Nora McGunnigle

So, today was the first day of New Belgium release in Louisiana! I saw the display in Rouses on North Carrollton at lunch: $2.99 for a bomber, FYI. I need to pick up a six pack of Shift ASAP. So, New Belgium is only in bottles and cans right now- it'll be on draft at the end of May, from what I hear. The Avenue Pub offered bottle pours for the occasion today - $14 for six 4oz pours, which included a nice glass. I also scored a lip balm, a hat, and a coozie. Single 4oz pours were also available, $1.50 for the standards and $3.50 for the three Lips of Faith. I focused mostly on the Lips of Faith stuff, since I had the basic lineup beers last week at the distributor roll out. I did start out with a Shift, though, 'cause that's my jam. And I did use a Fat Tire to cleanse my palate after drinking the Cascara Quad. First of all, the La Folie- a Flanders Oud Bruin, It was straight up excellent. I need to see if I can get my hands on a bottle. Or two. After that, I tried t...

Apparently, the 2014/15 Zwanze might be a spontaneously fermented stout? Relevant to my interests! Speaking of Cantillon, Avenue Pub is hosting a Cantillon Lambic and Gueuze tasting on March 20. And in further sour events, there will be the opportunity to try a very rare Italian sour (also at the Avenue Pub) on March 27 at the Xyauyu open bottle night . You all probably know that New Belgium will be released upon the area on April 1. As the first wave of New Belgium beer will only be in bombers, the Avenue Pub will likely have several Lips of Faith on hand to sell by the bottle (and probably an event with bottle pours for sale) as well as New Belgium's collaboration with Dieu de Ciel, Hemelse God and their other regular releases. Polly's great about keeping their Facebook event page updated as stuff is finalized, so keep an eye out for that. ALSO, Stone Enjoy By is coming to Louisiana ! It'll be Enjoy By May 17. This is exciting news. I'll post where it ...

Last week was the much anticipated Louisiana launch of the well-regarded San Diego brewery Green Flash . I'd been looking forward to it, especially since I'd had only limited exposure to it before moving-I think MA only had West Coast IPA, their flagship. The Avenue Pub did a three day rollout between June 19 and 21. Tom and I showed up on the last day of the rollout, when all the beers (even the bottles) were available for tasting. We each got a tasting ticket (5 tastes for $12) and proceeded to sample the list. Funny story- I started using the Untappd app recently and I started checking in all the beers we were sampling - since I was checking in both our beers and they were small amounts, I was doing so fairly rapidly. After the 4th or 5th check in, I got a message from my friend the Beer Buddha , saying, "Nora, slow down. Seriously!" Oops! I explained the logistics, got made fun of a little bit. On to the beers! Le Freak! First up: I had the Le Freak a...

Finally had the opportunity to try the collaboration ale that NOLA Brewing and Stone Brewery were brewing a few weeks ago.  Mitch Steele from Stone was up along with Jason and Sean to eat, drink, and be merry before, during, and after the launch. We actually had a great time at NOLA Brewing on Friday- we went there with a camera crew and interviewed Dylan (Lintern, VP) and Melanie (Knepp, Head of Brewing Operations) about NOLA Brewing in general and about the process of the collaboration. Everyone I spoke to was just so stoked about the whole process of brewing- brewing together, pitching in, trading ideas and war stories, and just plain working hard and having fun. The brewing of this beer was definitely a labor of love. (Side note: was able to finally get my hands on my beloved Flambeau Red, since I had to punk out of the Krewe de Brew bar hopping kickoff last weekend.  Hooray! It's still freaking delicious- hoppy and drinkable and tasty and balanced.) On release day, ...

Man, I am excited for Mardi Gras, especially since it looks like the option exists to drink amazing beer while enjoying the parades. I posted this info to the other blog I write for, but I wanted to put it on here too. The Avenue Pub has taken the first week of Mardi Gras to line up some great beer events. This is the weekend that the balcony is open to the public. They, of course, want their best beer customers up there and the best way to get them to show up and watch the parades with us is to line up some great beers. Drinking the beers will get you access to the balcony for the parades (first come first serve of course).  No problem! Friday Feb 10th Saint Arnolds night: Divine Reserve 11 & the rollout of their newest beer: Bitter Belgian. Krewe of Oshun parade start 6pm, by the pub by 8pm Click here for more info and to RSVP Saturday Feb 11th Stone Brewing & NOLA collaboration rollout:”Pour Me Somethin’ Mistah” on cask and in draft. Plus a couple of other good...

Avenue Pub management had a great method to help customers order the beers and the bartenders to understand them- they put the list and tasting notes together pairing each beer with a number, so you could just go up and order a Number Nine or Seven, or whatnot. Brilliant! (especially as the day/night went on) Funny story on Friday night- I wanted to order a bitter and a stout, but Eileen heard it as a bitter and a SOUR, so I got the Bedarö Bitter and the Cantillon Mamouche. I laughed and asked her to also pour me a stout. I'd wanted to drink the bitter while letting the Nynäshamns Sotholmen Extra Stout come up to temp, but I ended up drinking the bitter and the Mamouche. Stout was excellent by the time I got to it though. I cannot say enough good things about the Nynäshamns Bötet Barley Wine. It truly was the best barleywine I've ever had. It was a serious revelation. I loved the Nynäshamns Bedarö Bitter and the Oppigårds Amarillo Spring Ale like crazy too. Tom loved, as I...

Inspired by Polly Watts' list posted on the Avenue Pub's Facebook page: 1) Cantillon Iris. A gueuze that has been brewed with hops instead of wheat. Tart, sharp, a subtle hop bitterness on the finish. The sour and atypical bitterness marry well. Very refreshing while retaining the traditional gueuze sour characteristics. Recommended for sour lovers and sour skeptics alike. 2) Cantillon Zwanze 2010. More tart than sour, well balanced, crisp, refreshing, mild tartness and subtle. Like a belgian berlinerweiss. Wheat is turned all the way up. Smooth. Biscuits and lemon juice. Dances over the tongue leaving a trail of tartness behind. (I know it's something that won't be around to have again, but it was just that good.) 3) Mikkeller Drink In The Sun. Best session beer in the country. Wouldn't know it was less than 3%, the taste is much bigger than that. 4) Rogue Brutal Bitter: Balanced but very flavorful, like an amped up ESB. An interesting beer to say the least. It...

We've been moved to the balcony to clear out space for later arriving beer geeks downstairs.