Nora McGunnigle

Happy Monday, y'all - it's been a little crazy getting ready for the upcoming Craft Brewers Conference being held in Philadelphia the first week of May. But I've been getting stuff up and published, including two pieces on CraftBeer.com, the web content arm of the Brewers Association. Having them published back to back is cool, but gets complicated considering that if I get a certain number of Facebook shares I get a social media bonus. So I've been dividing my pimping time between the two pieces, and as a result, the numbers have been climbing pretty slowly. I think they're both great pieces, check 'em out and see. 3 Overlooked Beer Styles to Pair with Food , in which I examine three different beer styles that are scientifically proven to pair well with certain foods. I discuss the whats and whys of that, based on a cool panel/forum I attended at last year's CBC composed of both beer and science nerds. Cask Ale’s Journey Into the Modern Beer World ...

So, I have a new banner, just under my logo, an affiliate link to Homebrewsupply.com. I haven't done any advertising on this blog at all, but I thought I'd experiment with this particular affiliate program - I don't anticipate having any conflicts of interests, and the site looks legit. So! If you are looking to order homebrew stuff, why don't you click on my link up there and browse around and see if this site has what you need. That way, you have supplies to brew a delicious beer and I get some cash! I'm interested to see if this results in anything significant. Spread the word, if you wish! #BeerWriterGotsToGetPaid

Man, it has been a busy... (looks at date of last post)... few months. Bypassed the holidays and Mardi Gras, looks like. Oops. Right at the new year, Tom Conklin opened his Chappapeela Farm Brewery. Then Mardi Gras with its various seasonal beers and cans . And riding Nyx with my krewe! (I acquired several beers along the route from various beer geeks who were able to catch me, heh.) And then this past weekend was Nuit Belge, probably the best beer event I've ever attended. It had amazing Belgian (and Belgian-style) beers paired with dishes from great local restaurants . Check out the (well, my) photos of a great, great night . Now, on the horizon: Girls Pint out at Cooter Brown's on March 8, and then another event there on the 9th - Sour Power , with sour beers from New Belgium, NOLA Brewing, and Great Raft (including the first New Orleans release of Great Raft's dry hopped Brett IPA Oceans Between Us.) On March 10, master sour blenders Eric and L...

THANKSGIVING!!!! Man, I've been so busy writing stories about, like, pairing beer with turkey that I haven't even remembered to forget to update the blog.

In my Gambit column a couple weeks ago, I mentioned that World of Beer is doing a fall food menu with suggested beer pairings. They invited me in to taste it and I've gotta say, it's pretty good. I didn't pay for the food and drink they had me try, but I would definitely go back and pay for that cornbread and chili. Mmm, on this rainy day, both of those sound awesome. But why should I be the only one to get free food from World of Beer? I have a $25 gift card to give away to someone who responds in the comments below their favorite food and beer pairing.

Press Street Station is holding a Thursday night supper series this month, and the one on October 29 will be an Oktoberfest themed dinner with German food. The menu looks awesome (see below) and you can go here to make a reservation on the hour (5pm, 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm.) The folks at Press Street originally wanted me to come try the food and make some recommendations that Press Street could make for people to bring with them - Press Street is still BYOB. It didn't work out to do that, but Patrick Hunter, resident beer geek at Brady's Wine Warehous e took a look at the menu and made some pretty spot on recommendations.

On the heels of a laughably ridiculously ignorant article that appeared in The Advocate this week (I'll get a little more into detail with that later), my Facebook thread (on which I posted the link to the journalistic travesty) had a very interesting discussion about what counts as a brewery? I realized that I've been segregating brewpubs from my number and I don't think that was right. I think that if you brew beer and legally sell it to people in Louisiana, that should be considered a Louisiana brewery. Therefore, we should count Crescent City Brewhouse, The Old Rail Brewing Company, and, yes, Gordon Biersch, which is a franchise chain but does brew every drop of beer it sells on site. Locally. In New Orleans. The brewers there are talented and work hard. The lines are getting so blurred, more and more each day. Courtyard is a very unique beer business model for the area. Broken Wheel is a brewery added to an existing restaurant so it's now a brewpub (but wa...