Nora McGunnigle

That's right, it's Nuit Belge Week ! The big event itself is on Friday night, but there are great food and beer events featuring participating restaurants and out of town breweries happening all week. Here are the ones I know about: (And please do let me know if I've missed any)

Earlier this month, I attended my third Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference in Asheville, NC. Asheville's been one of those places (along with Portland, OR) that I've been dying to get the opportunity to visit, and the BBC provided an excellent one.

Saint Arnold beer dinner at Domenica last week I've got a new post up on The Alcohol Professor about my GABF experience . It's been a while since I had the opportunity to contribute to them, but hopefully I'll have more stuff published there soon. Almanac Brewing's founder Jesse Friedman also published a post about a brewer's take on GABF , which was cool. This week's Brewsday Tuesday focuses on the two new breweries in Shreveport , Great Raft and Red River, who have just been licensed by the state to start brewing. ( NOLA.com also ran a piece on the new Shreveport breweries) I also had a post published about a couple beer dinners happening this week - last night's at Dat Dog and tonight's NOLA Brewing dinner at Delmonico.

Got home from San Francisco in the wee hours, so I'm not quite focused enough to do a thorough summary and analysis, but here are the quick highlights:

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.)

Zwanze Day 2011 Today, the Cantillon brewery in Belgium announced the list of 46 locations all over the world that will be serving its 2013 Zwanze vintage on September 14, 2013. Once again, the Avenue Pub on St. Charles Street in New Orleans has made that list, a testament to its beautifully curated beer list and dedication to get the best beer to its customers that it possibly can. It's so great to see them get this kind of kudos and recognition - it's so well deserved.

Another day, another 6 different beers sampled. The Avenue Pub held its "Funky Town" sour beer sampling event. They had ten different sour/wild beers on deck, both served on draft and in the bottle. I bought a sample pour ticket and selected the following four: Hill Farmstead / Fantome Five Sciences Collaboration .-  Tasting Notes: When this beer arrived it was not ready to pour. Shelton brothers told us to cellar it for at least two months to allow the re-fermentation process to complete. Many shops put this beer on their shelves right away so people that tasted it then will have tried a completely different beer. Made with Fantome’s famous wild yeast strains it has subtle grapeskin flavors and a lacing of smoke, strong carbonation and lightly tart. Nora's Notes: A very delicate and subtly complex beer, practically dissolving on the tongue as soon as I took a sip. This was a beer that I would have liked to have more time and ounces to get acquainted with. I defini...

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 ...

Inspired by Polly Watts' and all of the Avenue Pub staff's work this past weekend. 1) Have a specific plan and communicate it clearly and frequently. The Avenue Pub, upon getting formal notification that Cantillon had chosen it as one of a handful of beer bars in the world for its 2012 Zwanze beer release, immediately sprang into action. Emails went out to the email list, the Facebook event was set up, all with a good general plan of what to expect - the event and its logistics on Saturday, of course, but also what was happening the week leading up to the main event. 2) Explain the system and be consistent. Watts worked hard on getting the Zwanze ticketing system in place last year- she wanted to be able to serve the great demand while making sure her staff wasn't overwhelmed, that customers weren't frustrated, and that the system would be difficult to "game" or exploit. Instead of setting something up so that people would be stressed out about getting i...

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...

So, obviously, a significant part of any trip I take is about the beers I can find and drink that I can't get here at home.  Therefore, I report here, the tales of my San Francisco beer adventure! First night in the Bay area, we were in Redwood City, south of SF. We went to an English/Scottish gastropub type place called Martins West , which had a very nice selection of beers on draft. I started with an Evil Twin by Heretic Brewing, which was fantastic. Such a well balanced beer.  Had a Honey Saison from Almanac Beer Co., out of San Francisco. I had a sample before committing- but I was impressed. It's a very nice saison, the yeast, hops, spices, and honey balanced nicely. I recommended it to someone sitting next to me, who dismissed it as "something girls drink" and therefore I needed to hold forth and lecture about what girls ACTUALLY DRINK. Which is to say, everything. The next day I enjoyed a Scrimshaw Pilsner with my oysters at the Ferry Building (I...

So, although I have about 3 cases of beer from Florida, I've been obsessed with obtaining a beer called Brux which is a collaboration between Russian River Brewing and Sierra Nevada. Because Sierra Nevada is distributed here in Louisiana (and, um, everywhere else in the country), this beer is able to get in this market. However, not a lot (allegedly), so there's been a run on it. Right after I heard about the beer, I went to Stein's after work to pick some up. There weren't any bottles out on the shelves but when I asked Andre, he brought one out from the back. "One per customer," he said. I asked if I could buy one and if Tom could buy one, and was denied. I think they may have milked the "last bottle sold" thing, as I heard that the Beer Buddha got the last bottle on Friday, but then heard about other folks buying bottles through the weekend. It's all a game, a show. Having bought my bottle, I heard that it's a beer meant to continue ...

Zwanze 2010- (the paler beer on the right) man that is good. That is Tom's JAM! (Remember, he doesn't like sours) 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, in a good way. Dances over the tongue leaving a trail of tartness behind. 2011- fruit lambic- grape. Lighter than the St. Lamvinus, crisper, more balanced, in my opinion. St. Lamvinus was a little overwhelming and intense. This is more fun and drinkable. Rose colored. Tart with full fruit flavor. In conclusion: some seriously tasty shit.

A gueuze that has been brewed with hops instead of wheat. A sour that Ton doesn't hate. Progress! 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.

Picture of the St. Lamvinus, a Cantillon grape lambic.

So I am here waiting on the tapping of Cantillon's Zwanze 2011. As previously mentioned, The Avenue Pub is only one of NINE bars in the US to get a keg of of this for the simultaneous worldwide Zwanze day tapping. It's a huge honor and I'm so psyched to be here for it. I'm experimenting with liveblogging the day as it unfolds. So far today we had a lovely breakfast at The Irish House (where our waitress is also a sour beer fan, so that was fun!) and bellied up to the bar to wait for the tapping and our turn at the Balcony kegs. Drinking Theriez Extra dry-hopped farmhouse ale right now. Pacing myself for an exciting day of beer drinking. Stay tuned!

Thanks to the tireless work of the beer leaders in the Greater New Orleans area, there are some excellent beers coming to market here in the coming weeks and months! On August 17, Ommegang Brewing is debuting at the Avenue Pub. This is a beer I've had access to up in New England, and I'll be happy to see it again in bars and stores. The rollout event will be taking place at the Avenue Pub and promises "a lot of great beers including just one keg of their special release Aphrodite and one sneak peak keg of a new brew from Duvel." News just broke on a few more newcomers to the market: Stillwater Artisanal Ales , a " gypsy " brewer based in the Baltimore area. Their website is a Blogger blog format (like this one) so it's a little awkward to navigate, but the beers look awesome and seem well reviewed on BA. They definitely seem like they have an exciting approach to brewing so I will cut them some slack on how they message, heh. Also "gypsy brewer...

So, summer in New Orleans. It's damn hot and you need a good summer beer (or variety thereof) to get you through it. Last night I tried some interesting summer-appropriate beers (at the Avenue Pub, 'course.) First up: NOLA's Hurricane Saison dryhopped with Grains of Paradise. An interesting cask ale. I really like this year's batch of their Saison, which is excellent for the weather already, and the grains of paradise added a earthy spiciness to balance the belgian yeast flavors. Next up: I was intrigued by the new Brooklyn Brewing "The Concoction" which I guess is based on a cocktail called the Penicillin from some schmancy cocktail bar up in NYC. It's a scotch based cocktail, and the beer interpretation is straight up BANANAS. There aren't actually bananas or banana flavor or aroma in this beer, but that's probably the only thing missing from the ingredient list. It's brewed with a peat smoked malt, which gives it a very smoky finish, a...

I had a couple really good beers this evening at da Avenue Pub. Very different but extremely delicious. First was the Rogue Brutal Bitter. Balanced but very flavorful, like an amped up ESB. I ended up getting a growler of it to take home. (hooray growlers!) An interesting beer to say the least. It's a cross between the hoppiness of an IPA and the smoothness of an ESB. Apparantly in recent releases it's been renamed "Brutal IPA" which I think is misleading, because as IPAs go, it's not brutal at all. "Brutal Bitter" sums up the style quite nicely, a bitter with some West Coast OOMPH. A delightful discovery! The other beer of note that I had was the Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, a raspberry lambic from the very highly regarded Cantillon brewery in Belgium. These people make amazing beers, and I hope to drink more of them in the future. This particular beer is incredibly sophisticated, complex, and exploding with fruit notes and funk and amazing flav...