Nora McGunnigle

Reveillon Dinner at Restaurant August is a Christmas tradition of ours. In 2009, we were there for Christmas Night dinner, even before we moved here. It was so wonderful that it became a tradition for us right around the holiday- since they are no longer open on December 25, we shoot for Christmas Eve instead. Last year, we noticed that the beer list was pretty extensive but focused mostly on bottles from local breweries like Abita and Bayou Teche. Nothing too exciting, but, you know, August is more a wine-oriented fine food place so it wasn't a surprise to us. This year, though, we decided to take advantage of August's generous no-corkage-fee policy and bring some special beers we'd been saving. The Reveillon menu was online, so I was able to get an idea of the flavor profiles and chose accordingly. I brought a Lost Abbey Avant Garde bier de garde for the amuse and the first 2 courses, and Boulevard and Pretty Things' "Collaboration No. 3," a Yorkshire Stin...

Stayed in for Christmas Eve- Tom doesn't feel great and we certainly have enough beer on hand to keep ourselves happy. I made a particularly delicious spinach lasagna and we cracked open a couple of beers to celebrate the season. Samuel Smith's Winter Warmer (2011-12 vintage).  I have such a soft spot for the SS Warmer. I still recall a Thanksgiving several years ago when a friend also visiting family in CT stopped by our hotel room with a bottle of seriously vintage SS Winter Warmers.  Not because he collected them or anything, he just wandered into a gas station selling them for cheap 'cause they were old.  He loved the Winter Warmers and scooped up pretty much the rest of the stock. God, they aged great. But I digress!  The Samuel Smith Winter Warmer is on the list of the Anchor Christmas and Sierra Nevada Celebration that I look forward to every holiday season. For a winter beer, it pours out quite light- a dark gold, which is somewhat unusual.  But it's ...

So, summer in New Orleans. It's damn hot and you need a good summer beer (or variety thereof) to get you through it. Last night I tried some interesting summer-appropriate beers (at the Avenue Pub, 'course.) First up: NOLA's Hurricane Saison dryhopped with Grains of Paradise. An interesting cask ale. I really like this year's batch of their Saison, which is excellent for the weather already, and the grains of paradise added a earthy spiciness to balance the belgian yeast flavors. Next up: I was intrigued by the new Brooklyn Brewing "The Concoction" which I guess is based on a cocktail called the Penicillin from some schmancy cocktail bar up in NYC. It's a scotch based cocktail, and the beer interpretation is straight up BANANAS. There aren't actually bananas or banana flavor or aroma in this beer, but that's probably the only thing missing from the ingredient list. It's brewed with a peat smoked malt, which gives it a very smoky finish, a...

This being a holiday week, we have been able to justify more getting out and drinking beer than we usually do (and can) during the regular 5 day work week. Whoo! Last night, we went to the Avenue Pub's Pub Quiz, and came in 2nd! Which, sure, there were only like 8 teams, but still, we were pleased with our showing. We won a mix six pack of a beer I hadn't heard of before- St. Arnold's and 2 lovely belgian tulip glasses, which, shamefully enough, we'd been lacking in our beer glass collection. (We do have one of these , though!) We had a great time- it was just the two of us on our team, and we actually didn't know anyone else there except for Polly. But that was fine, sometimes it's just nice to relax. I drank a Unibroue Trois Pistoles, a Brooklyn EIPA, a 10-oz of Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, and then downstairs, the '08 (10 oz) and '09 (4 oz) He'Brew Jewbilation. Somehow this got me completely hammered. Well, I had a beer at home before headi...

Ok, so our "cellar" is our office, because New Orleans homes have no cellar, because we are like a foot above water level (if that.) We brought a lot of beers down from Salem, including a couple Trader Joe's holiday Vintage Ale. Trader Joe's gets its annual beer from Unibroue and they are usually dark Belgian style. We had 2 2008s and a 2006. I brought one of the 2008s to the Beer Advocate beer swap a few months ago, and we still have one cellaring in the office. Tonight, after a crap ass Monday, I thought it would be appropriate to crack open the 2006 vintage. It's good- while cold it pours dark, dark mahogany brown. About 1/4" or so of light tan foam. Smells like dried fruit, ginger, deep spices- kind of like fruitcake the way we make it at home (which is SO AWESOME.) It drinks easy, and it gets tastier as it warms to room temperature. I think it's aged beautifully- it is so smooth and quaffable. I have a memory of the 2006 vintage still being a ...

Ok, so I actually do not want to bitch about beer, rather I come to praise it. Or something. I do not know my place. I will always cause a ruckus. I like beer. I drink a lot of it. I spend a lot of time drinking it and a lot of money as well. Money well spent, I say. I'm kind of like a stealth beer lover. My husband is a brewer, and I make many requests of him, but little inclination to assist or compete. I'm super fucking lazy like that. I actually have another blog already, NoraInNOLA.blogspot.com. But it's more my public blog, my family blog, my blog where I ruminate on any fucking thing that comes into my head. Well, without saying the word "fuck." This blog is about beer. A lady drinking beer in New Orleans. It will be awesome, because I am awesome and beer is awesome. To keep things on topic, I will report (and happily) that I spent tonight drinking some great beer at The Avenue Pub. The Avenue is finishing up their Belgian Beer Fest and I had:...