Saturday, February 11, 2012

Beer Review: NOLA Brewing/Stone Brewing Pour Me Somethin' Mistah


Hype Slang
n.

1. Excessive publicity and the ensuing commotion: the hype surrounding the murder trial.

2. Exaggerated or extravagant claims made especially in advertising or promotional material: "It is pure hype, a gigantic PR job" (Saturday Review).

Hype. It can be a really bad thing. We get so excited about something that we are chomping at the bit to get to it and no matter what we will always be let down. And it's our own fault. We are letting ourselves down.

I think that Pour Me Something Mistah has fallen prey to hype. My own to be exact. I think I went into this expecting WAY too much. It's not that this beer was bad but maybe my expectations were too high? Hell, when Jesus shows up to a beer release how do you NOT expect something to be mind blowing.


Jesus standing in line to get some Pour Me Somethin' Mistah

My first taste of the beer was just a kick to the taint. A friend standing behind me(not naming names)asked me my thoughts and I think I stammered a bit before just staring at him and shaking my head back and forth. I went outside and some other people(again no names) sampling the beer had the same reaction. We were all a little stunned. It just....wasn't that great. Not horrible mind you just not what we expected. Thankfully after the beer warmed up it DID get better. This is a beer that MUST be served at room temperature.

The Baton Rouge Krewe. Yes, that's Jay from Bite and Booze and Eric from Baton Rouge Beer Scene. And that dude with the mustache had the awesomest mustache ever.

But there is a moral(yes, a moral) to this story and it is to never expect too much. We can be excited about things but we need to remember that we can ruin shit by getting too excited. I think this clip from Tommy Boy sums up how we can get all excited and ruin shit.



We are all "blowing it" by letting hype overtake our senses. Perhaps if I had gone into drinking Abita's 25th Anniversary thinking it will taste like Budweiser I would have enjoyed it more. Maybe I should do that with all beers.

This is where being a blogger becomes difficult though. I know, I know, how can being a beer blogger be difficult. Free beer, free beer fest tickets, invites to celebrity only events, hanging with P. Diddy, threesomes with Victoria's Secret models. Yeah it can be awesome but it's tough too. I support ALL local craft breweries and I know a lot of the people that work for the breweries. It becomes personal then. I've hurt feelings and pissed people off. I hate it. I want to be everyones friend. And I will wrestle(just like I did with the Abita 25th Anniversary post)with the idea of not posting anything.

I know I'll catch some shit with this review. Some people will say I have a duty to craft beer and especially local craft beer to not be so opinionated and give people a break. I can't do that. I feel that I would be doing a disservice to not only my readers but the brewery themselves by lying. In the end it's just my opinion and my taste buds. You have to judge for yourself and not let me or even Jesus sway your opinion. Anyway my review is below:


Brewery: NOLA Brewing/ Stone Brewing

Beer: Pour Me Something Mistah

Style: Imperial Porter

ABV: ???

Louisiana Availability: VERY limited.

Appearance- Served in plastic cup(it's Mardi Gras). Poured a nice medium brown, ruby color. No head present(beer had been poured already and had been sitting due to how busy it was).

Smell- Slight smell of burnt malt, coffee, slight hoppiness(expected more since it is Stone) with hint of sweet molasses.

Taste- Very strong, sharp burnt malt flavor. Bordered on being acrid and astringent. I was not impressed after first taste. After letting it sit for about 10 minutes or so the flavors seem to balance out and the beer improved. The sweetness of the molasses balanced out the roasted malt flavor. Slight citric acidity from the satsuma peel. Hop presence seemed distant. I wanted(and expected) more hoppiness.

Mouthfeel- Medium body with medium carbonation.

Overall- I'll admit, although a good beer I was a little let down as were some others drinking it with me. Still awesome to have a collaboration brew with NOLA and Stone!!

Score: 3.5 out of 5 Buddhas Photobucket

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Pour Me Somethin' Mistah Logo



Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

HOLY S%#T!! SOME SERIOUS NOLA BEER HAPPENINGS!!!

Holy shit we have some seriously awesome beer happenings going on in the next couple of months! Be ready my friends be ready. Have your liver prepared!!! Check it:

February 3, 2012 6:00PM



New Orleans Can Release Pub Crawl

Be among the first ever to drink Abita out of cans! Join us for our pub crawl through some of New Orleans' best bars as we unveil Amber, Purple Haze and Jockamo IPA before they're available in stores and bars. Each beer purchased during the pub crawl is only $2!

February 4, 2012 1pm





Flambeau Red Ale to Release Feb. 4 with French Quarter Bar Crawl

NEW ORLEANS, La. (January 30, 2012) This year for the release of Flambeau Red Ale NOLA Brewing Company is having a Bar Crawl through the historic French Quarter before the Krewe du Vieux parade. The Krewe du Brew Bar Crawl theme will be "Mardi Gras on Fire" and costumes are encouraged.

The Bar Crawl is set to begin promptly at 1:00pm starting at R-Bar (1431 Royal St). From R-Bar the Bar Crawl will then head over to Balcony Music Club (1331 Decatur St) at 2:30. After Balcony Music Club the Bar Crawl will meet at Turtle Bay (1119 Decatur St) at 3:45. Then to end the Bar Crawl everyone will meet at Molly's at the Market (1107 Decatur St) at 5:00. Each bar will be serving the Flambeau Red for $3.00 a pint during our hour there. The Krewe du Vieux Parade starts at 6:30 so everyone will be in perfect position.

Flambeau Red Ale™ differs from the classic red ale style by the addition of a rich malt bill and hops. “We feel the hop addition plays well with the mix of pale and dark malts to create balanced, hoppy red ale,” said Kirk Coco President of NOLA Brewing Company. NOLA Brewing Company will offer Flambeau Red Ale™ only as a Spring seasonal so enjoy it while it's here. The company already boasts a number of high-quality microbrews including Hopitoulas™, Irish Channel Stout™, Hurricane Saison™, NOLA Blonde™, NOLA Brown™, 7th Street Wheat™ and Smoky Mary™.

March 24, 2012 2pm

New Orleans International Beer Festival




So do you remember the Top of the Hops festival that they held on the North Shore last year? It was a good festival but it was on the North Shore. Yeah I know, some of you readers are on the North Shore but to me it just doesn't make much sense. Hold the festival in New Orleans. I complained both years about them holding this event over there and apparently some others did too because they decided to move it to New Orleans. They also changed the name.

Please welcome the New Orleans International Beer Festival! It appears tickets are $40 and you can get the via Ticketmaster. The event will be held at the newly built Champions Square which is awesome. Get your tickets now before they sell out! Have fun!

Now I know Avenue Pub is doing some events for Mardi Gras but I can't access their website right now so check back later!

EDIT: Here are the Avenue Pub events! Thanks Polly!

Beer events for the first four parades at Mardi Gras

Our balcony, great beer!

For the second year we have taken the first week of Mardi Gras to line up some great beer events. This is the weekend that the balcony is open to the public. We, of course, want our beer peeps up there and the best way to get them to show up and watch the parades with us is to line up some great beers. Drinking the beers will get you access to the balcony for the parades(first come first serve of course) there will be lots of industry people in town for these events and I'm sure they will be even more fun that last year!

Friday Feb 10th

Saint Arnolds night: Divine Reserve 11 & the rollout of their Newest beer Bitter Belgian.
Krewe of Oshun parade start 6pm, by the pub by 8pm


Saturday Feb 11th

Stone Brewing & NOLA collaboration rollout:" Pour Me somethin' Mistah" on cask and in draft. plus a couple of other goodies that stone is sending and a special cask of their wheat with grains of paradise.Krewe of Ponchatrian parade Start 2pm, by the Pub 330pm
Krewe of Sparta parade start 6pm, by the Pub 730Pm
Krewe of Pygmalion parade start 6;45pm, by the pub 830pm
http://www.facebook.com/AvenuePubNOLA?sk=notes_drafts#!/events/228247680590591/

Sunday Feb 12th

Sierra Nevada Releases Torpedo on Draft!
Krewe of Carrollton parade start 12 noon, by the pub 130pm
Krewe of King Arthur parade start 1pm by the Pub 3pm
http://www.facebook.com/AvenuePubNOLA?sk=notes_drafts#!/events/351036021582176/

Wens Feb 15th

Abita night!
Rum Barrel Aged Abbey Ale & Double dry hopped Jackamo on cask.
Krewe of Druids parade start 630, by the pub 8pm
Krewe of Nyx, parade start 7pm, by the pub 830.



Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

NOLA Brewing Mechahopzilla


NOLA Brewing Mechahopzilla. Don't know much about this. But it is without a doubt the coolest tap handle I have ever seen. Take note of the hop juice falling on the Superdome. This will probably be the best beer ever.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha