Thursday, March 29, 2012

Bugs and Brew 2012



The 3rd Annual Bugs 'n Brew for Drew Crawfish Cook-off and Beer Festival will take place on April 21, 2012. This year we're bringing you live music by Brass-A-Holics, Flow Tribe, Stone Rabbits and 3 Guys 1 Cup! We'll have teams from around the city boiling up their best crawfish and beer on tap by local craft breweries such as Abita, Nola Brewing, Heiner Brau, Bayou Teche, Tin Roof and more. Proceeds from this event benefit The Drew Rodrigue Foundation and its various charitable activities

WHEN

April 21, 2012
12:00-6:00 PM

WHERE

The field behind Jesuit High School in New Orleans, at the intersection of Banks St. and S. Solomon St.
Map it!

WHAT
- Crawfish Boil Cook-off open to the public
- Local Craft Beer Exposition, including participating breweries and tastings provided by members of Louisiana-based home brew clubs
- Live Music by Brass-A-Holics, Flow Tribe, Stone Rabbits and 3 Guys 1 Cup
- Artist Row, with several talented artists from the New Orleans area showcasing their work
- Entertainment for your kids, with spacewalks and slides
- Raffle and Silent Auctions, where you can take home gift certificates to local restaurants, local artwork, vacation packages at hotels along the Gulf Coast, and more

HOW MUCH

Parking and entrance to the event are FREE! Crawfish and beer will be sold individually by participating Cook-off teams and Breweries.

Basket of Crawfish with some fixin's...$5
Draft Beer from participating breweries...$3
Wine and Daiquiris...$5


If you want to party all day hassle-free, VIP passes will be available for $50 and that gets you all the beer and crawfish you can eat...all day long. You'll also get access to free tastings by new breweries that are in planning as well as samples of home-brewed beers by members of local Home Brew Clubs. VIP passes also come with a schwag bag full of lagniappe from our local sponsors.

Note: Louisiana law prohibits the sale of beer by non-operational breweries and home-brewers so tastings will NOT be available for individual purchase, so get our VIP pass for access to free tastings.

TEAM INFO

Interested in forming a team? The team fee is $250 and that gets you two sacks of crawfish to boil in the competition along with free beer all day for your 5 team members. Anybody is welcome to compete so send us an email if you're interested. In the meantime take a look at the official 2012 Competition Rules and Regulations. Send inquiries to teams@TheDrewRodrigueFoundation.org.

VOLUNTEER INFO

If you'd like to help us out by lending us a little bit of your time the day of the event, please send us an email at volunteers@TheDrewRodrigueFoundation.org. There's plenty to do, from selling food and beverage tickets to serving up frosty beers so just let us know if you're interested and we'll find something that suits your taste!


SPONSORSHIP INFO

If you are interested in sponsoring our event, please review our Sponsorship Information Package. We'd love to have you and your company help us raise money for a great cause! Send inquiries to info@TheDrewRodrigueFoundation.org. There's plenty of perks, from having your company logo on all newsletters and social media to getting mentioned for your support during our TV and radio media events on WDSU and WWOZ. Here are our current participating sponsors...

Friday, March 23, 2012

My Problem With Beer Festivals

The day before the "inaugural" New Orleans International Beer Festival I felt it important to discuss why I don't usually go to beer festivals. I know, sounds like a dick thing to do but you'll understand. I promise. And hopefully agree. A lot of people have been asking if I will be attending tomorrow and are pretty shocked when I tell them no. Then they ask why.

I need to tread lightly here as I am friends with many of the people that put on the events/sponsor the events/donate or sell beer to the events and I promote their events every year. My intention here is not to bash any of the beer festivals that take place here in Louisiana but rather I hope to address what I don't like about the current culture of beer festivals here and what I think the future of beer festivals should be.



Since the New Orleans International Beer Festival is tomorrow we will pick on them. The price is $50. That's $40 plus the $10 you will pay in service fees to Ticketmaster. That's general admission. According to the website here is what that will get you: Souvenir 2-Ounce Sampling Mug, Full Color Festival Guide, Unlimited Sampling of 150+ Craft Beers, Live Entertainment, Games and access to the Samuel Adams Brew University Tent with Seminars such as Cooking with Beer, Brewing 101, Pairing Beer with Food and More! You can pay $75($85 after fees)for Zea VIP tickets which gives you: entrance into the Festival 1 Hour Early to Take Advantage of Exclusive Beer Tasting Experience, access to the VIP Lounge, exclusive Beer Selections Not Available to the General Admission Ticket Holders and complimentary Food from 2pm - 5pm plus all the other stuff you get for paying the commoners prices. And then, if you are responsible and have a designated driver they have to pay $20.

I don't know about you but $50 is a lot of money. Oh sure, I can afford it but the question is why would I want to pay it? Out of the 200 beers(not homebrewed) listed on their website there are only 12 I haven't had before. That means I have had 94% of the beers they are serving. Why would I pay $50 to try 12 beers? It just doesn't make sense. And in my opinion the designated driver should NEVER have to pay.

This goes for every beer festival that I have been to here in Louisiana. I can go for maybe 1 hour try a couple of beers and then I am done. If I'm lucky there are homebrews there or some of the local breweries have done something special on cask. And yes I know, not everyone has been able to try all those beers. But do you really think you will be able to try them all in 4 hours? Okay so maybe I shouldn't have said that because now some dumbass has just said, "Challenge Accepted." I heard it. Plus, if I want to bring my wife(who doesn't drink and is always my DD) I have to pay for her entrance as well. So now I am out another $20.


Anyway, events like this lead to people drinking until they puke or drinking so much they eventually puke then pass out. It certainly doesn't encourage responsible beer tasting. It creates more of a "I need to get my money's worth" attitude. I don't know about you but I can't stand being around drunk people. I'm not a big fan of crowds as is but now a crowd of drunk people. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl. In my opinion the beer festivals need to change their way of doing business.



Last year I experienced the future of beer festivals and it was awesome. New Orleans on Tap. A "pay as you drink" system. You buy tickets and trade your tickets for beer. And you can get two different sizes of beer. You just pay more tickets for a larger size. Genius. And they still had live entertainment and food available also. For someone like me this is perfect. I can buy $20 worth of tickets and have a great time and sample some great beers. Doesn't hurt my wallet and I don't feel the need to get my "moneys worth". Oh and my wife doesn't have to pay anything unless she wants food.

This is the future of beer festivals. And yes, I know it won't stop people from getting drunk and stupid but it may lessen that number and also may change people's perception of what a beer festival is for: the enjoyment of beer not the abuse of it. Let the Beer Buddha bashing begin.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Friday, March 9, 2012

Beerodamus 2nd Prediction To Come True?




So back in December of 2011 I made some pretty wild predictions regarding 2012. One was NOLA Brewing do a collaboration brew which became a reality with Stone Brewing and their Pour Me Something Mistah!

Today it looks as if another prediction of mine is coming true. According to Shanken News Daily it appears that Lagunitas will be finishing a brewery expansion in April and will be distributing to "another 14 states, bringing distribution to 49 states." Tennessee apparently will not be getting it due to shitty ABV laws although at last check Mississippi still hasn't changed their laws yet either so I'm not sure how much of that is true.

Either way it appears another prediction has come true or at least is about to come true!!!!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Who Would You Drink With?

The other day someone asked me if you could sit down and drink a beer with anyone alive or dead who would it be? It was a simple enough question but without a simple enough answer. One of the most important beers I have ever had was the first one I had with my dad. Hell, I remember the first beer that I ever had period. I was a sophomore in high school in Camp Lejeune, NC and it was a Colt 45 40oz with one of my best friends Randy Lenard. But I assume the question implied famous. No one wants to hear the sappy beer sharing stories.

I really started to think about this one. It can really have some fun answers. I decided it would be fun to come up with my top 10 famous people(dead or alive) that I would like to share a beer with. So in no particular order is my top 10.

1) Barack Obama- He is a sitting President. Like his politics or not it would be awesome. And most likely homebrewed.

2) Clint Eastwood- The man is a legend. Need I say more?

3) Steve McQueen- One of the coolest actors ever.

4) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin- How cool would it be to sit and listen to these guys talk over some beers?

5) Elvis Presley- I can just imagine the kind of experience this would be. Beer, guns and pain pills. Whoa.

6) Hall & Oates- For me this would be epic.

7) Hope Solo- Ah, Hope Solo. I love you. That is all.

8) Kurt Russell- One of my all time favorite actors.

9) Harrison Ford- Drinking beer with Indiana Jones and Han Solo himself? Count me in.

10) Matthew Mcconaughey- My man crush is on this dude. He seems like a cool dude to drink a beer with.

Well, that's it. Who is on your list? I would love to hear so leave them in the comment section!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha