Nora McGunnigle

Matt Horney (Old Rail), me, Zac Caramonta (Gnarly Barley), and Josh Erickson (Chafunkta) during ACBW at the Avenue Pub. Bad Blogspot! It crashed and wiped out my previous draft of this blog post. However, I now suspect that it may have sucked, so it may be for the best.

My "bonus day" in Massachusetts allowed me to go to a brewpub and a beer bar in Cambridge, and a brewery in Everett. Why yes, I AM! (Sign outside Lord Hobo.)

Putting the "blogger" in the educational content, the last day of the conference kicked off with 10 different blogger attendees sharing five-minute presentations on the work they do, be it with a specific audience, using a special tool, or working with public or private partner organizations. Louisiana's own Jay Ducote of Bite & Booze fame presented on his work with the state travel authority, LouisianaTravel.com, by providing the content for their LA Beer Trail page and filming a video of Louisiana's breweries. There were also presentations on generating revenue from blogging (hint: really not so much) and one I was super excited about, an introduction to a new beer app called Brewhorn . Brewhorn is an app that helps beer drinkers figure out what they would like to drink based on their preferences and location. I think it will really help people new to craft beer or curious in expanding their craft beer horizons in a way that is respectful to the consumer's...

Speed blogging is pretty much what it sounds like - think speed dating but between brewers and bloggers. And the brewers have beer. And the bloggers write about it. Quickly, though, 'cause you only have 5 minutes with each brewer/beer before the bell tolls and they move on, and a new one moves in. We arrive via bus at the warehouse run by Burke Distributing, a member of the MA Beverage Alliance  and sat at one of 14 tables, and waited for the process to begin. I think that the gist of the tasting is best provided via tweets, just to get a feel for it.

Saturday was the main educational component of the Beer Bloggers Conference. For the entire morning we had sessions like "The Current State of Beer Blogging Survey Results" and "Mechanics of Beer Pouring" while conversing on Twitter. I particularly enjoyed the panel of "industry" bloggers - bloggers and social media gurus working for breweries. It gave an intriguing view of the different paths this blogging thing could potentially lead to, if an independent blogger was interested in making that switch.

I'm experimenting with sexier blog post titles! My second day as a Beer Blogger Conference attendee started out with several dozen other sleepy conference attendees boarding a bus on a drizzly Portland morning. We were heading down to Portsmouth, NH to have lunch at the beloved Portsmouth Brewery (and brewpub).

I am currently watching snow fall in the frozen North, so I have not been drinking beer in New Orleans, thus, not much to say till I return on Monday. Trying to decide if I should try to get out for the Crescent Pie and Sausage New Year's Eve beer dinner (featuring NOLA Brewing beers) on Monday night. Check out the menu: Happy Hour (Starting @ 6pm) w/ Hors d'oeuvres: Grilled Sausage with Ice Cold NOLA Brown Ale in the Can Amuse: Foie kisses with raspberry coulis Irish Channel Stout 1st Course:  Deviled Chappapella farms duck egg, lardon & arugula 7th Street Wheat 2nd Course:  Local cauliflower bisque with citrus marinated fried oyster Guajillo pepper infused Blonde Ale 3rd Course:  Choice of grilled gulf fish-spicy cioppino and corn porridge Hopitoulas or Seared beef tenderloin served with two sauces tableside Smoky Mary Dessert:  Homemade Cake & Ice Cream (made by French pastry chef Jasiah St. Pierre) St. Bernardus Abt 12...

So, holy crap, Pretty Things Beer And Ale Project (originally from Somerville, MA, our old stomping grounds) is now apparently being kinda-sorta distributed in New Orleans! First, for American Craft Beer Week, the Avenue Pub did a tasting of two beers released through their "Once Upon A Time" project. This particular project was the result of a collaboration with beer historian Ron Pattinson, and examined what happens when you brew the same Mild "X" beer as it was brewed in both 1838 and 1945. From their website: Two X Ales from the same London brewery, 107 years apart: these beers were brewed and sold as the “same beer”. But they weren’t the same beer at all! This side-by-side release allows you to taste history in a very direct, beat-you-about-the-head kind of way. The beers are whoppingly, fantastically different. There’s no way you would think they are connected by the same brewery, brand name and style. Isn’t history wonderful?  We first tasted these b...

Back when we lived in Massachusetts, we'd go to a Belgian- and hophead- heavy bar in Brookline called the Publick House . This place was actually a hike from where we lived in Salem, so when we went, one of us would partake of the high gravity beers and one of us (whoever was driving the 30-40 minutes back home <cough> Tom </cough>) would enjoy the only session beer available, O'Hara's Irish Stout.  It's 4.3% and actually, probably our favorite Irish stout out there, regardless of ABV.  (I like it better than Guinness, better than Murphy's. Hmm, gotta try some Beamish again someday soon.) Brewed by Carlow Brewing Company, and purchased at Stein's this evening, the O'Hara stout is as dark as a ginger's soul and twice as tasty. Poured beautifully into a Sam Adams fancy glass with a good inch of latte colored head, Excellent roasty malt flavors, smooth creamy mouthfeel, finishes dry and crisp with a touch of hop bitterness at the end ther...

Cape Ann Brewing Fisherman's Brew Cisco Whales Tale Pale Ale Magic Hat Encore Wheat IPA Pioneer (from Sturbridge MA) Industrial Pale Ale Cambridge Brewing Company Audacity of Hops Tullycross Brewpub Pale Ale and IPA I have also just acquired several bombers to check in my luggage. More on that later.

I had the opportunity to try a few other beers and take advantage of the New England location while up in CT. Had a couple Brewtus Maximus beers at Max Burger in West Hartford.  Allegedly, it's brewed specially for them from Thomas Hooker Brewing .  It was tasty and went down oh so smooth. I also picked up, at the beer store, Sebago (in Maine)'s Local Harvest Ale . It was hoppy, malty, tasty deliciousness.  Damn, that shit was good. Highly recommend.  Look how pretty! As the Alström Brothers say , "High marks for bringing hop flavor to new heights, lordy be, this is an amazing beer."  I don't think I can say it better than that.  Maine, you totally rule. At the Atlanta airport on the way home, my gate was right next to the Sweetwater Brew Pub and I went in there and ordered a Sweetwater 420, which is a Pale Ale I enjoyed during our vacation in Florida.  I looked at the big board before ordering though, make sure I wasn't missing out on...

One of the brewpubs that Tom and I loved the most up in Vermont - out of many excellent ones - is the Alchemist Pub and Brewery in Waterbury, VT. We went there for the first time during our elopement/honeymoon and made special trips to be there for special occasions, such as the chef's sister (a friend of ours) visiting, or their 5 year anniversary. For that event in 2008 we actually booked a B&B that was stumbling distance. They were proud to brew all sorts of beers - they had a great wild fermentation selection - I remember their Bacchus, O Positive, and Petit Mutant very fondly. Other favorites included (this is by no means a complete list, because everything there, frankly, was fantastic) Menage a Trois, Sterk Wit, Nightstalker, Farmers Daughter, El Jefe, Revitalization Rye, Shut the Hell Up (oh how I loved to order that!)Panty Dropper, Beelzubub, Uncle Daddy, Heady Topper, Pappy's Parter... the list goes on and on. They also brewed a gluten free beer series, ...