All You Hold Beer

New Orleans’ fourth Craft Beer Week is almost here, so put your drinking pants on and get ready to learn about that American industry that combines the ruggedly individual spirit of drinking something that isn't Bud or Miller, and the very communal act of gathering over a brew.

Craft Beer Week

Mon May 14
The Avenue Pub, “Barrel Aged/Barley Wine night.”

Bulldog Mid City, 7pm. “Abita Specialty Night.” (Canal)

Bulldog Uptown, 7pm. “NOLA Brewery Cask Night.”

Tuesday May 15th
The Avenue Pub, “American Funk & Saison.”

Bulldog Mid City, “Meet the Future Brewers of Louisiana.”

St. James Cheese Company, “Craft Beer Education and Cheese”

The Boot, 6:30pm. “Summer Seasonal Craft.”

Bulldog Uptown, 7pm. “Abita Specialty Night.”

Calesciu, Crispin Cider Dinner with Donald Link, Drew Lockett

Wed May 16th
The Avenue Pub, “Nano/Gypsy Brewers.”

Ernst Café, 7pm. “Sam Adams Night.”

The District, 8pm. “Abita Specialty Night.”

DBA, 7pm. “Crispin Specialty Night.”

Thurs May 17th
The Avenue Pub, “All About Hops.”

Bulldog Uptown, “Lazy Magnolia Firkin Night.

Sylvain, 4pm. “Beer Cocktails featuring NOLA Brewing.”

Frenchmen Street, Craft Beer Crawl 5pm.

DBA, 6pm, Brooklyn Sorachi Ace.

Blue Nile, 7pm. Stone Arrogant Bastard and Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner

Bruno’s Tavern 5:30pm, “Craft Beer Sampling featuring Sierra Nevada and Laughing Skull.”

The Bricks, 7pm. “Craft Beer Sampling—Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams.”

Fri May 18th
The Avenue Pub, “Regional Breweries Night.”

The Irish House “Saint Arnolds Beer Dinner”

Fat Harry’s “Saint Arnolds Tour Party”

NOLA Brewery, 2pm. “ACBW Brewery Tour”

Stein’s Deli, 3pm. “Craft Sampling featuring Brooklyn, Stone, Harpoon, Stone, and Shmaltz.”

The Bulldog Uptown, 7pm. “Sam Adams Specialty Night.”

Sat May 19th
The Avenue Pub, “4th Annual American Craft Beer Tasting”

Bulldog Magazine, Balcony Bar, Rendezvous, Tracey’s Saint Arnold’s Pub Crawl.

Sun May 20th
The Avenue Pub, “Cure the Hangover Brunch 10AM + Crawfish boil with St. Arnold’s.”

We’re used to government officials writing legislation to limit our alcohol intake, but it’s always refreshing to stumble upon a resolution that encourages us to support our local bars and brewers. In 2006, the 2nd Session of the 109th Congress passed House Resolution 753, a document written to recognize the contributions of American craft brewers through establishing American Craft Beer Week.

As microbreweries have formed an alliance against the Empire of big breweries in recent year, craft beer has been the label affixed to brews that you probably won't find on the names of stadiums. Quality-over-quantity is the defining chracteristic of these often-localized breweries, with focuses on seasonal runs, more adventurous types like I.P.A. and Porter, and, of course, those really cool, big bottles. The popularity of craft beer pushed the big breweries to roll out their own versions of craft beer, like Blue Moon, Budweiser Golden Wheat and, most telling of all, that Michelob Craft Sampler Pack.

Finding a bar with a large selection of national craft beers in New Orleans is easier than it used to be, but it remains centered on bars that take the specalized beers as a part of their identity like Avenue Pub, The Bulldog and d.b.a.

Four years ago, Craft Beer Week came to New Orleans and gave local breweries an opportunity to sell themselves and educate their fans about the brewing world. Polly Watts, owner of the Avenue Pub, said that she was one of the first in town to host events for the week, along with Abita and Nola Brewing.

“Craft Beer Week has really evolved. We were sort of the first place to take it seriously and do a big deal with it,” Watts said. Now, other bars in the city have caught on, and beer week in the city is exponentially larger than it was four years ago.

This year, bars all over the city are featuring a week’s worth of tastings, pub crawls, and specialty nights, as listed in this article's sidebar.

Watts aims to educate drinkers on the different types of beer they already enjoy, and also to expose them to yeast and hops from all over the world that provide vastly different profiles than many that we're used to around here. Each night of the week is organized by theme, including a night devoted to nano brewers and “gypsy brewers,” or people who don’t actually own their own brewing companies but use other’s spaces.

“Think of it as a chef doing a guest spot in someone else’s kitchen,” Watts explained of these alcohol roma. Watts is especially excited to host Baltimore-based gypsy brewer Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales, whom she referred to as “a genius brewer.”

The night set aside for “funky beers,” will feature a lot of Belgian brewers that have mastered something Watts referred to as a “horse-blanket taste,” which is hopefully a rough English translation.

Watts works tirelessly every year to find the best brewers.

“I usually take a couple weeks off afterwards, but two months out I have to start working again on my beer selection for next year,” she said.

The pub owner also stays busy coming up with creative approaches to beer consumption, like her idea to use the same method to brew beer that was used in 1868, the year she referred to as “the gilded age,” for brewers.

“They started brewing it like that again after World War II," she said. "People will get to taste what societal influences do for the beer we drink.”

There will be a night called “All About Hops,” on Thursday, followed by a night showing off the local crafts on Friday. The big tasting on Saturday will cost $22, but Watts says that’s a steal considering the quality of some of the imported beers.

“We pretty much break even on it because some of the stuff is just hideously expensive,” she said.

Watts also sees the tasting, which buys you 12 four ounce pours, as an opportunity for people to try varieties of beer that they may never have risked in pint form. After a week of drinking, Watts decided to give people a little buffer on Sunday, with a “cure your hangover brunch," featuring a crawfish boil with St. Arnold, and the NOLA Pie Guy providing waffles and crepes.

SECTIONS:

Arts · Politics · Crime · Sports · Food · · Opinion · NOLA · Lagniappe

Defender Picks

Samedi

May 25th

Dimanche

May 26th

Lundi

May 27th

Avenue Pub, Local Bars Plan Menu of Tasting, Crawls to Celebrate American Craft Beer Week

Post new comment

ADVERTISEwith NOLA Defender

Contributors:

Staff Writers

Listings

Puzzler

Art Director:

Assistant Managing Editor

Managing Editor

Editor:

Published Daily by

Arts · Politics · Crime
· Sports · Food ·
· Opinion · NOLA ·
Lagniappe

ADVERTISE
with
NOLA Defender