The Beer Brotha: Abita

Showing posts with label Abita. Show all posts

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Spring Bock Beer Tasting

It's the most wonderful time of the year! BOCK SEASON BABY! After the dog days of summer and the 58 minutes of winter we get in Houston, nothing NOTHING is better than late February in Houston, Texas. 70 degrees outside, crawfish are starting to pop up, and I can be found on the golf course on my Friday's off. But that also means that the Spring Bocks are back. Sweet, malty, low hops, crisp, easy to drink, clean, pure. I absolutely love. So let's make it happen.

Beer Log: Right now

State: A little loopy from last nights beering, especially the Saint Arnold Farmer's Brown

Abita Mardi Gras Bock

Clear amber, kinda great malt nose, a pinch raisiny taste, low hops. Has a nice water thing going that Abita is known for. Nice light body, good mouthfeel. Sure could use some crawfish right now. Light bitter aftertaste that barely lingers. High 3 stars.

Boulevard Boss Tom's Golden Bock

Golden, pinch more straw. Good caramel malt and raisin thing going on. Smell something like wheat. Good chewier beer. Has a light bread thing going, seemingly noble hops and whatnot. Nice cookie thing going on. High 3 stars, but not as high as Abita's Mardi Gras.

Saint Arnold Bock

Tinged amber color. Syrup sweet thing smell. Big caramel/cinnamon thing, with a pinch of brown sugar. Great meld of sweetness with crisp crisp aftertaste. After you drink it, it's like sipping a new one. 5 stars.

Breckenridge Pandora's Bock

Even a darker amber, copper color. Head waned quickly, so not much nose. Much stronger sweetness than SA, but a little more cloying. Has some chalkiness to it. I like the way it comes together, just that the water is not there. It's actually great, just came after the SA Bock. 4 stars.

Sierra Nevada 2011 Glissade Golden Bock

Great golden straw color. Nice lasting head. Cookie sweetness thing again. Much softer beer, better taken care of than b-ridge. Has a light hop and light sweetness to it. Extremely drinkable. A little more balanced with the hops. Has a lemony hop I'm getting now. Palate getting low. High 3 stars.

Gordon Biersch Blonde Bock

Very clear straw. Very tasty caramel malt, nice sweetness, low hops. Has a little honey thing going on as well. Great light mouthfeel as well. Has some light bread to it, but more of a oatmeal raisin bread. Funny thing is I don't care for raisins, but I love the flavor in the beer. Kinda running out of taste buds there. No rating right now.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Abita SOS

Nice head, golden straw, good noble hoppy nose, but a little thin on the body. I like my Pilsner's a little bigger on hops and malt, like a Pilsner Urquell. This one's a little too acidic and sour for my taste. Not sure if that's supposed to be classic or not. High 2 Stars.

You gotta give it up to Abita for brewing a beer and donating the funds to help the Gulf Coast residents with life after the oil spill has moved on.

Anyway, had a somewhat rough day at the job today, and I may be inhaling some beers tonight to calm my nerves.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Beer in New Orleans, Again

In March a few of us went to New Orleans to party for a weekend. Just some old Texas fun, in New Orleans. I've been meaning to make it to some of the bigger beer bars, but once again I blew it. How can you stumble all the way to Frenchmen street when you have to pass Bourbon.

I've beered it up in the NO before and didn't think I'd find too many new things. I did want to hit Crescent city one more time, as well as try to find some NOLA. NOLA is a new brewery and their beer isn't all over the city just yet. But I did find...

March 20, 2009
Abita Strawberry Harvest
I'll make this simple, if you've ever had Frankenberry Cereal, that's what this tastes like with a skim milk. I always found Frankenberry lagging (Booberry MuthaF8cka!!!). 2 Star.

March 21, 2009
Red Stallion
This Crescent city brewhouse beer is their main attraction beer. At this point I'm feeling the beer a bit, as we've been drinking it up all day and the day before. But this redish amber beer has a bready sugar/cinnamon/caramel smell. Medium body on the moth and kind of boring after that. Nice moderate hops but not balanced. I'm thinking Noble hops. Low 3 Star.

Later on I got a bottle of some stuff from Mississippi

Lazy Magnolia Indian Summer Spiced Ale
Now that's one heck of a name. Nose is a little malty and vegetaly, with some cinnamon in there. Strong head. Frankly, the taste is kinda crappy, harsh unpleasant hop bite, a little grainy, and goes down watery. Low 2 Star if not a 1 Star. Come on Lazy Mag!

Now that I look at my beer book a month later, I could have sworn I drank more than that. I know there was a Gordon Biersch beer in there somewhere. Otherwise, nothing all that new. But I would recommend your wading through Bourbon street's swill and overpriced mixed drinks to hit Beerfest. A great beer bar that is oddball enough to not be totally filled, so you may be able to get a seat.

We did lush it up pretty bad in New Orleans. I managed not to expose myself to anyone this time, but it was an adventure. New Orleans is trying to get better, but it can be hard with all that crime going down. If you make it to the NO, just keep it cool.

We're not Hitchhiking anymore... We're RIDING!

All this travel. It doens't even feel like I've been moving around that much until I write it all down on this blog. Oh well.

Beer Log: February 28, 2009
State: At the House

Abita Andygator
Oh the beer travels. I got this 22 ouncer the last time I was in Louisiana. I'm really rooting for Abita to up the game. Their seasonals have been pretty bland in my opinion. This one is actually a doppelbock. I could retype how they came up with the name of this beer, but I think they could do it better than me. Light straw colored doppelbock, oh behave. Kinda sour and fruity nose coming from a strong offwhite head. It kinda has that light oktoberfest Munich malt caramel nose, and it's kinda lager veggie nose. Maybe not exactly true to style with that caramel, but whatever. Head is taking its SWEET time going down. After waiting it out, I get a nice robust sweetness on my tongue. I was expecting a little sourness in the flavor but it didn't show up. This thing feel great on the tongue. It tastes very German, like a Spaten, not the Optimator but their other brews. It has just enough strength to be a DB but could pass for an Oktoberfest in a different bottle. How about you take the Shiner 99 (a great Helles Lager) and up the caramel a few notches. And since I love Shiner 99, the Gator gets 4 Stars.

Troeg's Amber Ale
Barrelling through our beers picked up from travelling, I got this Troegs when last in Maryland. Smell has a floral hops with some alcohol. Copper color with a weak white head. Upon tasting, I get a flash of hops in a velvety body that reminds me of French bread. The aftertaste is a biting hop (maybe Cascade-ish) but doesn't last very long. 3 Stars. The hop aftertaste lasts longer the more you drink it.

I wonder how you pronounce "troeg" anyway. The "O" in the name has the two dots over it. I wonder if it's like my favorite cartoon character Ren Hoek. Either way, who couldn't use a little SPACE MADNESS!

While we're here, let me slide in one more Troegs I had on March 3.

Troegs Nugget Nectar
State: Eating spicy spaghetti.
This is a slightly red amber color. And OH smell those hops. Flowery and citrusy nose with a great caramel malt backbone. Tasting it and OH WOW! Nice hops strength but no bite. Awesome. Nice plum and caramel on the back end of the tongue. It finishes uber-clean. Slight aftertaste of hops, 4 Star. There is some beady, and it is just plain super hoppy. It reminds me of the Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Back at Home: Christmas Beer Me

Man it feels good to be back at the house. The baby has learned all kinds of new tricks, so cute. After some hanging out with friends, I'm able to try to try the new beers.

Beer log: Right now
State: Chillin with the wife, watching Real Housewives of Atlanta

Abita Christmas

Velvet brown color, white a slight tan head. Smells like a great cinnamon brown sugar cookie. Fantastic. Taste, not so much. On its own, it has a light breadiness and not much on the maltiness.Some cinnamon in there and a smattering of bitterness about. With the turkey, it is much better, some malt and stronger cinnamon cookie presence. Low 3 Star though, unless you are eating it with a saltier food.

Redhook Winterhook

Ruby brown color, with a rather strong offwhite head. Balanced nose with a caramel malt and piney hop scent. This head ain't going nowhere. Decent hops and late bread on the flavor. A little watery maybe 3/4 of the way back on the palette, and the AT has medium hop citrus bite. Low 3 Star.

Not a bad start, but I've got some Avery and a few others. We're going to try and squeeze in a trip to Gingerman to run through the Anchors Christmas beers going back to 2005. Stay Tuned.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Abita Fall Seasonal

The boys at Marcellos had the Abita Seasonal, so it's good to go. A Pecan Ale. I'm so looking forward to this one.

Abita Fall Seasonal
Dark copper color. Low head. A little nutiness and malt in the smell. Kinda like peanut butter with a smattering of roasted malt. Kinda plain for me on the taste. Very little taste. (The wife says it smells like baby poop.) Its around 45F, and I'm not tasting much of anything, maybe some light nut powder they put in there. Low on the roasted malt. I'll pick it back up as it warms a touch. As it warms, it starts to taste like pecans. I get a little spiceyness and light fruitiness as well. Not all that good man. I was expecting a lot more. 2 Star

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Live Review: Jockamo IPA

We interrupt my notebook clearing for a live review. The kicker is I bought about 8 bottles of Abita's Jockamo IPA when I came back from offshore, which you'll see in a later post, and yet I kept forgetting to review it in my book. I'm now down to the last bottle, so I figure I'll just slap this one directly on the blog.

Abita Jockamo IPA

If you'll recall from my last New Orleans post, I kinda felt bad I did not get to Abita's IPA before I had to leave the city. Damn shame for a guy who is a hophead. If I recall, I ranked the Restoration Pale Ale as the best beer I had in the NO. Well, too bad, b/c I like the IPA over the Restoration. So here we go...

Bottle pours into dimpled glass. Good burnt orange color with a light tan strong head. Smells of flowery hops, a slight hop bite (maybe from Cascade), and some caramel malt. Front of the tongue is light malt, with stronger bitterness coming in the back of the tongue. It's not wet on the mouthfeel, but kind of gritty. It is of medium-low bitterness based on the IPA's that I've had. It's certainly more than Restoration, but it's very good. The more I drink it, the more I'm getting the citrusyness (is that a word) of the hops, yet it a nice malt balanced. Well done for Abita. I can imagine many hopheads would say this is closer to an English or regular pale ale on the bitterness. The aftertaste is slightly bitter and lingering, but no real harshness to it. It kind of reminds me of the Broken Halo, but a little lighter.

Review of Abita Brewery.

Well, I've pretty much now had all the beers I could find for Abita. They have the regular seasonals (Bock for Spring, a Christmas Ale for Winter, and a Red Ale for late spring), and I've only had the Summer (Wheat). Of course in New Orleans, there is no such thing as Winter, so it's all kind of Spring or Summer. Lake Affect my ass. Abita's beers seem to be on the lighter side for all brands, which probably works well for the hot times in French quarter. I'm not sure how popular they are in Acadiana (Cajun country), but pretty much all their beers work well for walking the city streets while looking for loose women to flash for beads, not that I do that type of thing. I honestly think their beers would work well for nationwide expansion, especially their Purple Haze and Turbodog brands. The names are awesome, and they are subtle yet tasty enough to curve off a little market share from Miller, Bud, Boston, and the Mexicans. Hell, I could see someone naming their Soccer club Purple Haze. I look forward to trying Abita's seasonals. As Louisiana is a second home for me, I hope to see a little more out of New Orleans. I particularly look forward to NOLA opening up.

Be on the lookout for posts on my homebrews, a lager and an IPA. I will also document my adventures in building a big arse kegerator. Lastly, I'm thinking of documenting my next two weeks of no beer. Should be fun.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Beering in New Orleans, Part 4 and Wrap Up

First the beer

State: Hot as balls in New Orleans
May 25th, 2008

Abita Wheat
In case you are wondering how hot balls are... 98.6 degrees.
Got this one at a bottle in the store. I had to make a choice between this one and Jockamo IPA. I am a hop head, but just couldn't feel an IPA right now while I'm sweating out my clothes walking the streets. That one will have to wait until I get back.
Wheat beer pours oange and smooth from the bottle to the plastic cup. Serious head on this one but a regular beer smell (if there is such a thing). The head is a little lacy. Some sweetness in the smell if I really try. Not bad. Medium-full body with hints of orange. I'm not a fan of the 60 second bitter aftertaste this one has. Though it has medium hops. I now step outside the hotel room. The hops makes it a slightly different experience for a wheat beer, and I can dig it. It definetly refreshes one at 95 degree heat. It still feels smooth, though no new flavors are coming out, save MAYBE a slight spiciness.

And that's it for the NO this time. I did not get to the Jockamo IPA, I got most of what I wanted to try. The other locations were beer bars (d.b.a., and Beerfest). I made it to beerfest but can't remember what we had outside of a jager shot.

I enjoyed beering in New Orleans and look forward to doing it again. I will likely stop by a grocery store to pick a Jockamo. I also did not get to Big Easy or Lagniappe. It seems that the local NO beers are really about being refreshing, not tossing your tastebuds around. Of course it was summertime, so it fits well. Not to mention that most tourists will drink their beer on steamy streets of the Quarter, which further boosts the case for not juicing the beer with lot of hops or malts.

Damn near anything will taste good after walking it out in NO for an hour. All the beer sold on the street are Miller and Bud lights, but it does the trick. I look forward to going back to NO in the winter for some winter seasonals to see how these guys get 'er done when it's time to turn it up.

Of course NOLA will not be ready until October 2008. In the meantime, I feel I have enough to give a top 3 beers of New Orleans.

#1. Abita Restoration Ale
I love the cause, but that was pleasant hop bitterness as well. Would be a great beer to have back in Houston. Just goes great with heat of NO, and whatnot. I also see on Abita's website the have a slew of Select beers. I can see I'll just have to make a day trip to Abita's brewpub.

#2. Abita Amber
Just so good and bready. Maybe b/c it was one of my early beers and we were partying it up, but I really enjoyed this one. It seems like if there was a general Amber beer, this would be it.

#3. Crescent City Red Stallion
I love the richness of this one. I'm a fan of Vienna style malts as well. This was CC's best beer, and I think it would work well as a foil for seafood. I have very rich ribs which kinda knocked down the sweetness, but I could see it still there. It's like if you eat pork-n-beans laced with brown sugar, and then try to drink Kool-aid. The kool-aid would taste like water. The act that I could get the caramel out of this one bodes well.

Beering in New Orleans, Part Duex

The next day we are hanging out and I am copping a few beers at the corner store. I KNOW I grabbed the Abita Strawberry Lager, but I don't see it here in my notebook. Oh well, it was kinda light anyway.

May 24, 2008
State, in the hotel room with single bottles
I just gave my luncheon seminar, and now I'm just kind of goofing off, so grabbed a few of these beers to give them a try

Dixie Beer
Plastic cup. Dixie's brewery got jacked up during Katrina, but they are now back and brewing. Gotta represent. Kinda foamy white head and smells veggie-like. High carbonation and medium bread taste, served ice cold. Head has slight lace to it. It has a light body and hops, and a little bitter aftertaste. There's a light maltiness in there as well. Yes I'm going backwards, but the color is orange straw and very clear. I do have a slight headaches from drinking it up the night before.

Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager
Dark brown, ruby in the light with a tan head. Smells of butter biscuits, chocolate, and malt. Full body with a velvety mouthfeel with a medium carbonation. Low malt and very low hops, with a light aftertaste. No flavors really. Based on the smell I was hoping for more. It gets kinda bready and smoky as it warms up. I'm still just getting into homebrewing, but it may be that Dixie added a lot of stuff very late in the boil or even during secondary fermentation, hence all the nice smells but no flavor to match. They pulled a bait and switch on me.

Abita Restoration Ale

Abita threw together this pale ale to raise money for the Katrina recovery efforts. Could be soured on the smell, with a very strong head. Maybe a little malt on the aroma. Dark bronze and orange color. Offwhite head that is lacy. Mild-medium hops, with low to medium light body. low medium carbonation as well. I would say this is a blond pale ale with some bitterness on the AT. It got more hoppy as it warmed up. maybe even a regular pale ale level. Nice stuff.

Gordon Biersch Maibock

GB is a national chain brewpub, but they do brew their beer onsite. I cannot drink on Monday, so I had to prioritize, but I decided to sneak in one beer from GB before moving on. I think I'll be travelling to Atlanta in September and probably to the DC area one more time before the year is out, and they have chains out there. But I did try their seasonal beer. A little smell on there. Its brown with an offwhite head. It's moderately malty on the first sip, a little dry, little to no aftertaste. I'm tasting caramel malts and low hops. It's a little slippery on the drinkability with low carbonation. A little roasted malts as well. Not a bad beer at all. I had to move to another engagement, so I got this to go.

Beering in New Orleans: Part 1

And now I get to my New Orleans trip in my notebook. I attended a conference in New Orleans over Memorial Weekend. There is nothing like travelling on Expense. So I set up my beertinerary to try and go to Abita, but all their beers are available at the corner stores. For better or worse, you can buy single bottles of beer at the corner store, slap it in a plastic cup, and drink it right there on the street. I was so blown when the guy a Gordon Beirsch asked me if I wanted my beer TO GO. And what's more, the corner stores on Canal Street have a beer selection that's better than the Kroger. They may have just as much selection as a basic HEB. All in single bottles as well. So throughout my trip in NO, I bought several Abitas and Dixie Beers from the stores, and drank them out of plastic cups either at the hotel room or just milling about. I even hit up the brewpub in the French Quarter.

I would also like to send a special shoutout to NOLA Brewing, a new microbrewery in New Orleans. I called them up asking about a tasting room and though they weren't open yet, the guy on the phone was a great help in finding not only some good beering, but good restaurants to eat at as well.

For the record, I still do not have the heart to visit the Lower 9th Ward or the harder hit areas of NO. As a Katrina evac myself (my wife and I lived in Ocean Springs, MS just outside of Biloxi when the storm hit), I cannot look at the yet worse state New Orleans is in. And how they could re-elect Ray Nagin just makes me vomit in my own mouth. I get so pissed off I can barely speak about it without a LONG string of obscenities coming out of my mouth. It could drive a man to drink. Speaking of which :)

May 23rd, 2008
Abita Amber (got it on draft, in a plastic cup)
Picked up this joint a little bar on a Riverboat restaurant. They only had two taps, but I hadn't had this one before. If you'll recall from my earlier posts, I was NOT impressed with Abita Beer and Turbodog. But here we go. It has an amber-auburn color, go figure, and is pretty clear. First taste if of high breadiness, nice medium body, medium carbonation. As it warms up (and it warmed up quickly in the heat and in my plastic cup), you get a nice cool maltiness. I'd say this was a very good session beer. The slight offwhite head remained the entire time. Very good stuff as I sit outside overlooking the old Mississippi river.

Abita Purple Haze
Negros chat up this beer quite a bit, so I had to cop this one at the store on the way back from the boat. Straw color slightly hazy, strong white head. Slight fruity and sour smell. Kinda like raspberry. The first taste is kinda empty at first, then I notice the light body, high carbonation, and low raspberry flavor. It moderately drinkable. It has low hops and low on the wheat. I really expected more out of this one.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Turboooooooooooo!!!!

Beer Log: March 1, 2008

State: Hungry and Chillin

We're at a FAMU Houston alumni meeting and it's at this cajun restaurant. These guys try to keep it real, so with the crawfish bucket you can order some Abita. Unfortunately, I had to drink it out of a plastic cup, or out of the bottle, so plastic we will go.

Abita Turbodog

You gotta love the name. I'm getting fired up over the dark color. And for authenticity's sake, I ordered some crawfish etouffe. Oh it's real. It's pours smooth and dark brown, with a tan head. I'm not getting much scent but the sista serving the beer had it in an ice chest. I'm getting some very light chocolate notes and light bitterness. High fine carbonation. I'm getting the word "burnt" in my mind, and I'm just not feeling it. The only thing I'm feeling is a horrible aftertaste. It's kind of silky on the mouthfeel. It gets better as it warms, and we've gone from very light choco to light choco. It's not a bad drink with the spicy etouffee, but not that great either.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Back in the Easy

Beer Log: January 30, 2008

State: slight hunder and a headache.

Ahh New Orleans. Come on baby. I'm traveling the city streets and finally made it back to the airport. Sitting around waiting for plane, and I notice something peculiar on the bottle list. Abita. http://www.abita.com/ Lord knows everyone is all up on the Abita water, so the beer has to be good right. Word is, NO cats love this stuff, so I gave this my fullest review yet.

Abita Beer (Amber):
I poured it from a bottle into the plastic cup they gave me. Oh well, it is an airport. Slight malt scent, amber color with a light cream colored full head. Head actually has some Lace. First thing I notice is the aftertaste, which as a a little bitter. High carbonation, light malt & hops, uberlight citrus. I'm actually thinking of water and earth. Medium to full bodied beer that is very wet. As my adventure with a damn plastic cup continues, the head sustains and pops in fine bubbes. But its nothing to write home about with drinkability due to high carbo. Damned if this isn't a Metallic feel in my mouth a few minutes after drinking it. As it warms up it's light caramel as it warms up. Not bad, butI can see why it could be popular in NO. Though they surprisingly don't have it on tap. And I do wonder how long you could stay in business in Houston without having some Shiner on tap. Oh my, there is something like biscuits in that last draught. Oh well. I did session this puppy in an attempt to knock myself out on the flight, which didn't work of course. I look forward to trying more Abita stuff as I continue travelling to NO.

The Beer Brotha