Thursday, November 29, 2012

New Belgium Coming To Louisiana in 2013

Read this on Beerpulse today:

  (Fort Collins, CO) – New Belgium is headed to Louisiana and Alaska in 2013 and has a lot of new beers coming in the pipeline for next year, according to the company’s spokesman. BeerPulse caught up with Bryan Simpson last week to get the skinny on future plans. 

 “Both of those states are ones that we’ve been looking at for a long time,” says Simpson. “Certainly Louisana being contiguous to Texas makes a lot of sense where we have trucks already heading down there. We think Alaska is an interesting place. A lot of us just have an affinity for it and we have a couple folks who have lived up there.”

 The company is in the midst of building distributor profiles and timing is expected to be by early fall, similar to when the company entered Michigan 

 Simpson explains that the company is in a holding pattern of sorts when it comes to capacity so in order to add more-densely populated areas, they’d have to add more capacity than what they’re currently in the midst of adding.

 New Belgium is on pace to brew 775,000 barrels this year, up nearly 9% from last year’s mark of 713,000 barrels. With the addition of new tanks, annual capacity grows from 800,000 barrels to 925,000 barrels. 

 This is great news that most of us saw coming.  Looking forward to being able to buy Lips of Faith here in town!


Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

It's A Bit Early But Who Is Ready For Crawfish Season!!!

So I know it's not even Christmas yet but man I have been wanting some crawfish REAL bad.  There is just something magical about being at a table covered in newspaper with mounds of succulent crawfish, juicy sausages, spicy corn and potatoes and a nice, cold beer.  For me it's important to drink something local while eating crawfish.  It should be mandatory really.  There is nothing as odd to me as watching someone drink a Bud Light while eating some crawfish.


With crawfish season right around the corner(traditionally starts in January and runs until May) it's never too early to start planning some crawfish boils and what beers you want to serve.  I received an email from Karlos Knott from Bayou Teche Brewing today about a beer they will be releasing specifically for the season. Saison D’Écrevisses. Which literally means Crawfish Season.   Here is a description of the beer from Karlos:



 Brewing and tweaking five gallon test batches on the antiquated propane rig our brewery uses for weekend crawfish boils for inspiration, brewmaster Gar Hatcher crafted a biere to complement the spicy epitome of Cajun cuisine. Saison D’Écrevisses (Crawfish Season) is a Belgian-style Saison spiked with a generous amount of rye malt and then fermented with a distinctive Belgian yeast that gives this beer its dry and peppery finish. Finished with imported French Aramis hops, Saison D’Écrevisses has 24 IBUs and is 6% ABV. Our Saison D’Écrevisses is available in 22 oz. Belgian-style bottles and on draft during Louisiana’s traditional crawfish season (January to May). This Crawfish Season Ale is the inaugural beer brewed and bottled in Bayou Teche Brewing’s new Arnaudville Louisiana brewery.

Not sure about you but I am seriously looking forward to this one!   This beer sounds amazing and also sounds like it will pair really well with a huge mound of mudbugs in front of you.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

PS Still looking for some bottles of Joie a Tous!  Anybody see any around town?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

New Release: Parish Brewing Grand Reserve


Holidays kick ass.  Yeah they are a great time to spend with family and blah, blah, blah but it's also a time for breweries to release all their special holiday beers.  Halloween through Christmas/Hanukkah we begin to see an influx of specialty beers hitting the shelves.  Some think it can be overwhelming but it makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.  I want to try them all!  Locally we get some decent holiday release but I haven't seen one like this before.  If I have, sorry I forgot about it.

On November 30th Parish Brewing will be releasing their Grand Reserve.  This barleywine is only brewed once a year and comes in at 11% abv.  According to the website there will be only 1300 bottles available fir purchase.  I received a message from owner Andrew via Facebook and he stated that New Orleans will receive the most cases and will be available at specialty beer/wine shops.  He also stated that Avenue Pub will have a specially made cask which will be served Friday and that there will be a select amount of kegs available around town.

Looking forward to getting this one!  I will be grabbing a couple for drinking and storing.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Westy Update: The Correction Post

Okay so apparently there are a couple of corrections to make to my last post regarding Westys.

1)  Dan Stein will NOT be breaking the packs up.  The monks are not allowing packs to be broken up.

2)  Avenue Pub will NOT be selling but rather will be SAMPLING Westy's at the Trappist Event December 10th.  SAMPLING ONLY.  Because that would break the breaking up packs rule the monks have established.

There are more rules but these two are the only ones that needed correction from my last blog post.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Westy Update



Okay, so after Brenton over at The Ale Runner gave us some Westy info last week I did my best to find out more.  What I found was that it looks like mid December(possibly December 12th) release.  The price looks to be around $120 for a 6 pack and some glasses.

Retail wise I know that Steins Deli and Whole Foods have been allocated some because I have heard from both companies.  I do not know who else will receive any since no one else has contacted me.  Polly from Avenue Pub told me that they will be getting some but for on premise consumption only as she is a bar.


If I find out anything else I will let you know.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Bret Lyttle's Bed Review: SweetWater IPA



Some people go to church on Sunday's. Bret and his wife Sarah like to sit in bed and have a "Hair of the Dog Sunday".  Apparently after having a night of oysters, beer and vodka it was necessary for some good "hair of the dog" craft beer style.

He hit me up this morning via the Facebook/Skype app to bullshit and talk about the beer he was drinking this morning.  And this morning we were joined by his wife who eagerly wanted him to shut up so she could watch the Lions game.  Yes, the Lions.   Yes, the DETROIT Lions.

So after brief conversations about boobs, Christmas and more boobs we got down to the beer:  SweetWater IPA.

Here is the review:


Brewery :  SweetWater 

Beer:  IPA

Appearance:  Almost ruby amber in color.  Decent head and lacing present.  Not "Mr. Scrubby Fucking bubbles" head.

Nose:  Citrus, pine note.  Not the citrus pine note you get from the Northwest brews but the kind you see in Southeastern brews.(Note from BB:  I find this amazing that he can distinguish between the pine from the trees in the Northwest vs the Southeast.  A true tree man)

Taste:  Nice sweetness.  Hops are not overpowering.  Very well balanced.

Body:  Medium body.  Medium carbonation.

Overall:  Besides the Sweet Georgia Brown the SweetWater IPA is one of the best ones SweetWater brews.

Score:  4 out of 5 Buddhas Photobucket

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha


Friday, November 16, 2012

Westvelteren to Hit Louisiana

Check out the Ale Runner's post on Louisiana getting Westys!  This is pretty exciting.  I know I will be grabbing some bottles.  As soon as I hear anything I will let ya'll know!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Bayou Teche Releasing Joie à Tous (Joy to All) Next Week


I'm writing this post while listening to Christmas music.  I needed something to help me distress from all the work related BS in my life.  I swear one day I'm going to figure out how to be The Beer Buddha full time.

Anyway, just like Halloween all the craft breweries start to release their holiday beers fairly early.  I've been thinking about what beers would be perfect for the Thanksgiving meal or even a Thanksgiving digestif when I remembered an email I received from Bayou Teche

I really look forward to the emails I get from Bayou Teche.  They always seem to have something special in the works.  They've got a new Christmas beer coming out Thanksgiving week called Joie à Tous (Joy to All).  Not sure the exact date as all it said is "Thanksgiving week" but I'm sure we could find this one at Steins or Martin Wine Cellar.  Joie à Tous sounds perfect for that after Thanksgiving meal or even while putting up your Christmas decorations on Black Friday.  Yeah, that's when The Beer Buddha family puts them up!  Love me some Christmas!

Here is the official description of Joie à Tous (Joy to All) from Bayou Teche:

Bayou Teche Brewing is releasing a very special Christmas ale for 2012.  Joie à Tous (Joy to All) is a specially crafted release of our brewery's Biere Joi-Mello Dubbel.  Our brewmaster, Gar Hatcher brewed up a special edition of Biere Joi, and then doubled the amount of French Roast coffee in secondary.  The beer was then racked into freshly emptied Jack Daniels whisky barrels to age for several months.  While in the barrel the beer's coffee flavors melded with the whisky flavors still left in and picked up vanilla, toasted coconut, cinnamon, pepper, freshly baked bread and caramel from the charred oak.  After tasting samples from each barrel, Gar selected the nine with the most complex and mature flavors to blend for this seasonal release.

Think an Irish Coffee inspired Belgian beer.

The 200 case limited edition release of Joie à Tous (Joy to All) will be Thanksgiving week.  The biere will be available in 22 oz. Belgian-style bottles.

This beer sounds amazing!  I know I will be on the hunt for it next week!  Let me know if and where you find some!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

3rd Annual Outlaw Homebrew Contest

Once again I got to head out to Hattiesburg, Mississippi and judge the Outlaw Homebrew Contest which is hosted by Keg & Barrel.  This is an amazing event whose purpose is to basically give a big F U to the state of Mississippi for not allowing homebrewing.  Yeah, that's right.  Homebrewing is illegal in Mississippi.  I'm sure the good folks over at the political beer supergroup Raise Your Pints would not have put it the way I put it.  They would be more....politically...sensitive?

Raise Your Pints has worked very hard to make changes to the beer climate in Mississippi and as I'm sure you know it is working.  With the recent change in ABV laws the next thing on their agenda is getting the homebrew laws changed.  Would love to see that happen for all my friends out their in Mississippi!!

Anyway, he event was amazing!  Great beers(and some shitty beers) were had by all!  Along with great food and music this event is a must attend.  I would LOVE to see some New Orleans homebrewers next year.  Hell, I think I may have caught the homebrewing bug while out there talking to the homebrewers!  Maybe I will enter a beer!

Here are some pics from the event:



Thanks to John Neal for hosting the event (and inviting me!) and thanks to Raise Your Pints for getting things done for craft beer in Mississippi.

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha