Nora McGunnigle

(Most of) the BBC15 Attendees Photo courtesy of Ryan Jansen First of all, thanks so much for everyone's support and encouragement for my renewed efforts to update my blog. I've gotten a lot of great feedback, and it helps knowing that people actually do read what I write here. Today's post is the second of my contractually obligated posts in exchange for attending the Beer Blogger's and Writer's Conference for a deeply reduced rate. Last week, I discussed two breweries in Asheville that made a great impression on my during my visit. This week, I wanted to talk about two events that I was involved in during the conference itself.

Ommegang seasonal at Coquette Almost at the end of ACBW, hope everyone is holding up OK! Yesterday afternoon/evening was gorgeous in New Orleans and today is shaping up to be the same. I'm heading over to the Avenue Pub to drink some of the newer, smaller, local breweries' beer this afternoon - hey, did y'all know that the Avenue balcony opens at 1pm on Fridays? - and then head over to Crescent Pie and Sausage. I saw a bunch of ACBW stuff around on social media, and I thought it would be fun to post through other folks' eyes (i.e., Twitter accounts).

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.