Nora McGunnigle

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...

So, I've finished up my annual schedule of events for the Gambit. Hats off to all the breweries, bars, and distributors for getting all the requested info in to me in a timely manner - it gets easier every year! Here's my article and schedule in the Gambit - and I'll be keeping an updated version on this website , as I have done for the past few years.

This lady is dressed up in her finest birthday Fräulein wear (at NOOT), your argument is invalid. Well, cats and kittens, it's been a crazy few weeks. After Louisiana Craft Brewers Week, I attended the National Beer Wholesalers Association's annual conference and then flew out to Denver to check out GABF. You can read a brief overview of those two events here , and I've got some photos of GABF up on Tumblr here . Scott Wood at Courtyard Brewery, set to open this week

(Note: behold a post/rant from my blogger in crime, Tom. I also posted a little something about this in the Gambit this week. This month's new Where Y'At also has my more in depth article on this subject. - Nora)  "It shall be unlawful for any person to carry or drink from any opened glass container in or on any public right-of-way, including any street, sidewalk, park or alley within one block of a Mardi Gras parade route, two hours before the published beginning time of the parade, during the parade, or within one block of the published disbanding area of the parade within two hours of the published or actual ending time of the parade, whichever occurs later."

 Happy Carnival, y'all! First, the contest. No, wait, first, the apology for letting too much time lapse between blog updates. I've had a lot of deadlines and doing any writing that I absolutely didn't NEED to do was not at the top of my list... OK, now the contest. I have a pair of tickets to the NOLA Eats New Orleans King Cake Tasting on February 1 at the Little Gem Saloon. And all you need to win them is to visit my Facebook page and leave a comment on the contest post with the perfect beer to pair with king cake. The beer should be available to purchase in New Orleans, and you can be as specific or general with what kind of king cake you're looking to pair your beer choice with. I'm the sole judge, but I can definitely be swayed by "likes" on your contest entry. Share as many ideas as you'd like! Contest winner will be announced Monday, January 20. Onto the all important links!

How was your Thanksgiving? Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's cool, I don't really care. So much is happening in the wide world of beer! My cover story for the current edition of Southern Brew News FIRST of all, NOLA Brewing is gearing up to release their newest New Belgium collaboration called Black Strap Chicory Stout. It's a milk stout made with black strap molasses and chicory. Brewmaster Peter Cadoo and brewer Mike "Indy" Grap went out to Fort Collins at the end of October/start of November to brew the beer. Stay tuned for info on its release.

Wayfare on Freret Street This week my story on Lauren Salazar from New Belgium Brewing went up on The Alcohol Professor. This was a fun one to write. She's super cool and fun to hang out with and her love of beer and life is contagious! I also did a writeup of last week's Boudin, Bourbon, & Beer event focusing on the Abita cask ale garden. And there's something cool in the works with a national beer magazine that I can't quite talk about yet, but I'm pretty psyched!

It has been a crazy week - I can't believe it was only one week ago yesterday that we were hanging out with the Bayou Teche guys, one of whom was dressed as Napoleon. I had some really cool experiences during this week, some of which I'll be expanding upon in the near future (either here or other publications). But for right now, here are some highlights: 1.

Andy pouring a pint at the Pub And Louisiana Craft Brewer Week continues with the release party of the NOLA Brewing/New Belgium collaboration beer, Swamp Grape Escape. It's a Belgian single style brewed with Louisiana local muscadine grapes, making it a perfect beer to kick the week off with.

There's a beer-focused fundraiser (OK, also wine and food) happening in Mandeville on August 23, 7-10pm at Benedict's Plantation (1144 North Causeway Blvd.) The big news (from my perspective) is that Chafunkta Brewing has announced that they will be debuting a brand new beer at the fundraiser. It's still a mystery right now, but Josh Erickson, head brewer, gave this as a hint:  "We wanted to bring our passion for quality, craft beer to a larger audience. We selected a style that, to our knowledge, is not currently being commercially brewed in Louisiana. It's one that we think will appeal to a broader market, but the style is one that still takes quite a bit of care to brew correctly."

On Tuesday, July 23rd, Dat Dog on Magazine street hosted a unique beer and food event, a six course pairing of beers from New Belgium with a selection of “Haute Dogs”.   The menu Nora was on a plane to Boston at the time, so I attended in her stead. Each course consisted of a smaller portion of hotdog and bun, paired with a 4oz pour of the accompanying beer.

While I have been in my own little world at New Orleans' Tales of the Cocktail, several very interesting tidbits of beer news has come down the pike.

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.

... Go crazy? Don't mind if I do! I kid! Although ACBW was a very busy week and I got pretty tired by the end of it, everything was so much fun. Great beers, great people, great general vibe. Yesterday's Grand Tasting at the Avenue Pub was the showcase event of the week, and I think Polly and her amazing staff pulled off a high quality and smooth running event.

The hubbub of ACBW plus the fact that we are already drinking a bunch of New Belgium after its release a month or so ago has made me forget that New Belgium isn't on draft yet here in Louisiana. On Monday, that's about to change, 'cause New Belgium is rolling out some kegs!

So, today was the first day of New Belgium release in Louisiana! I saw the display in Rouses on North Carrollton at lunch: $2.99 for a bomber, FYI. I need to pick up a six pack of Shift ASAP. So, New Belgium is only in bottles and cans right now- it'll be on draft at the end of May, from what I hear. The Avenue Pub offered bottle pours for the occasion today - $14 for six 4oz pours, which included a nice glass. I also scored a lip balm, a hat, and a coozie. Single 4oz pours were also available, $1.50 for the standards and $3.50 for the three Lips of Faith. I focused mostly on the Lips of Faith stuff, since I had the basic lineup beers last week at the distributor roll out. I did start out with a Shift, though, 'cause that's my jam. And I did use a Fat Tire to cleanse my palate after drinking the Cascara Quad. First of all, the La Folie- a Flanders Oud Bruin, It was straight up excellent. I need to see if I can get my hands on a bottle. Or two. After that, I tried t...

Today I hopped over the lake on the causeway to celebrate the Northshore distribution debut of New Belgium. From what I hear, getting New Belgium here in Louisiana was a long time in the making, so everyone at Champagne Beverage Co. (who hosted the event and will be distributing the brand) was very happy and very relieved that all went well. And it did go well! It was a super event. Had a canoe full of crawfish, shrimp, potatoes, and corn; tables of BBQ and fried seafood, and of course, stands serving 5 of New Belgium's beers - Fat Tire, of course, Ranger IPA, Shift (a pale lager hopped with Nelson Sauvin), Sunshine Wheat, and Trippel Belgian style ale. sample display of the Sunshine bombers Shift, a canned pale lager which may have been my favorite of the night Man, New Belgium's marketing is so awesome They didn't have this at the event but it is RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS Thanks go to the always wonderful Vanessa Gomes, the new head of Craft Beer Manag...

Apparently, the 2014/15 Zwanze might be a spontaneously fermented stout? Relevant to my interests! Speaking of Cantillon, Avenue Pub is hosting a Cantillon Lambic and Gueuze tasting on March 20. And in further sour events, there will be the opportunity to try a very rare Italian sour (also at the Avenue Pub) on March 27 at the Xyauyu open bottle night . You all probably know that New Belgium will be released upon the area on April 1. As the first wave of New Belgium beer will only be in bombers, the Avenue Pub will likely have several Lips of Faith on hand to sell by the bottle (and probably an event with bottle pours for sale) as well as New Belgium's collaboration with Dieu de Ciel, Hemelse God and their other regular releases. Polly's great about keeping their Facebook event page updated as stuff is finalized, so keep an eye out for that. ALSO, Stone Enjoy By is coming to Louisiana ! It'll be Enjoy By May 17. This is exciting news. I'll post where it ...

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual New Orleans International Beer Festival at Champion Square. As a member of the press, I was able to attend for free with a media pass, and also had VIP tent access. Being able to come in an hour early is one of the biggest perks of the VIP pass. Because by the time 3:30 rolled around, it was so crowded that getting around was difficult, and figuring out who was in line for what you wanted as opposed to just hanging out was near impossible. I think they sold too many tickets for the event. However, it was pretty cool to behold, and made me think, "who ARE all of these people?" Were they craft beer fans, or fans of being able to drink as much as they could? So, I arrived at 1pm and got my media pass, and made the rounds. Got to see Josh and Jamie from Chafunkta, Buck, Ben, and Wild Bill from NOLA Brewing, Bryan from Covington, Karlos from Bayou Teche, Andrew from Parish as well as other beer enthusiasts I consider friends. There we...

So, anytime a major brewery moves into this market, it's a good sign. It's an indication that distributors, stores, and bars think they can sell it. Which means an acknowledgement that craft beer is on the rise in New Orleans! I've been hearing rumors for over a year now about New Belgium expanding their market to Louisiana - the word that they are building a second brewery in Ashville, NC has increased the buzz on that rumor as well. And as of April 1, New Belgium will be releasing 22oz bottles of Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, and others, including at least one of their special Lips of Faith series. About a month after that, draft beer will be available, and a month after that, regular 6 packs will come out. I am not sure why the staggered release - I know Green Flash was available in bombers, 6-packs, and draft at the same time, so maybe the distributor (I don't know yet if it's going to be carried by Southern Eagle or Crescent Crown) wants to gauge interest or stir u...