Saturday, December 20, 2008

New Years Eve: Pop Out The Beer Not The Bubbly!!


So New Years Eve is right around the corner and you're thinking New Years and Champagne is a must right? Wrong. You can drink beer for New Years Eve!! No, seriously, I kid you not, they make Champagne Beer! No, I'm not talking Miller High Life aka The Champagne of Beers I'm talking Biere de Champagne.

It's a fairly new style of beer which involves a timely maturation process with some even being cave-aged in the Champagne region of France. Just like Champagne the beer undergoes the remuage and degorgement process which is the process of removing yeast from the bottle (see methode de champenoise). Most of the beers come in 750ml bottles that are caged and corked. The most easily accessible one that I know of and have tried is the one pictured made by Brouwerij Bosteels called DeuS(Brut Des Flandres). For those living in New Orleans I have seen this beer at Steins Deli for around $30. For those living outside New Orleans call your local beer store and celebrate New Years the way beer nerds should be celebrating it. With beer!
Cheers!
The Beerbuddha

Monday, December 15, 2008

New Orleans has a Homebrew Store again! Yeah!!


Yup, you read that properly. We finally have a homebrew store again in New Orleans. After the closure of Brew Ha Ha, homebrewers from New Orleans have had to get their homebrew supplies from companies off of the internet. No more!! Homebrewers can now get their homebrew supplies locally at a new store called Brewstock.


The owner, Aaron, hails from up North but we won't hold that against him. He decided to move here in order to help with the rebuilding of our great city and there is no better way to help than opening up a homebrew shop! He's here to help support us so it's our turn to support him!


The shop is located at 8725 Oak Street near River Road. The store isn't quite open yet to the public but the website is pretty much done and ready!!!



Cheers!


The Beerbuddha

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

What? I Was Bored, OK?

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Abita Brewing's Big Beer Series

This January our very own Abita Brewing Company located in Abita Springs, Louisiana will be releasing their Big Beer Series. The first two in the series will be the infamous Andygator and the much praised Abbey Ale. Previously both beers were only available on draught with Andygator making a bottle appearance in the early to mid-nineties only to disappear back into the Louisiana swamps.

This is a great step forward for Abita in the eyes of beer nerds. With the release of these beers and the great changes made to their website it appears like someone in the company is thinking outside the box and not just bottling the same ol', same ol'. Don't get me wrong I love Abita and do my best to support my local brewery but sometimes I want something big and different. Abita has always had their Select series which is great but it is exclusively available on draught. What is a married man with a two year old to do? I never really get the opportunity to hang out at local bars to sample all these beers. The big beer series is hopefully the first step in what appears to be an exciting future for Abita and an exciting future for those drinkers that can't always hang out at bars! Below is some pics of the new Big Beer bottles and some info from Abita.com:


Abita Andygator
ABV: 8%
IBU: 25
Color: 8
Style: Helles Dopplebock













Abita Abbey Ale
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: 32
Color: 25
Style: Dubbel










[pics and info courtesy abita.com]

Cheers!

The Beerbuddha