By Owen Ogletree
Despite
being known for its vibrant ambiance, music and food that are loaded with local
flare and rich flavors, New Orleans tended to lag behind other regions of the
U.S. in terms of craft beer appreciation over the last several years. Fast
forward to the past few years that have seen an eruption of exciting craft beer
bars and breweries all over the Crescent City, and it seems that a multitude of
residents now realize just how well a saison or IPA pairs with crawfish
etouffee or a shrimp po' boy. Following is a rundown of six of the latest New
Orleans craft breweries that should not be missed.
Port Orleans Brewing Company
4124 Tchoupitoulas Street
Brian
Allen, brewer and president of Port Orleans Brewing Company, held brewing jobs
in Missouri, Massachusetts and Wisconsin before opening his Uptown New Orleans
brewpub in May of 2017. "While studying geology in college, I worked at a
pub in Maine that served Bud, Bass
and Guinness," notes Allen.
"I started wondering why I was drinking these beers, when we had new craft
breweries just down the street. I realized I really didn't want to be a
geologist, and thought that brewing would be a great way to apply science to a
meaningful career."
Housed
in a good-looking building with a tasting room and kitchen, Port Orleans fits
right into New Orleans' culinary culture. Allen rents the brewery's kitchen to
chefs who named the space "Stokehold" and crank out mouth-watering
food items to pair with Port Orleans' brews.
With 14
beers in the tasting room, the brewery's best sellers include Riverfront Lager with a touch of Calypso
hops, Slack Water Brown Ale and the
West-Coast-style Storyville IPA. Also
look for these brews around the area in 12-ounce cans. As 2018 is New Orleans'
300th anniversary, Allen plans exceptional seasonals that include an amber
lager aged in Elijah Craig barrels, a 13% ABV imperial stout in bourbon
barrels, and an IPA variant with local citrus fruits.
"Our
brewery slogan is 'Brewed Below Sea Level,'" notes Allen. "With
Tipitina's music hall, NOLA Brewing, Urban South and hip Magazine Street
nearby, we love our neighborhood, and locals seem to love our food, beer, bar
and beer garden."
Urban South Brewery
1645 Tchoupitoulas Street
Urban
South opened its doors on St. Patrick's Day of 2016. Co-founder and vice
president Kyle Huling had started up the craft beer program for a local beer
distributor, and his future business partner fell in love with craft beer while
working in the Pacific Northwest. When asked about Urban South's inviting,
spacious tasting room and brewery, Huling explains, "All the brewers we
spoke to advised us to get the largest building with the highest ceilings that
we could afford. We looked at 25 other spots around the city before we decided
on this one that was once a metal storage warehouse. We sublease a quarter of
the building to Craft Kettle tank manufacturers."
Expect
four year-round beers at Urban South, a creative seasonal lineup that changes
every few months, and the hop-focused "Architecture Series." "We
are not afraid to fail, and one of our core values is being fearless,"
notes Huling. "We came up with 20 initial pilot brews, and some were
great, and some went down the drains. In 2018, we'll release Paradise Park American Lager that will
be priced just like the big boys. Eight out of ten beers consumed in Louisiana are
still a macro or import lager, but we see Paradise Park as a way to ease these
consumers into the craft beer world."
Born and
raised in New Orleans, Huling takes pride in bringing jobs to the community.
"Our Christmas picture last year had nine employees, and this year we have
more than 20," he says. "Everything about New Orleans is about
family, food, friends and fun, and beer fits right into that mix. Our brewery
is family friendly, so bring the kids to check out the games in our
taproom."
Parleaux Beer Lab
634 Lesseps Street
Situated
in the quiet Bywater district, just a short taxi ride east of the French
Quarter, sits the inviting Parleaux Beer Lab brewery. The brewery started
production around 2017's Jazz Fest, and co-owner Eric Jensen focused on being a
neighborhood brewery that embraced the "funky
and fun" attitude of the city while creating a welcoming space for friends
and families. Jensen remarks, "We want to apply a playful, yet
science-based, approach in creating a range of rotating beers that are
flavorful, well-balanced and sometimes outside style norms."
Jensen
and co-owner/wife Leah both come from
areas loaded with craft beer - Eric from Grand Rapids and Leah from Denver.
"We see the most captivating part of craft beer is the cultural history
and value beer has had in regions around the world," states Eric. "We're
living through an incredible beer renaissance in New Orleans right now. Leah and
I are laid-back and chill, but with a deep appreciation for our community. Our
neighbors are our best customers, and we are family-friendly and puppy-friendly."
Parleaux's
most popular current beer is Foggy
Glasses - a juicy, soft, fruity New England-style IPA. Eric Jensen adds,
"With recipe input from several
brewer friends, I sat down with my brewer Chuck Smock and designed an amazing IPA
that has gone over really well with our customers."
Brieux Carré Brewing Company
2115 Decatur Street
New
Orleans locals love to drink and listen to tunes on busy Frenchmen Street, so
owner/brewer Robert Bostick was
thrilled to locate his compact Brieux Carré brewery, taproom and beer garden
just a few steps off Frenchmen back in April of 2017. As with many modern craft
brewers, Bostick started off as an avid homebrewer of IPAs, experimenting with
a array of dry-hopping techniques for the original recipe of his now
best-selling Falcon Warrior IIPA with
Falconer's Flight, Warrior, Simcoe, Citra, Cascade and Amarillo hops. His
friends fell in love with the beer and encouraged Bostick to go pro. "My
first trip to Denver brought me across TRVE, which quickly became my
inspiration, as they had this incredible 'shotgun-style' taproom," Bostick
recalls. "It resembled the architecture that I was used to in most New
Orleans homes, and I felt it was appropriate to bring that theme to Brieux
Carré."
People enjoy Brieux Carré's friendly, relaxed atmosphere, and this makes Bostick a happy guy. He suggests, "Some people take drinking beer too seriously, but most people who meet me at the brewery know that I'm sarcastic and enjoy poking fun at current beer politics. New Orleans is full of weird people, and Brieux Carré fits in well."
Royal Brewery New Orleans
7366 Townsend Place B
Located
on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, just south of New Orleans Lakefront
Airport, sits Royal Brewery New Orleans. In the mid-1990s, founder Raymond
Pumilia began brewing on a kitchen stove in his New Orleans art studio, after a
friend gave him a brewing kit. In a discussion with a friend in a bar late one
night, Raymond announced his intentions of starting a brewery. He and his wife
Mandy soon embarked on long days of business planning and location scouting.
Upon its
opening in May of 2017, Royal Brewery's taproom formed a bit of a craft beer
oasis on the south shore. Mandy Pumilia shares, "People enjoy visiting
with our team, sipping our traditional beer styles, joining a tour on Saturdays
and Sundays and playing games with friends and kids in our children's
area."
The brewery
sits near a planned South Shore Harbor amphitheater and a ship exhibit from the
National World War II Museum. "Our location in this heavily
industrial area alongside other businesses like Folger’s Coffee, Luzianne Tea, Bunny Bread and Southshore
Donuts was perfect," Mandy Pumilia suggests. "We refer to the area as
the 'Beverage and Yeast Belt of New Orleans' and are excited to add Royal
Brewery New Orleans to complete both belts of commerce."
Wayward Owl Brewing Company
3940 Thalia Street
Wayward
Owl launched in November of 2016 after two years of renovations on the historic
GEM Theater just northwest of Central City. Founder/brewer Justin Boswell got
his brewing boots wet at Black Raven Brewing in Redmond, Washington. "I
started by washing floors and worked my way up to being one of the lead
brewers," Boswell recalls. "After 12 years away from Louisiana, my
wife Kristin and I decided to come home to open our own brewery. One of the
influences on us coming back was the changing political climate becoming more
favorable toward small breweries. Once we got here, finding our amazing
location in a historic theater sealed the deal."
Folks in
The Big Easy immediately appreciated the grassroots style and convivial vibe at
Wayward Owl. "We are a small, local, family business, and we think people
here find that important," says Boswell. "Patrons made our Clean Slate IPA our best-selling beer,
and the first time it was brewed was at midnight on December 31, 2009
in my friend's garage. This was our first all-grain recipe, and the current
version is absolutely nothing like the original. We've tweaked this beer over
and over, and now we have a final recipe hitting shelves in time for Mardi
Gras."
- Akademia Brewing Hunker Down Brown is an American-style brown ale loaded with brown malt complexity that provides notes of roasted nuts, dark biscuit crust, light caramel and balancing hops. This ale goes down extremely well during UGA football season.
- Atlanta Brewing Company Soul of the City American IPA is a smooth, pleasing, thirst-quenching IPA with hops that give wonderful nuances of citrus, pine and pineapple. Light esters provide an elegant complexity.
- Creature Comforts Context & Memory Pale Ale is an easy-drinking, 5.5% ABV American pale ale with generous additions of Mosaic, Citra and Galaxy hops that provide juicy, herbal, tropical fruit notes backed by pleasing malt complexity. "Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life." - Anthony Bourdain.
- Creature Comforts The Silent World. This smooth, clean, black lager gets its inspiration from classic, roasty, German schwarzbiers. Expect a dark malt-focused brew featuring roasted malt, caramel hints, mild cocoa and nuances of toasted bread crust. Classic German hops provide a pleasing balance in this 5.5% ABV lager.
- Gate City 1864 IPA is a malty, slightly sweet ale with pleasant malt complexity backed by mild American hop additions. The aroma is malt-forward. Pair with roasted chicken or grilled scallops.
- Monks Meadery Abstinence in the Abbey is a Belgian-inspired mead with coriander, orange peel, grains of paradise and Belgian ale yeast. Light additions of Nugget and Mt. Hood hops are included for bitterness and flavor, and the mead offers beautiful notes of clove, spice, fruit and witbier coriander complexity. Monks Meadery is even looking into producing the mead with chickpea bean water for added complexity and mouthfeel.
- Pontoon Snozzberries Taste Like Snozzberries is a rich, fruity Berliner weisse with strawberry, blackberry, black currant, vanilla and sweet lactose. Like a tart fruit smoothie, this 5.1% ABV ale packs a mouthful of fresh fruit character and mild lactic acidity.
- Red Hare Hasenpfeffer Oktoberfest is a classic German-style märzenbier with an elegant nose and palate of toasted bread, light nutty malts and hints of toffee and caramel. This clean lager comes across as malty, with no fruity esters. Pop a can alongside a salty, soft pretzel with mustard.
- Southern Brewing Company Mulberry Grove Golden Sour Ale is part of the brewery's Southern Woodpile Series. Aged in oak for more than a year, then dosed with a load of fruit from Lexington, Georgia, this reddish hued, tart brew offers notes of stone fruit, crisp lactic acid, strawberry jam, cranberries and mild Brettanomyces. An elegant fruit ale.
- St. Feuillien Grisette is available now in cans. This version was inspired by a light-bodied, yet complex, Belgian ale that was popular with Belgian miners early last century. Notes of wheat, fruity esters and mild bittering hops make for an extremely impressive session ale that goes well alongside light cheeses and buttery fish dishes.
- SweetWater 420 Strain G13 IPAcontains special terpenes and hemp oils, providing a mildly dank, cannabis-like aroma and palate. The 6% ABV IPA offers a medium body, slight haze, and an even greater depth of dankness from additions of resiny Columbus and Simcoe hops.
- Terrapin Touch of Grisette. Terrapin's version of this historic style of Belgian ale boasts hints of wheat, farmhouse complexity, light bittering hops, and a touch of acidity. This low gravity ale goes extremely well with goat cheese or raw oysters.
- Wild Heaven Fest Beer. Brewed in the style of an Oktoberfest märzen lager, this beer from Avondale Estates, Georgia also contains a slightly pungent, experimental German hop called Greungeist that provides a unique, interesting twist. Greungeist is a Hallertau derivative. The beer comes across as quite poundable.
