Typed Slowly Treatment for Southern Culture Myopia.

Beers in New Orleans (12/12-13)

Last weekend, my wife and I went down to New Orleans with a couple of friends for the weekend. We'd gotten an awesome deal on a hotel in the Garden District from Travelzoo.com. And it was worth it. But this isn't a travelogue, so I'll just tell you about some beer. Note: I'm only going to talk about beers that I actually drank last weekend, even if I might reference other beers I didn't.

Full disclosure: we did drink our fair share of regular old domestic beer (i.e., High Life and Budweiser) because we're not made of money, shit. Aside from those beers, we had an awful (read: good) amount of Abita beer. This is to be expected since Abita is, to my knowledge, the premier brewery in Louisiana. Some of these Abitas I'd had before, but some were new to me.

Most people who've tried Abita beer probably know about Abita Amber, Turbodog, and Purple Haze, but there other beers that are just as good, if not better. We'll just go down the line, or what seems like the line in my head.

Abita Amber: This beer is an easy, brown ale. Craft beer can't get much more accesible than Abita Amber. It's a solid beer, comparable to something like Newcastle or even, hell, Michelob Amber. Anyway,  I'm more a fan of the other quirkier Abita beers. I had one of these because it was the best thing at whatever given place we stopped at.

Abita Jockamo IPA: I'd never tried Abita's IPA before, and wasn't totally aware it existed, so I got a couple of these at a bar in the Garden District (Cooter Brown's). I'd love to say I loved it, but I won't. I will say that it was hoppy, but not excessively, and mildly sweet. I think I just had expectations of more hops than it had. But, admittedly, I did order it twice, so I must have liked it well enough.

Abita Christmas Ale: Similarly, I'd never tried this beer either. It's dark like a porter or stout, and it tastes a little like both--maybe more like a porter. There's also some type of spice or sweetness to it that I couldn't place. It seems like it'd be a heavy beer, but it really wasn't. Also had two of these.

Abita Andygator: I tried this beer last winter while in New Orleans, and wanted to have it again to write down what it tasted like. Andygator is Abita's 8% abv beer, and I wanted to try at least one. So I ordered it in a fairly crowded oyster bar restaurant, and I did get a beer. But I don't think it was Andygator. It looked and tasted about like Miller Lite or Budweiser draft. I couldn't remember what Andygator was supposed to look/taste like, and I didn't want to ask and look either dumb or like an asshole, so I drank it and stayed quiet. If anyone can tell me: "You didn't get an Andygator," please do. I need to know.

That's all for Abita beers.

We (my wife and I) also split a pitcher of Boddington's. It was Boddington's--low carbonation, light color, and easy taste. Good British bitter.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo (Extra IPA): So, I didn't really drink this beer, but my friend got one, and I tried it. If you can find this beer, get it. The hops are the main event, and there's a reason Sierra Nevada is Sierra Nevada--their beer kicks ass. Again, if you can find it, get it. You can direct any complaints to me.

Moretti Rosa: We stopped in at an Italian restaurant near the French Market that was having a half price drink special, which we, like good little consumers, took advantage of, and had a few beers. The only problem was that they only had a few beers, three of which were Italian. After I'd finished my big spill (we'll save it for another time) about how Italian beer isn't any good (Italians do plenty of other things well though: film, food, wine, and Italo Calvino was, basically, Italian), I tried the Moretti Rosa. It's a dark lager that somehow reminds me of Abita Amber. I probably won't go out of my way to find this beer again, but it certainly disproved my theory about Italian beer being shitty--or at least it's the exception that proves the theory (don't exceptions prove theorys? I'm not sure).

It's likely that I've forgotten a beer or two, aside from the domestics, and if I remember a forgotten beer, I'll update. So for now, you've got a run-down on some good beers that you can for sure find in New Orleans, not to mention plenty of other towns, cities, villages, and beer stores. Get to gettin' 'em.

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