Nora McGunnigle

Regarding my previous post , I want to make it clear that I am incredibly grateful and inspired by the work that the Avenue Pub, NOLA Brewing, and other breweries and bars are doing in New Orleans and Louisiana. They just shouldn't have to carry the whole load! There's room for everyone at the table! On that note, behold the upcoming craft beer awesomeness here in New Orleans:: First and foremost, ZWANZE DAY is on Saturday, December 1! This is the day that Cantillon Brewery in Belgium reveals their annual Zwanze beer, which is different every year. This year, it's a recreation of their first Zwanze vintage in 2008, a rhubarb lambic.  Since Cantillon is all about "celebrating the style of spontaneous brewing" the road to Zwanze 2012 was a bit rocky, as you can see from this blurb on Cantillon's website : When in early April we brewed a top-fermentation beer which was to become Zwanze 2012, we hoped that it would be ready 3 or 4 months later so that we co...

JustInteresting on draft- NOLA Blonde and Abita SOS, of all things. Taceaux are excellent, even though they only have the Seoul Man, a chicken taco with pickled vegetables and sirachi aioli. Really tasty. Tom is sticking happily to the Blonde (just like a man) while I started with the Blonde and have moved to an LA31.  Nothing fancy, but we're gonna listen to some music and it's all good.

Mid-City is pretty spread out, but navigating it is definitely doable with the help of the Canal Street streetcar line. Again, as with Magazine Street, make sure you have your walking shoes and a bottle of water and off we go! (Note: there's a whole other area of Mid-City for the exploring around Esplanade and the Fairgrounds. I don't know enough about it to discuss, plus Mid-City is so sprawling that I needed to focus on what I consider the best beer bets in the area.) You can pick up the Canal streetcar downtown very easily, just look for one of the waiting shelters on the neutral ground. The ride is not as picturesque as the St. Charles one, but you’ll pass by where the new VA hospital is going to be built (when you pass the intersection with Galvez, have a moment of silence for the beloved and departed Deutche Haus), and Betsy’s Pancake House (which I’ve not been to, but I hear it is quite good) and the Eat Well Grocery that will sell you a perfectly acceptable bahn mi...

As part of American Craft Beer Week, Jeremy aka Beer Buddha of Cork & Barrel hosted a beer tasting which featured some new beers on the New Orleans scene. Squatters Brewery is in Salt Lake City and Cork & Barrel had several beers on hand to sample. The first beer we tried was actually not from Squatters, but was from a partner brewery in Salt Lake City. It was a blond ale in a teeny tiny bottles (7 oz) called Little Slammers brewed and bottled by Wasatch . It was your pretty standard golden/blonde ale, nice refreshing cold beer on hot day. And you can like carry it in your pocket! Moving on: Hells Keep, a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. This was very drinkable with Belgian yeast flavors and fruit/spice notes. Not hoppy, most of the flavor came from the yeast characteristics. Easy drinking. The Hells Keep is one of Squatters' Reserve Series beers, as is the next one we tried, the Outer Darkness, a Russian Imperial Stout. Ooh, tasty. A bit lighter mouthfeel and flavor ...

Feeling slightly less sassy (which happens after having spent the night before drinking beer and then much of the day doing likewise.) We spent the afternoon out in Mid-City for the BrewHaHa , as I drunkenly vowed I would do last night. It was a good time! Had a couple NOLA brews - Irish Channel Stout and Hopitoulous IPA - and the LA 31 Boucanee (a cherrywood smoked wheat beer) and a Rye Pale Ale from Abita, which was sadly weird - overly malty and sweet. Ah, well. The NOLA beers were awesome as usual, and I also enjoyed the Boucanee- it went very well with the very spicy sausage po'boy we got from the Crescent City Pie & Sausage stand there. They had several local vendors and artists there, as well as flea marketers and non-profit organizations who set up shop. I liked the fact that the organizers also structured it so that people could have samples of the beer, and not just pints. I kind of wish we'd gone with the sample option because some beers there were only avail...

BrewHaHa, bitches! You going? I will be there on the roof (yeah, that's weird, right? No matter how venerated the ABANDONED BUILDING BELOW is) of 300 N Broad at Bienville, on the ROOF of the old Schwegmann's. There's gonna be beer, and coffee, (to make it seem like it's not just about the booze, I think- nice try) and food (because of deliciousness.) It's today, from 11am-4pm. I personally cannot think of a better way to spend the day than drinking local beer on the roof of some crazy New Orleans-nostalgic building. Now that I've made that joke twice, I fully expect to be thrown off said roof. I can only hope that I drink enough to make the ride a pleasant one.