A Saturday at 40 Arpent Brewing

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you, I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.- Mr Rogers

One of the greatest things about local craft breweries is that they are part of the community.  It's not some large sprawling behemoth pumping out beer after beer with thousands of employees no one knows. In a lot of places across the country, especially here in New Orleans these small breweries are your neighbors. Literally. Not the kind of neighbor you can borrow the lawnmower from but better.  They brew beer. This is the kind of neighbor Mr. Rogers was talking about.

This past weekend my friend Chris Sickmen from back in my Virginia days came to visit our great city.  He was my neighbor and friend back when I lived in Stafford.  I wanted to show him the New Orleans I know not some touristy version of it.

Like me he is into drinking craft beers so I wanted to make a point of hitting a local brewery while he was here.  I was due for a visit to 40 Arpent Brewing so I got in touch with owner Michael Naquin and we headed over there Saturday afternoon.

The brewery is nestled right along the Mississippi River in Arabi, Louisiana which is a suburb of New Orleans about ten minutes outside the city limits.  It has a spectacular view of the river and the Steamboat Natchez(which carries 40 Arpent beer) passes the brewery and blares its horn as if a nod every time it passes the brewery.  Kind of a "what's up homie" moment 2 or 3 times a day.

When we arrived they had some folks setting up for a party and we felt like we were intruding.  It turned out that it was some friends of Baton Rouge homebrewer Blake Winchell and thanks to his generosity we just became part of the group.  

We met some folks from down in Houma who were cooking up the crawfish and man did they do an amazing job.   They were throwing cans of asparagus, artichokes and all sorts of other stuff I hadn't seen before.  Even talked about using pickles and pineapples.  Need me some of that!

Crawfish, oysters and the most amazing pimento cheese deviled eggs I've ever had coupled with great Louisiana beer and a spectacular view made for such a unique and awesome experience.  It's things like this that make New Orleans a great city.  The randomness, the spontaneity and the community. What an amazing day!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

BROOKLYN BREWERY BREWMASTER GARRETT OLIVER WINS THE 2014 JAMES BEARD AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING WINE, BEER, OR SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL

This is some really cool news.  Not local news but cool nonetheless.  Garrett Oliver received a James Beard award!  I feel this is MUCH deserved and about time someone from the beer world won the award!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BROOKLYN BREWERY BREWMASTER GARRETT OLIVER WINS THE 2014 JAMES BEARD AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING WINE, BEER, OR SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL"
The "Oscar of the Culinary World" caps off Garrett Oliver's 20th Year at the Brooklyn Brewery

MAY 5th, 2014, New York, NY – Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery has won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence in the category of "Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional". Often referred to as "the Oscars of the food world", the James Beard Foundation Awards, celebrated in a star-studded black tie ceremony at New York's Lincoln Center, are widely considered the most prestigious awards in the culinary arts in the United States. This is Oliver's first James Beard Award. Having been previously nominated in this category several times, he was also a finalist for his books "The Brewmaster's Table" and "The Oxford Companion to Beer".

The James Beard Awards are considered to be the highest honor in the culinary and beverage fields since their establishment in 1990. Previous winners of the “Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Sprits Professional” honor include Paul Grieco of Terroir (2012) and Julian Van Winkle III of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery (2011). This is the first time a beer professional has ever won this award.

"This is my 20th year at Brooklyn Brewery, and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a banner year", said Oliver. "Chefs are the closest peers of the modern craft brewer, so the culinary side of brewing has always been very important to me. I have a lot of friends in this room. This is a great honor, and I think it signals the fact that real beer is back where it belongs - at the table."

Garrett Oliver began brewing professionally at Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989 as an apprentice. He was appointed brewmaster there in 1993. He soon became widely known both here and abroad for his flavorful interpretations of traditional brewing styles as well as being an avid and entertaining lecturer and writer on the subject of beer. Garrett has hosted more than 900 beer tastings, dinners, and cooking demonstrations in 16 countries, writes regularly for beer and food-related periodicals, and is internationally recognized as an expert on traditional beer styles and their affinity with good food.

In 2003 Oliver authored The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food. The Brewmaster’s Table was the winner of a 2004 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Book Award and was a finalist for the 2004 James Beard Foundation Book Awards. The Brewmaster’s Table was released in a paperback edition in May of 2005 and remains in print.

His most recent book is The Oxford Companion to Beer (OCB), published in October 2011 by Oxford University Press. Compiling the vast knowledge of 166 experts in 24 countries, covering 1,120 subjects, The Oxford Companion to Beer is the most comprehensive book ever published on the subject. Only nine weeks after its publication date, the OCB had risen to #8 on the Amazon list of overall books, had sold out four printings and headed into a fifth.Amazon.com<http://Amazon.com> named the OCB one of the “Best Books of 2011”.

Garrett was a founding board member of Slow Food USA<http://www.slowfoodusa.org/> and then later served for five years on the Board of Counselors of Slow Food International. He is a graduate of Boston University, and holds a degree in Broadcasting and Film. He is the recipient of the 1998 Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation and Excellence in Brewing, granted by the Institute for Brewing Studies. It is the highest award given within the United States brewing profession. He is also the recipient of the 2003 Semper Ardens Award for Beer Culture (Denmark) and Cheers Beverage Media’s “Beverage Innovator of the Year” Award for 2006. In 2007, Forbes named him one of the top ten tastemakers in the country for wine, beer and spirits.

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About The Brooklyn Brewery

Founded in 1988, The Brooklyn Brewery is one of the foremost craft breweries in the world, currently ranking #9 in volume among United States craft breweries. A producer of award-winning beers that are available in 26 states and more than 20 countries, The Brooklyn Brewery is located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Brewery recently opened Nya Carnegiebryggeriet (New Carnegie Brewery) in Stockholm, Sweden, where it produces a range of specialty beers for the Scandinavian market. www.brooklynbrewery.com<http://www.brooklynbrewery.com>

American Craft Beer Week is Here!

Okay, so I didn't come out with some extensive list with all of the New Orleans area beer events for American Craft Beer Week.  Sorry, been busy.

However, Nora over at NOLA Beer Blog did and it's awesome.  Go check it out here.

Make sure you join me, my co-author Argyle and newest Beer Buddha sponsor Chafunkta Brewing at Midway Pizza for some beer and pizza this Thursday at 6pm!


Cheers!

The Beer Buddha