Nora McGunnigle

I've gone to two beer dinners this week - one was $30 and one was $100. (disclaimer: I did not pay for either.) As is obvious from the price point differential, the two dinners were on two sides of the cuisine and experience spectrum. Ale (the beer bar on Oak Street) hosted a Goose Island beer dinner on Tuesday. Since Goose Island is owned by AB-Inbev, that's a very good reason for the price of the dinner to be so inexpensive.

Preparing for the speed drinking madness that awaited us The Beer Blogger's Conference, held this year in San Diego, is a heady, um, brew of beer geeks, beer geek enablers, free beer, lots of information, and then also some beer. While I will be providing a more complete overview, I wanted to start out with the most intense (and my favorite) event of the conference, Live Beer Blogging. I recapped last year's  here , and used a lot of tweets to capture it. And I'm doing it again!

The New Orleans International Beer Festival is returning to Champions Square on March 9. It moved over here from the Northshore last year and has had a good turnout and reputation for engaging local breweries. It's sponsored by Abita, with participation of all local breweries like Tin Roof, NOLA Brewing, Parish Brewing, Bayou Teche, and Chafunkta. Yes, Chafunkta! This will be their debut appearance as a fully licensed and legally distributed beer - stop by their table and try their Voo Ka Ray IPA and Old 504 Porter, a coffee-infused vanilla robust porter. And congratulate them for their huge accomplishment! Andrew Godley with Parish Brewing says that he'll be bringing his trademark Canebrake wheat beer along with the first commercial batch of their new year round beer, Envie Pale Ale and a keg of 2012 Grand Reserve barleywine. Tin Roof is sponsoring the cornhole tournament (come out and cheer for New Orleans' own Beer Buddha team!) and will be bringing their fla...

Wow, it's been a month since I updated? Crazy. It's been kind of a weird month. Hurricane recovery, birthdays, broken husband...  you better believe I've been drinking. Heavily. I kid! (Kinda.) Beer occurrences of note: NOLA Brewing released a new beer, the first in their new high-gravity series, Mecha Hopzilla. It's a pretty tasty beer- well balanced and quite hoppy. It's not really my wheelhouse, but I liked it. I think I like Hopitoulas better, which is good news too, because it'll be coming out in 16 ounce cans soon! In new beers in New Orleans news: Goose Island (from Chicago) has come to town! Right now it's just the three "Vintage Ales" - the Sofie, Matilda, and Pere Jacques. Sofie, looking gawjuss in the Goose Island goblet  I loved the Matilda, the Belgian style pale ale. Subtle, balanced, delicious. Sofie was pretty good, a light colored Belgian farmhouse ale- it was a little... insubstantial, maybe? Just didn't seem to l...

The Goose Island Matilda (Belgian Strong Style Pale Ale brewed with Brettnomyces) is really, really, really awesome. Not really brett-y, the sourness/funk is subtle and incredibly balanced and delicious. Well done!

So, yay, Ohio beer that I can't get in Louisiana! Acquired: Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA, Chatoe Rogue First Growth Wet Hop Ale, Goose Island Winter Mild, Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre, and a few Goose Island Reserve Ales: Sofie, Matilda, and Pere Jacques. Have not busted into the Goose Island Matilda yet, but here are some quick thoughts on the ones that were sampled: Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA : a solid, tasty IPA. Hoppy with citrus notes. Very drinkable and a beer I almost always reach for when I come visiting this part of the world. Apparently Great Lakes makes a small batch of a Christmas Ale that is supposed to be amazing, but we couldn't find it. Sad! But we had others to drink so sadness was tempered. Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre : I was feeling nostalgic for this while watching Brewmasters (though I would have been more psyched to see Indian Brown Ale). A Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Dried fruit aromas and sweetness on the tongue, balanced by a nice hopp...