. But I have a pretty juicy subject to discuss today, so hopefully that will earn some points toward forgiveness.

I'm enjoying the concept of doing blog posts while avoiding both 1) work (of course) and 2) political shit on Twitter. Today, I wish to extoll upon the awesomeness of the Freret Beer Room. FBR's been open for about 6 months and it is killing it with both the food and the beer. I had a keg of Cuz I Said So beer sent there and today they did a charcuterie pairing with it and a salami piccante from Framani. I went over there to check it out: Obviously this was just a snack, so I ordered one of their specials, a tomato and burrata tartine, which was absolutely phenomenal. It's got the grilled bread that I've already fallen in love with (from the mussels dish), summer tomatoes, and burrata, which is like the cheese of the gods. I also had the meatballs (on their regular menu) which comes with polenta, and another special, blistered Padrón peppers. (I did not plan on having these but I was awfully happy it worked out that way.) Everything I've ha

I guess giving up Gambit and Southern Brew News has given me a few extra minutes to post something here, which is good. Even though I don't get paid for updating my website, it's still all mine and an important part of communicating to the public.

This blog was my foray into the world of Louisiana craft beer. It's led to so many opportunities to write about beer and food - but after four years of writing professionally, it's time to move to the next level. Scrolling back through my entries over the last 4 years, you can see that... well, there aren't very many of them. I mostly express myself through my professional print and online work for local and national publications. Also, social media... usually Facebook . But also Twitter and Instagram . And Tumblr , where I post my latest work.

Had a lot of fun this week.