New Orleans International Beer Festival - 3/9/13
Yes, Chafunkta! This will be their debut appearance as a fully licensed and legally distributed beer - stop by their table and try their Voo Ka Ray IPA and Old 504 Porter, a coffee-infused vanilla robust porter. And congratulate them for their huge accomplishment!
Andrew Godley with Parish Brewing says that he'll be bringing his trademark Canebrake wheat beer along with the first commercial batch of their new year round beer, Envie Pale Ale and a keg of 2012 Grand Reserve barleywine.
Tin Roof is sponsoring the cornhole tournament (come out and cheer for New Orleans' own Beer Buddha team!) and will be bringing their flagship beers in cans to share: Perfect Tin Amber, Voodoo Bengal, and Blonde.
Covington Brewhouse will have Bayou Bock, Pontchartrain Pilsner, Strawberry, and Kolsch on hand, and are hoping to have a firkin in the VIP tent. That's still up in the air though.
Abita is still finalizing their list and Bayou Teche is busy this week up in NYC debuting their brand there in time for NYC Beer Week, so I'll catch up with both of them later and do an update post.
I'm super excited that there will be a "cask beer garden" dedicated to firkins of cask ale. Whoo!
New brands to the Louisiana market will be in attendance as well, like Goose Island and Green Flash. Gypsy brewer Stillwater will be there, and powerhouse craft breweries like Stone and Brooklyn will be pouring beers as well. A number of cider brewers will be in the new "Cider Garden" which has been set up to address artisinal cider's rising popularity. St. Arnold, which is not technically a local brewery (they are from Texas) but might as well be, given the great events and goodwill lavished on the New Orleans market, will be there too.
Tickets on sale now. Go get you some!
I think it is a bit overpriced and I seem to shy away from the fact that Bud is a sponsor. Just my 2 cents. Seems like nice local offering some craft and plenty of macro.
ReplyDeleteHi, Andrew- thanks for your comment! Yes, this is a distributor driven event and as you note, AB is a sponsor (through Shock Top, listed on the event sponsor page) as well as Blue Moon/Miller-Coors. I think, though, it's an opportunity to show distributors that there is a voracious craft beer market here in the New Orleans area/Louisiana. I am hoping by focusing on the local aspect of the festival, that more attention will be paid to it, and we can have more options for smaller craft beer events here in the future.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, good points, well made.
NOTE: in the interest of transparency, I need to add that I will be attending the event for free on a media pass. I'm hoping to review the event in great detail afterward. But I am going free of charge, and I did say that I would blog about it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if I didn't think this event had value, I wouldn't attend even if it was for free. I do have a lot of other things to do with my time!