Nora McGunnigle

When talking about NOLA Brewing's incredible growth, the key word is "double". Double the staff, from 6 to 13 in the past year. Double the production every year from the year before since they opened . Double the brewery space. Um, Mecha Hopzilla a double IPA, and the first beer in NOLA's high gravity line of beers. The changes aren't just quantitative; NOLA recently went through a restructuring after head of brewing operations, Melanie Knepp, left New Orleans to become a regional sales manager for Stone about a month ago. Acclaimed home brewer and friend of the brewery Derek Lintern became the newest brewer, alongside brewmaster Peter Caddoo and brewer Indy Grap. Buck Brown has shifted his focus more exclusively to sales, bringing on marketing and events new kid on the block, MacKenzie Oescher. Also, the least sexy but possibly one of the most important upgrades: a MUCH larger and powerful glycol beer chiller system behind the brewery. NOLA Brewing thinks abo...

OK, this event was like three weeks ago, and I had so much fun talking to local brewers and other awesome folks, and I didn't even post anything in a timely fashion! Since I was out of town this past weekend and missed the rescheduled New Orleans on Tap (as well as the Outlaw Homebrew Festival in Hattiesburg, MI, which John from the Keg and Barrel had invited me to judge) I figured I'd discuss the recent, more low-key local brewery and cheese/charcuterie event held on October 24 at the St. James Cheese Co. Peter Caddoo was there with a firkin of NOLA Brown ale, Gordon Biersch had something that was pretty unremarkable but fine. Gnarly Barley was there, and I hadn't met them yet. They had a very interesting rye beer, that was being called an IPA but didn't quite fit into that category, in my opinion. I think if they can call it something so that the IPA expectation isn't there, they'll have something. They also had a pretty decent coffee porter on tap. ...

Literally, in Mississippi, it is illegal to: 1) homebrew and 2) sell or serve beer with a ABW of over 5%.  So for the second year, the homebrew competition held at the Keg & Barrel in Hattiesburg is technically illegal and all organizers, brewers, judges, and attendees are outlaws IN THE EYES OF THE MISSISSIPPI LAW! Spoiler alert: we did not get arrested.  Much to the dismay of the Beer Buddha .  Maybe next year, Jeremy! We did, however, have an awesome time. David Graves and his Brew Cart! (check him out at thebrewcart.com) Brewers' Village! Tom and I drove up on Saturday morning and got to the  Keg & Barrel  at around 10am, per John Neal's request.  We kicked back with Jeremy and met some of the folks from  Lazy Magnolia  Brewery and  Raise Your Pints , a grassroots non-profit lobbying group to overturn the drastic and archaic beer laws in the state. After some wandering around and meeting folks, the awesome judging...

Judges waiting, kickass judge RV,  the beer cart, and the brewers' field. Liveblogging! Breaking MS law! Stay tuned!

1) I got interviewed by the Beer Wench!  Hooray! Check it out! 2) I'm judging a homebrew competition in Hattiesburg, MS in Saturday.  It's a beer adventure.  A beer-venture, if you will. It's at the Keg & Barrel , which looks to be a most excellent place to drink.  Doesn't look like a formal taste evaluation or anything, but I am anticipating a lot of fun.  Beer blogger partner in crime The Beer Buddha will be there as well. 3) Three new (to me) beers I have tried and enjoyed this week: Dieu de Ciel - Corne du diable (Horn of the Devil), De Koninck (flagship beer of the De Koninck brewery), which Michael Jackson describes as: "De Koninck is soft that it slips down with soothing sociability; so tangy and perfumy that each glass invites another. I lost an afternoon in that bar, and never found it again." The third was the new Sierra Nevada-Dogfish Head collaboration called Life & Limb , which I quite like.  I've had it in the bottle and ...