Nora McGunnigle

Bayou Teche's collaboration with French brewery La Bambelle I've been working with Propaganda New Orleans for a couple months - it's an opportunity to write more about what I really love and use a writing style and tone that I can't really use when writing my more newsy and reporting pieces. The piece, " Ladies Who Love Beer In What's (Traditionally) A Man's Man's Man's World ," was published yesterday and I have gotten some great feedback from other women. It really seems that my words resonated with people and seeing that is so rewarding in a way that I wasn't expecting. The experience has shown me that being a writer isn't just about selling my ideas and writing articles, but about people reading what I write. This is a huge revelation!

 Happy Carnival, y'all! First, the contest. No, wait, first, the apology for letting too much time lapse between blog updates. I've had a lot of deadlines and doing any writing that I absolutely didn't NEED to do was not at the top of my list... OK, now the contest. I have a pair of tickets to the NOLA Eats New Orleans King Cake Tasting on February 1 at the Little Gem Saloon. And all you need to win them is to visit my Facebook page and leave a comment on the contest post with the perfect beer to pair with king cake. The beer should be available to purchase in New Orleans, and you can be as specific or general with what kind of king cake you're looking to pair your beer choice with. I'm the sole judge, but I can definitely be swayed by "likes" on your contest entry. Share as many ideas as you'd like! Contest winner will be announced Monday, January 20. Onto the all important links!

My Christmas gift to you is lots of interesting articles about beer! Bayou Teche's Karlos Knott sitting behind a pint glass full of cracklins, because why not.

Tin Roof's new seasonal out in cans I started a new column for Propaganda New Orleans, called "Hopaganda" (see what I did there?) and I'm really excited about working with them. It'll be a much more laid back style of writing, maybe like one step up from this blog in tone, but a step down from the informational, interview-heavy reporting that I have been focusing on. This column focuses on my memories and thoughts about the beer scene here as a New Orleans transplant back in 2010.