Founded just north of New Orleans in 1986, the Abita Brewing Company has established its beers as a staple of New Orleans bars. Having loved Abita Amber, a smooth, crisp and caramel tasting lager, on our last visit, we were determined to explore more of Abita's offerings further on this go round.On Monday night, we started off the evening with a pub crawl of sorts. After hitting Pierre Maspero's and Alpine Bistro, we headed over to Pat O'Brien's for the obligatory "Hurricane" that we missed last year (think overpriced Kool-Aid meets Robitussin, but apparently it's a tourist tradition).
Our next stop was at the Funky Pirate on Bourbon street (home of the famous hand grenade, where diabetic coma inducing sweetness meets enough hard liquor to knock you over) There we met MJ, the uber-friendly bartender featured in the photo. In between swapping entertaining stories of the city, MJ served me my first Abita Purple Haze. I was blown away instantly. Purple Haze is a raspberry beer that Abita produces all year (as opposed to their 'harvest brews' which are seasonal). It has a notable fruity flavor, without being cloyingly sweet or medicine-like. Not all fruit beers are created equally, but Purple Haze walks the line between berry and beer wonderfully. I suspect that this stems in part from Abita's cold filtering process (using no preservatives, additives or stabilizers) and their use of the artesian water from Abita Springs.
On Tuesday night we headed to Bullet's Sports Bar for some live music. While being entertained by the legendary Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers we tried Abita's Jockamo IPA. True to the IPA style, Jockamo is hoppier than most beers and has a very full flavor, one to be sipped and enjoyed rather than chugged. As the music heated up with Kermit featuring an array of local talent including Ellen Smith and James "Sleeping Giant" Winfield, we switched back to the Amber for the Booze Whisperer and the Purple Haze for me.
Returning from NOLA on Thursday, we visited France 44 in Minneapolis, hoping to get some Abita Amber to take to a barbeque. While they don't carry the Amber and were out of the Purple Haze, we were able to pick up some of the Abita Turbodog Ale. A smooth but intense dark brown ale, Turbodog is delicious. Wheaty and rich with just a hint of chocolate malts, it now ranks as one of my favorites. In fact, I'm sipping one as I type!
Cheers! from the Bar Fly
