Craft Beer Austin Visits New Orleans
Recently, we decided to take a road trip to New Orleans. After about 8 hours in the car, we it to our hotel on the corner of Canal St and Bourbon St. Our first night there, we walked up Bourbon St to a bar called Beerfest which is open 24 hours. It’s a cozy craft beer bar that has about 30 taps and a variety of bottles. I had the Amber by Parish Brewing Co. to start off the night and Rich had Acadie by Bayou Teche Brewing. We wanted to try some local brews that we have not tried before. Then we headed out for dinner to Felix’s Restaurant and Oyster bar. There was a big line to get in but luckily we didn’t wait long since we opted to sit at the bar. I ordered Voodoo Bengal by Tin Roof Brewing Co. to go with the raw oysters on the half shell and Rich ordered Abita AndyGator, an 8% Doubleboc
k. After dinner we walked about a mile to the Avenue Pub on St. Charles St. They had a huge selection of draft beers and a big bottle list. I ordered an Ola Dubh 12 Year Special Reserve which they had on tap by Harviestoun Brewery. It’s an English old ale, black as night, barrel aged in whiskey casks. Rich had the Barrel Aged Hipster Breakfast by Southern Prohibition Brewing, a silky oatmeal stout aged in bourbon barrels. We took the trolley back to our hotel since I already had blisters on my feet!
Then next day, we had scheduled a swamp tour but they were overbooked and put us on a later trip which freed up our afternoon. We got in our car and headed over to Cooter Brown’s Tavern. It was still early and they didn’t have all the taps open yet. They had a nice selection of bottles. Here we had lunch and I ordered Milk Stout by 40 Arpent Brewing Co, which tasted creamy and smooth. Rich got the Christmas Ale by Abita Brewing Co.
Our next stop was on Magazine St; Pizza Domenica. Recently opened by Chef John Besh, Domenica is an upscale pizza place with a cool vibe and a great fancy bar. Too bad we had lunch already but there was still room for a beer! Rich and I shared Miel Sauvage by Bayou Teche Brewing which was on tap. It was super sweet and made with honey.
That night we walked to Frenchmen St about a mile from the hotel we were staying at. There was a great local bar called D.B.A. which has a huge bottle list and a good tap a list. The bar usually has live music playing at night but this night they hadMonday Night Football on. We ordered a bottle of Imperial Biscotti Break by Evil Twin Brewing to share. Super creamy, mocha & coffee 11.5% abv. A little pricey at $22 for 22oz but it was delicious.
Walking back to our hotel on Decatur St, we stopped in a liquor store to see if they had anything special. We found a bottle of Liquid Bliss by Terrapin Beer Co which we don’t get here is Austin. As we paid for it, the cashier offered to open it up for us, but we decided to save it for another night. 
This brings us to our final night in New Orleans. While getting ready for dinner, we opened the Liquid Bliss bottle and headed out to dinner. We went to a local place called Coop’s Place. We got seated at the bar and it seemed like everyone was drinking Jameson whisky, including the bar tender! For few minutes we just sat and people watched. It seemed like everybody knew each other. This place had a few bottles and a few taps. We ordered a bomber of Andygator by Abita Brewing Co to share. Next, we headed over to BMC Jazz Club on Decatur St to listen to some great jazz. They had a great Belgium bottle list which was reasonably priced. I ordered Chimay Blanche and Rich got the Delirium Nocturnum. We stayed about an hour and then headed back to D.B.A. for a local brass band called Treme. Since I started with Belgium beers I decided to continue. I ordered Tripel Karmeliet followed by Kwak, all strong Belgium beers. Rich had Evil Twin Lil’B. The band was phenomenal, I highly recommend seeing this band! The beers were pretty awesome too.
The next day we checked out without having breakfast, because we had a Craft Beer agenda! We drove to Magazine St where Stein’s Deli was located. At first we walked in and seen a fridge with just a few beers. I was puzzled, because we heard this was the place to get great beers. Then we seen a sign for beer in the back. We went outside and in the back room which must be the storage room, there it was, the entire room was filled with BEER. Beer everywhere, we couldn’t believe our eyes. We must have spent an hour going through the beers to pick out special beers that we don’t get in Austin. Once we went to check out we talked to the owner Dan Stein who moved to NOLA from Philadelphia. He got into beer and decided to open a Jewish deli/beer store. We told him we were visiting and I have a love for sour beers.
He took us in the back to his storage room (yes another room outside in the back)and recommended some sour beers for me to try. I was like yes and yes and yes please. We ordered breakfast to go and started our drive back to Austin. The entire ride we kept talking about all the beers we seen there and that perhaps we should have bought more. Next time we thought to ourselves. That ended our three night trip to New Orleans. Here is a picture of the beers we picked up at Stein’s Deli.
Did we miss any good craft beer spots? We will focus more on Brewery Tours our next trip down.
Please leave your favorite NOLA Craft Beer spots & stories in the comments!
