Nora McGunnigle

So, there will be no Brewsday Tuesday this week, because I am transitioning to having my beer column included in the print version of the Gambit, starting with next week's issue.

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.)

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...

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.

One of Maine's many state slogans is "The Way Life Should Be," and my time in New England so far would bear this sentiment out. The reason I'm here is to attend the Beer Bloggers Conference, held in Boston but with a pre-event excursion in Portland ME and Portsmouth NH.

My piece on the beer "scene" at Tales of the Cocktail is out today.  I can't pretend it was a very prominent part of the experience, but there was a connection between beer and cocktails or brewing and distilling that could be felt, if not seen, most of the time.

Highlight of the last couple of weeks: obtaining this bottle of beer I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July week/weekend. After I hit my deadlines early in the week, I pretty much vegged out until today. I'm resting up for what I imagine will be a bit of a crazy couple of months...this is my excuse in advance of why I probably won't be blogging as much as I'd like to.

I have done a lot of travelling this fall (which is kind of weird, for me) and as you might imagine, I tend to focus on beer-related activities while on the road. I have enjoyed many beers and breweries and beer bars over the past two months and would like to share what I've learned and seen. (and eaten and drank) First trip was to San Francisco. My trip to the Bay Area in early October was short and sweet, so I didn't get to go to the many beer places in the city. (Note: I've gone to the Anchor Brewing tour on a previous trip in 2009, as well as Monk's Kettle, Alembic, Toronado, and Magnolia, as well as outside of the city, where of course there's Russian River, as well as Bear Republic, Silverado, Moylans, Anderson Valley, North Coast, 3rd Street Ale Works, Calistoga Brewery, etc. We enjoyed excellent beer service at the French Laundry as well during that trip.) But this past trip, my primary beer activity was focused on my pilgrimage to Toronado - but I was ab...

Been more or less laying low since the fried chicken beer dinner- we went on vacation to our neighboring state of Florida and we were able to drink and buy Bell's, Lagunitas, Sweetwater, Terrapin, Victory, Southern Tier, and others to our hearts' content. Ahh. Couple of awesome things on the horizon: Next week is Coquette's Spirited Dinner that will involve beer and beer cocktails! Also pork. Lots and lots of pork.  Needless to say, I'm super excited. Also super exciting: Root will be doing beer pairing dinners on August 13 and 27 .  I'll have more info on the menu and the pairing next week- I'm going to help choose the beers to go with Chef Lopez's amazing food! That should be early next week so I am hoping to have a formal announcement by this time next week with the menu, pairing, pricing, etc. Needless to say, I'm honored that Root reached out to me to assist them in planning these dinners. The managing partners/owners have a real love of be...

Well, I had some difficulty continuing with my cask ale blogging because it turns out that 50mb of data goes pretty fast when posting pictures and blog posts and the like, and that's all the data I had available to me over there.  Plus, we got sucked into serious family stuff, which made drinking more like a medical necessity rather than the pleasure that I like to reflect in this blog! To sum up: we drank awesome cask ale not only in Edinburgh and St. Andrews in Scotland, but also Chippenham and Bath in England as well.  Hooray!  Man, there was one place in Bath called The Hobgoblin, that I *loved*. They had a great variety of real ale, and it was just grungy and divey and awesome. Note: I was unable to get any other pictures of the interior because it was too dark and dank for my (non-flash having) camera phone to capture.  Just think: dark, dingy, and rough in the BEST WAY POSSIBLE.  See some reviews here and here to get a better feel for the atmo...

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 ...

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...

So, we went on vacation to Florida's Forgotten Coast (Port St. Joe and Cape San Blas area) and were able to drink new and exciting brews from Yuengling, Sweetwater (420, IPA, and Blue), Blue Point (Toasted Lager), Cigar City (Porter), and Pensacola Bay (Brown, Amber, and the Deluna XPA). We wanted to check out the Pensacola Bay Brewery but it was downpouring in an epic fashion on both the way to Port St. Joe and the way home. I liked the Sweetwater 420, it was an easy drinking and tasty beer for hot summer days (or the recovery from them.) We had a couple bottles of the Sweetwater IPA at the Indian Pass Raw Bar , which was good, but not the crazy hop bomb that the bottle boasted. Other places we found good beer to drink: The Thirsty Goat , Joe Mama's Pizza , Provisions , (all in Port St. Joe) and the Fish House in Pensacola. But the beer motherlode was when we came back through Pensacola and, upon the Beer Buddha's recommendation, we stopped at Four Winds International Fin...

Over the causeway and through the woods... Tom and I went to Mandeville to pick up some excellent beers being donated for the Beers Not Bullets fundraiser that's happening THIS FRIDAY ( Have you got your tickets yet??? ). Driving across the causeway always makes me feel so sleepy. Doubly so on the way back after having stopped at the Barley Oak Old World Draught House . The Barley Oak is a big supporter of the event, so I've been going back and forth with them via email about sponsorship stuff. I was very pleased to have the opportunity to go visit the place after all our communication! The location was beautiful and it was an ideal day to go. It's right on the edge of the lakeside so it was just blue sky and water as far as the eye could see. We ate and drank inside, but it was breezy enough to enjoy a beer out on the patio in the shade very comfortably. Tom said that it reminded him of an English pub- especially the wallpaper that covered about half of the interior ...

1) Tom and I were successful in checking a bag full of wonderful beers from CT. We had some time to kill between checking out of the hotel and when our flight left, so we went to Marshalls and got a small hard sided suitcase and three towels on sale, and then went to the Michael's craft store next door for bubble wrap, packing tape, and scissors. We bought 8 bombers of beer that we can't get in Louisiana: * Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu: BA Review * Dogfish Head Red & White: BA Review * Victory: V-Twelve: BA Review * Avery Collaboration Not Litigation, batch 3 from 2009: BA Review * Cisco Brewery's "Wood" Series Cherry Woods (MA): BA Review * Berkshire Brewing Co Raspberry Barleywine/Strong Ale (MA): BA Review * Long Trail Double IPA (VT): BA Review * Allagash Tripel Reserve (ME): BA Review Tried to get good beer geeky things because they are all for the upcoming beer benefit at NOLA Brewing for Nathaniel Zimet, the chef-owner of Boucherie that got shot last ...

Have enjoyed a couple nice beers that we don't get in Louisiana. Long Trail Unfiltered IPA- very nice and low key IPA from Vermont. Also had the Long Trail Ale on draft, an alt style ale that is malty, delicious, and highly drinkable. BBC Steel Rail Pale Ale from Berkshire Brewing Company. The weather today was unexpectedly hot and sunny, and this was perfect to have coming in out of it after the funeral. Followed by Widmer's Double IPA. Also tried: Naughty Nurse Amber/Pale Ale from a City Steam, local Hartford brewery. Pleasant drinking, nothing too special, but fine and dandy for pre-wake drinking. Found a bomber of Blue Point Rastafa Rye Ale at the package store- given my weakness for rye beers and Blue Point Brewing, it was a gimme. Was at room temp at the store, and we have no fridge in our room. So between last night and tonight, we iced it down several times in the ice bucket till it was chilled. Ooh, tasty. Seriously beautifully hopped combined with the spicines...

So, yay, Ohio beer that I can't get in Louisiana! Acquired: Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA, Chatoe Rogue First Growth Wet Hop Ale, Goose Island Winter Mild, Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre, and a few Goose Island Reserve Ales: Sofie, Matilda, and Pere Jacques. Have not busted into the Goose Island Matilda yet, but here are some quick thoughts on the ones that were sampled: Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA : a solid, tasty IPA. Hoppy with citrus notes. Very drinkable and a beer I almost always reach for when I come visiting this part of the world. Apparently Great Lakes makes a small batch of a Christmas Ale that is supposed to be amazing, but we couldn't find it. Sad! But we had others to drink so sadness was tempered. Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre : I was feeling nostalgic for this while watching Brewmasters (though I would have been more psyched to see Indian Brown Ale). A Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Dried fruit aromas and sweetness on the tongue, balanced by a nice hopp...