Learning and Growing and Caring and Sharing

This blog was my foray into the world of Louisiana craft beer. It's led to so many opportunities to write about beer and food - but after four years of writing professionally, it's time to move to the next level.

Scrolling back through my entries over the last 4 years, you can see that... well, there aren't very many of them. I mostly express myself through my professional print and online work for local and national publications. Also, social media... usually Facebook. But also Twitter and Instagram. And Tumblr, where I post my latest work.


That's left this blog neglected and bereft of content. There's nothing much to do about that - there are only so many hours in the day - but the website will stay up as a testament to the growth in the beer scene here and I will always keep the list of Louisiana breweries updated.

In addition, I will be stepping down from my first two regular writing assignments. I've been contributing to the Gambit as a regular columnist and Southern Brew News as the Louisiana correspondent since 2013. I've turned in my final column for Southern Brew News (which will run in the June/July issue) and my last Gambit Brewsday Tuesday will be May 30.

Dan Murphy is taking over the SBN column, and hopefully the Gambit's Brewsday Tuesday column will continue as Southeast Louisiana's only regular beer-focused column. I haven't heard about my replacement yet, but feel free to let the Gambit know that you would like Brewsday Tuesday to continue!

I'll still be writing about local beer for Eater NOLA, Thrillist, CraftBeer.com, Beer Advocate, and All About Beer. (Also, if you flip through the Rouses free magazine, I contribute frequently to that!)

I moved here 7 years ago in the middle of American Craft Beer Week. At that time there were only five breweries and 2 brewpubs in the entire state. That number has more than quadrupled since then, and eight new breweries (Courtyard Brewery, Second Line, Urban South, Wayward Owl, Brieux Carre, Parleaux Beer Lab, Port Orleans, and Royal Brewery) have joined NOLA Brewing, Crescent City Brewhouse, and Gordon Biersch since then just in Orleans Parish.

It has been amazing to see this community grow, on both the production side and the consumer side. And I know it's not done yet. I have a lot of work to do to make sure that the national beer community knows about this as well.

(This is also where I note that I have had no time to do anything about putting up a schedule for American Craft Beer Week this year, and that will probably continue to be the case moving forward for both ACBW and Louisiana Craft Brewers Week.) (Sorry!)

If anyone wants to reach out to me directly, use social media (linked above) or email me (nora at nolabeerblog dot com).