Nora McGunnigle

The homebrewing and the FQF actually have nothing to do with each other, besides the fact that they were to two beer related activities I had this weekend. Homebrewing: after my tales of brewing and bottling , this was the easiest (but most nerve-wracking) step of all: tasting. From Friday night Bottle opened today (it's less carbonated than the other two were for whatever reason.) The color and the clarity (as you can see) came out beautifully. As far as aroma and taste goes, the hops presence I was hoping for really didn't make it into the final product, so it wasn't really what I was expecting. However, I still really like it! The absence of the hop flavor gives prominence to the yeast. Still plenty of bitterness. So it's kind of more like a Belgian pale ale? I need more palates to tell me if the spiciness in the flavor is just yeast and hops intermingling, or if it fermented too warm and those are esters or off-flavors all up in there. But it's p...

The "Q" in "Qrawl" stands for "Quarter" as in the French Quarter. Yesterday was a fine day to wander about and drink beer. I don't hang out in the Quarter too often, so I thought this would be a nice opportunity to do something different and maybe see if there were any surprises for craft beer in the Quarter. It was an interesting day, for sure. We biked to the FQ and went promptly to the first stop on the crawl, Finnegan's Easy on St. Peter between Royal and Bourbon. Nice looking bar Santo and Canebrake! Dagger holding the Santo mascot Finnegan's was a nice place: long wood bar, great natural light, a gorgeous courtyard in the back. The Saint Arnold they provided was Santo , a "black Kolsch" which is easy drinking and flavorful. They also had Canebrake, NOLA Blonde, Tin Roof Voodoo Bengal, Guinness, and Abita Amber. I'd definitely duck in here if I was looking for local craft in that area. The Santo was $...