The Nottoway Plantation Beer Fest is this Saturday and if you’re a craft beer lover in/near South Louisiana, you won’t want to miss it. The beer lineup looks excellent, throw in some homebrews, and you’ve got the makings of a good time. Plus you get to visit beautiful Nottoway Plantation in White Castle.
Hope to see some of y’all out there.
In the past few years I have really grown to appreciate a good beer. It is no coincidence that the rest of the US seems to feel the same way, as craft brewing in America is bigger than it has ever been. These are exciting times for beer geeks, a little overwhelming at times, but exciting. For once Louisiana is not being left behind either. Several new breweries have come online in the past few years and, as a state, we’re slowly building quite a catalog of craft breweries. I’m proud to say that my cousin Lindsay is now officially in that number. Lindsay and her husband Scott have talked about opening up a brewery in New Orleans for a few years now and just recently they accomplished that goal with the grand opening of the Courtyard Brewery. I happened to be working in the New Orleans area that week and was able to stop by to check the place out and grab a couple pints of deliciousness.
Their first day open was also the first day they were allowed to start brewing so they didn’t have any of their own beers available (not sure if that has changed yet, but I think a session IPA was going to be their first offer), but that really didn’t slow them down. They operate a little differently than you’re standard brewery and offer 12 rotating guest taps with only top shelf craft brews. They are fans of West Coast style beers so Lagunitas, Green Flash, New Belgium, Stone and North Coast were all represented. The one local option that made the cut was the Korova Milk Porter from Gnarly Barley, and it was obvious why as it was damn good. In fact I’m pretty sure it was the first to keg to tap out on the night.
The brewery itself is small, so small it is being dubbed a nano-brewery. Their brewing equipment is slightly larger than what you would have at home, so don’t expect to find any of Courtyard’s beers at your local grocer. Because of it’s size don’t expect a big brewery tour either – if you’ve taken one brewery tour though you know the process – beer is made the same everywhere, with the same 4 ingredients – water, yeast, malt and hops. The brewery felt more like a tasting room and I’m pretty sure that is the vibe they are putting out there. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the tap list was superb, I left just as the food truck started serving, but I’m pretty sure they will be doing that as much as possible. All of the beers offered were $5-6 for a heavy 16 oz pour, a heck of a deal, so if you’re looking for a good place in New Orleans to get good beer at a good price, go check out Courtyard at 1020 Erato St.
Starting this month I’m going to feature a different beer that I’m drinking, and liking, every month. The idea was tossed to Catch on the Louisiana fly fishing site and I liked it so I’m going to run with it here. I’m not going to give you a full blown review because honestly I couldn’t do each beer justice., but I do know what I like though and that is what I’ll share here. I’ll try to link a review from an actual beer blog if you want to know a little more about each featured beer.
For August, I’m going to keep it easy and feature the Commotion Pale Ale from Great Raft Brewing. The American pale ale has been my favorite style for awhile now and this one did not disappoint. The Commotion is out of Shreveport and I was able to find it in Tonore’s Wine Cellar up in Monroe, LA. The Pickle Barrel also has it if you want to sit at a bar and drink one. Grab a sandwich too because they’re pretty good. Distribution of Great Raft beer has been limited to North Louisiana but you can expect to see some of their beers in New Orleans next year. Here’s what Great Raft has to say about the Commotion:
“This pale ale has a slightly fruity aroma, with an upfront hop bitterness of grapefruit and citrus. This complex but balanced dry-hopped ale is faintly sweet, but soft through the generous amounts of wheat.
Mountains to Marsh 