Nora McGunnigle

There's a beer-focused fundraiser (OK, also wine and food) happening in Mandeville on August 23, 7-10pm at Benedict's Plantation (1144 North Causeway Blvd.) The big news (from my perspective) is that Chafunkta Brewing has announced that they will be debuting a brand new beer at the fundraiser. It's still a mystery right now, but Josh Erickson, head brewer, gave this as a hint:  "We wanted to bring our passion for quality, craft beer to a larger audience. We selected a style that, to our knowledge, is not currently being commercially brewed in Louisiana. It's one that we think will appeal to a broader market, but the style is one that still takes quite a bit of care to brew correctly."

For the last week or so, ever since returning from NYC/Savor ( with the exception of my wild WYES weekend ) I've been working on a story for a lovely local magazine called Inside Northside , which focuses on Northshore business, art, and lifestyle. This means several trips up to Mandeville, Covington, Slidell, and Hammond over the last week or so.