Beering in New Orleans, Part Duex

The next day we are hanging out and I am copping a few beers at the corner store. I KNOW I grabbed the Abita Strawberry Lager, but I don't see it here in my notebook. Oh well, it was kinda light anyway.

May 24, 2008
State, in the hotel room with single bottles
I just gave my luncheon seminar, and now I'm just kind of goofing off, so grabbed a few of these beers to give them a try

Dixie Beer
Plastic cup. Dixie's brewery got jacked up during Katrina, but they are now back and brewing. Gotta represent. Kinda foamy white head and smells veggie-like. High carbonation and medium bread taste, served ice cold. Head has slight lace to it. It has a light body and hops, and a little bitter aftertaste. There's a light maltiness in there as well. Yes I'm going backwards, but the color is orange straw and very clear. I do have a slight headaches from drinking it up the night before.

Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager
Dark brown, ruby in the light with a tan head. Smells of butter biscuits, chocolate, and malt. Full body with a velvety mouthfeel with a medium carbonation. Low malt and very low hops, with a light aftertaste. No flavors really. Based on the smell I was hoping for more. It gets kinda bready and smoky as it warms up. I'm still just getting into homebrewing, but it may be that Dixie added a lot of stuff very late in the boil or even during secondary fermentation, hence all the nice smells but no flavor to match. They pulled a bait and switch on me.

Abita Restoration Ale

Abita threw together this pale ale to raise money for the Katrina recovery efforts. Could be soured on the smell, with a very strong head. Maybe a little malt on the aroma. Dark bronze and orange color. Offwhite head that is lacy. Mild-medium hops, with low to medium light body. low medium carbonation as well. I would say this is a blond pale ale with some bitterness on the AT. It got more hoppy as it warmed up. maybe even a regular pale ale level. Nice stuff.

Gordon Biersch Maibock

GB is a national chain brewpub, but they do brew their beer onsite. I cannot drink on Monday, so I had to prioritize, but I decided to sneak in one beer from GB before moving on. I think I'll be travelling to Atlanta in September and probably to the DC area one more time before the year is out, and they have chains out there. But I did try their seasonal beer. A little smell on there. Its brown with an offwhite head. It's moderately malty on the first sip, a little dry, little to no aftertaste. I'm tasting caramel malts and low hops. It's a little slippery on the drinkability with low carbonation. A little roasted malts as well. Not a bad beer at all. I had to move to another engagement, so I got this to go.

Beering in New Orleans: Part 1

And now I get to my New Orleans trip in my notebook. I attended a conference in New Orleans over Memorial Weekend. There is nothing like travelling on Expense. So I set up my beertinerary to try and go to Abita, but all their beers are available at the corner stores. For better or worse, you can buy single bottles of beer at the corner store, slap it in a plastic cup, and drink it right there on the street. I was so blown when the guy a Gordon Beirsch asked me if I wanted my beer TO GO. And what's more, the corner stores on Canal Street have a beer selection that's better than the Kroger. They may have just as much selection as a basic HEB. All in single bottles as well. So throughout my trip in NO, I bought several Abitas and Dixie Beers from the stores, and drank them out of plastic cups either at the hotel room or just milling about. I even hit up the brewpub in the French Quarter.

I would also like to send a special shoutout to NOLA Brewing, a new microbrewery in New Orleans. I called them up asking about a tasting room and though they weren't open yet, the guy on the phone was a great help in finding not only some good beering, but good restaurants to eat at as well.

For the record, I still do not have the heart to visit the Lower 9th Ward or the harder hit areas of NO. As a Katrina evac myself (my wife and I lived in Ocean Springs, MS just outside of Biloxi when the storm hit), I cannot look at the yet worse state New Orleans is in. And how they could re-elect Ray Nagin just makes me vomit in my own mouth. I get so pissed off I can barely speak about it without a LONG string of obscenities coming out of my mouth. It could drive a man to drink. Speaking of which :)

May 23rd, 2008
Abita Amber (got it on draft, in a plastic cup)
Picked up this joint a little bar on a Riverboat restaurant. They only had two taps, but I hadn't had this one before. If you'll recall from my earlier posts, I was NOT impressed with Abita Beer and Turbodog. But here we go. It has an amber-auburn color, go figure, and is pretty clear. First taste if of high breadiness, nice medium body, medium carbonation. As it warms up (and it warmed up quickly in the heat and in my plastic cup), you get a nice cool maltiness. I'd say this was a very good session beer. The slight offwhite head remained the entire time. Very good stuff as I sit outside overlooking the old Mississippi river.

Abita Purple Haze
Negros chat up this beer quite a bit, so I had to cop this one at the store on the way back from the boat. Straw color slightly hazy, strong white head. Slight fruity and sour smell. Kinda like raspberry. The first taste is kinda empty at first, then I notice the light body, high carbonation, and low raspberry flavor. It moderately drinkable. It has low hops and low on the wheat. I really expected more out of this one.

Fry that Chicken

Well, that's what I first thought of when I saw this bottle at the Central Market...
Oh and for the record, the Midas Touch was also great with lamb chops. They say you should have complex beers with lamb as it matches the gaminess of the meat.

May 18th, 2008
Chicken Killer Barley Wine Ale
You gotta love the label of this 22 oz bottle. This is my first beer from Santa Fe Brewing. We poured it in our Hennessy cognac glass. It has a malty smell, with cinnamon and slight alcohol notes. It was a bit could so we waited a minute. It was opaque and had a dark honey color. The first taste is malty with a fine kinda high carbonation. A little lingering syrup mouthfeel after swallowing. No hops to speak of, as I hear Barley Wine is supposed to be. All I can say is that it is certainly more complex than it's little brother, a brown ale. I like it.

R. KELLY Not Guilty!!!

All I can say is...

"We fought against ignorance today, and lost."

Do not MOCK THE GODS!!!!

I feel so SUPREME. Bow before me! This is a time for the DIVINE! They call me Blacknus, the God of Drinking and Chaos. Oh yes, feel my wrath.

We gave this recipe to King Midas 5000 years ago, and now the peons at Dogfish Head feel they can recreate a godly brew.

Midas Touch

Dies Veneris iii Maius MMVIII

The mortals at Dogfish Head made it clear, yet slightly tinged of that mortal drink called white wine. It please Blacknus to know that the brew smells sweet like sugar, malt, and some alcohol too. The head was as weak as you mortals are in a gladiator pit as this needed a vigorous pouring in my heavenly wine goblet. The first taste is sugary sweet with medium body and a low fine carbonation that could keep you out of hades. Yet no hops or aftertaste. It is slightly dry and the sweetness lingers with notes of honey. It's very drinkable indeed. I believe you mortals call it, "white grape juice" in comparison.

But we gods do not drink your filthy beer. We drink only the best of nectar and ambrosia. This one comes in the form of...

Redstone Meadery Mountain Honey Wine

A drink fit for the gods indeed, as this is only brewed with honey. It looks like yellowish white wine or grape juice with ZERO head. It's smells like honey and alcohol. It gets even more alcoholy with the swirl. There is essentially no carbonation, just honey on the taste. Kind of a like a wine, but only DIVINE! It's very sweet with a clean finish, not dry or wet. This would suit mortals as a great desert wine.

Drinks fit for the DIVINE. Well done mortals. Perhaps won't smote you after all. What's this "Flavor of Love". This MADNESS must end. You mortals will pay for this.

Central Market Run-off

The wife and I have decided to take another run to Central Market in Houston, TX. Again, a killer variety. We still have some stuff from San Antone, so we make a good three beer run later on that night.

Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye

May 16th, 2008

Oh yeah, back to REAL ALE, for REAL MEN. Copper color, slight cloudiness. A little bitty sniff talks of citrus hops, but a deep cocaine snort will get you the caramel malt. It has a white very lasting head. I've never had beer with rye, so this ought to be interesting. It has medium bitterness with very drinkable mouthfeel, low carbonation. The malt is low, yet noticeable early in the taste. It's a little bitter on the aftertaste, yet goes down very smmoth. It's not much one way or the other, more good citrusy hops comes out as it warms. It's goes nice with my baked fish and asparagus. It very well may be American Pale Ale

Later on, we go Divine!!!!!!!!!

This deserves its own post.

Why Can't We Be Friends

If you don't know, War is the sh*t. Anyway, I've heard tell in the podcastosphere about two micro/medium sized breweries getting together to make a Belgian beer. I couldn't remember the name until I saw the bottle at Central Market.

May 11, 2008

Collaboration, Not Litigation Ale

State: Slight hungry

How cool is this? Avery and Russian River got together to make Salvation. And if I'm understanding the bottle correctly, they just both made the same Belgian style of beer and blended them. Gotta love friends. "Sticking together is what good waffles do."

It's cloudy with a dark copper color with an offwhite head. It's smells of slight citrus, fruit, and malt. Kinda like Leffe (who I say is the standard Belgian). It's full bodied and slightly gritty on the tongue. It's smoooooooooooth, malty with slight spice and low hops. There's no aftertaste, but I can tell that this beer is very complex. This one was Batch #2. Maybe by the time I taste Batch #3 or #4, I would be able to discern what's going on. We did at least drink it in a wine goblet. I start eating ribs and fries, and the beer tastes more sour as it warms up. I like it, and wish I could have more. But as I sit here offshore unloading my notebook, I really could use a fruity/sour Belgian right about now. Only 3 more days and a wake up.

Lake Placid Ubu Ale

This is apparently Placid's signature beer. They say they named the beer after the dog, Ubu. Well it's has weak smoked malt smell, dark brown with a light tan head. It's cloudy as well. It's bready on the first taste with malt coming second. I get the smoked malt (though light) with maybe some biscuits. It has medium carbonation with very low hops. The aftertaste is biscuity as well. As it warms (I love it when it warms) the aftertaste gets more bitter, though I could just be getting used to the malt. I'm having a hard time picking out the Ubu though.