Nora McGunnigle

Sunday was a glorious spring day after the rain and humidity of the few days preceding it. A little cool for a May day in New Orleans, but that made it perfect. We biked over to the Avenue Pub to partake in the Bayou Teche crawfish boil and Cocodrie launch. Cocodrie is a tripel Belgian IPA and weighs in at 8%. It drinks so beautifully that the guys at Bayou Teche got T shirts to indicate its deliciousness that comes with danger...

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 $...

This past week has been much less beer-centric than usual. I had many awesome food experiences which I'll be writing about on my other blog, norainnola.com this week. However, in the course of having lunch at Byblos on Magazine Street this week (I was checking out their overhauled menu) I caught a glimpse of their new tap list, which is much improved from their previous incarnation down the street. Got local beer represented, like Canebrake and Abita, regional with the Saint Arnold's Santo, larger national microbrews like Magic Hat #9 and Brookyn's Sorachi Ace, and yes, the Redd's is a Miller-Coors apple ale that sounds terrible (though to be fair, I have not tried it) it's more interesting than sticking a tap of Miller Lite or Blue Moon up there. I like seeing these random tap lists at places you wouldn't think would have stuff like this. I think it speaks to a shift to more local restaurants taking chances on craft beer that would previously not had t...

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...

So, in my non-beer drinking life I work for a non-profit organization here in New Orleans, and often cross paths with other community organizations who are working to raise money to support their work. Jen Gick from Longue Vue House and Gardens and I crossed paths yesterday and I found out about this event which was truly RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS: Tom and I will be going- what's not to love? Beer, food, beautiful grounds, and a good cause on a lazy Sunday. And $12? A steal! Hope to see ya there. Email or call Jen Gick (504-293-4723, jgick@longuevue.com) by Friday to get your RSVPs in, very important!

Once Upon A Time...I met Nicole, the Louisiana sales and marketing rep for St. Arnold's Brewing on a fine Friday evening when she bought me a pint of their Elyssa IPA on cask. We sat and talked about the brewery and its beers, and the events that St. Arnold's was hosting. We started talking about the passion and vision of the founder, Brock Wagner, and she mentioned that she thought he'd agree to be interviewed by me. Sure enough, about a week or so later, I got an email from Nicole to set up the phone interview. Which... I  forgot about because I got so slammed at work. Both Nicole and Brock were very gracious about understanding that I am juggling a full time job alongside this SUPER GLAMOROUS blogging gig, and I was able to reschedule for the next morning. The following morning, I called Brock at his office and, after profusely apologizing to the point of probable annoyance, I busted out my best mad interview skillz. Brock Wagner (all images courtesy of the S...