Texas Road Trip: Day 4 - Lucky 7 in The Big Easy

Day 4: New Orleans, LA

One of the reasons we'd decided to drive to Texas in lieu of flying was due to the fact that we'd be able to pass through a number of states we hadn't had the opportunity to visit yet. One such state was Louisiana, home of one of the country's most beloved cities, New Orleans. I'll be the first to admit that Mardi Gras in no way, shape or form appeals to me. Like, at all. I mean, I guess I could get down with witnessing some drunk 21-year-olds dumping out their funbags for a few strands of plastic beads, but I simply become too annoyed too quickly with large masses of young, drunken buffoons. However, I was informed that chaos of this magnitude only occurs on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras (and maybe Jazz Fest... 'cuz everyone knows how crazy jazz fans are). I'd spoken to several friends who had visited New Orleans, and all of them assured me it's the best city in the country. (Maybe it would be a close second, as I doubt any American city will ever topple my all-time favorite: San Diego.) With this in mind, I made it a point to block out an entire day on the itinerary dedicated to traipsing around this historic city. 

When we returned from our trip, several people asked us specifically about New Orleans and how we enjoyed our visit. We were asked if we hit up this music venue or that restaurant. Friends wanted to know how we liked the French Quarter and which bars we popped into on Bourbon Street. They wanted to know our favorite BBQ joint and soul food kitchen. 

In reality, we didn't do any of the usual stuff most folks do in New Orleans. We went to seven breweries, then went back to the hotel and crashed. So I suppose I squandered our time in New O, but the breweries were generally fantastic, and perhaps the only thing I regret is missing out on seeing at least one set of jazz at a small music venue or club. But you gotta do what you gotta do. 

First stop of the day: Port Orleans!

We kicked off the day at Port Orleans, arriving just around opening time. I believe we were the first patrons of the day. Since it was early and our first stop, we opted for a flight. Here's the skinny:

Dorado - Crisp, light-bodied Mexican lager with just a hint of sweetness. This beer was absolutely crushable and I didn't think twice about taking home a 6-pack.

Riverfront Lager - Inspired by the traditional beers of Munich, Germany, this golden lager is crafted with a distinct American sensibility. The aroma is fruity with a hint of peach, while the flavor is moderately sweet with a soft, malty character and crisp, clean finish.

Vice Versa - Hazy IPA featuring a malt bill of oats, malted barley, and wheat that's generously hopped with 5 pounds per barrel Citra, Mosaic, and Lotus. Lotus is one you just don't see all that often, although I've come across this variety here and there. Lotus is an experimental hop variety developed under the Hopsteiner breeding program. It's a tenacious variety that apparently outperformed thousands of siblings born of the initial cross breeding experiment. Fast forward a decade or so, and Lotus is one of the trendiest new hops out there. With exceptional aromatic characteristics, Lotus hops lend a huge smack of orange and vanilla as well as more subtle notes of candied grape and tropical fruit aromas. I'd love to try a single-hopped IPA with this variety!

Hoptical HDHC - DIPA hopped with Citra. The acronym HDHC actually stands for High-Density Hop Charge. In essence, Port Orleans uses what they describe as a "ludicrous amount" of Citra Cryo hops (remember those?) at a rate of a whopping 6 pounds per barrel to amplify the citrus fruit character of this very drinkable 8% ABV DIPA. 

 

Aside from some delicious beers, Port Orleans also hosts a killer taco stand inside the brewery. Avo Taco (a play on avocado), serves up some tasty artisanal tacos and bowls as well as signature house-made guacamole. Seriously, these were some of the best fish tacos I've had outside of San Diego, and that's saying something! I also had shrimp tacos, which were bangin' as well. I'm glad we decided to have a late breakfast/early lunch, because the tacos were legit and did not disappoint. 

As if beer and tacos weren't enough, apparently Port Orleans has some free-range neighbors strolling about the immediate area. I'm not sure if this was a "petty-pet" rooster or what, but he was struttin' around like he owned the place. Like George Carlin once said, "Chickens are decent people." Like this guy...

New Orleans LOVES the cock!

Exactly one mile east of Port Orleans on Tchoupitoulas Street (I'm thinking the first "T" is silent) along the Mississippi River our second stop of the day awaited. NOLA arrived on the scene shortly after its founder discovered there was literally no beer being brewed in New Orleans. It was presumed that Dixie (a popular southern brand) was still brewed within city limits. However, it turns out that Hurricane Katrina forced Mid-City Brewery (who produced Dixie beer) to close, prompting its owners to "contract brew" the beer at an out-of-state facility. With nary a brewery in town, NOLA rose from the ashes of Katrina and thus revitalized the city's fledgling beer industry.

View from our barstools at NOLA.

The brewery is also associated with NOLA Pizza Company, a New York-style pizzeria situated in-house. Since we were adequately stuffed from taco overload at Port Orleans, we unfortunately didn't delve into the pizza, which looked quite tasty. Plus NOLA offers some pretty sweet lunch specials (similar to Pizza Port in San Diego) where you can get a slice, a salad, and a house beer for one low price. 

Back to beer, I felt another flight was in order. Here's the deets on my spread:

Summer Lager - Munich-inspired Helles Lager brewed with honey malt for a rich, bready malt character.

Arabella - Inspired by peach lemonade on the porch after a hot summer day, Arabella is sour fermented with 100% Lactobacillus as well as peach puree.

Hoppyright Infringement - DIPA (had it a few years earlier but apparently forgot!)

Bourbon Barrel Black IPA - American IPA with a bold, roasted malt character aged in Buffalo Trace barrels.

Pleeps says, "Here's one for the calendar!"

 

Both Brewslut and I felt the quality of the beers at Port Orleans was superior to that of NOLA, but overall our beers were solid. 

Next on our itinerary was Urban South. Simply put, this place just blew us away. We weren't familiar with this brewery prior to our visit, but I'm certainly glad we included it on our agenda. Urban South opened its production facility and taproom in 2016 and immediately began pushing the boundaries of what American craft beer can be. 

While the brewery claims to combine traditional European brewing with the "brashness" (their word, not mine) of new American styles, I think its penchant for eclecticism is firmly planted on the American end of the brewing spectrum. Think hazy, hop-drenched and lactose-infused IPAs and "glip-glop" beers (our friend Justin's term for thick, heavily fruited sours) and you can paint a pretty vivid picture of the types of beers Urban South serves. With all the beers we had the opportunity to sample, the brewery definitely falls more in the realm of "brash and American" versus "traditional and European." At the end of the day, though, its beers are absolutely fantastic.  

Inside the brewery and tasting room, I felt like I was transported back to the 1980s. The decor and color scheme is vibrant and whimsical. Bright, colorful geometric shapes filled the room, and a wave of beach vibes washed over me as I glanced around upon entering. I immediately knew we were going to have fun here. Urban South is the type of brewery you'd loathe only if you were a clinically depressed sociopath. The flavors and aromas of the beers here were indicative of the playful design of the space.

I found it difficult to land on a starting point, as there were easily between 20 and 24 beers on tap. We decided to go quantity over quality and order a bunch of small sample-sized pours so we could try several different beers. 

First up was Nectar Cream Snoball Juice. Man, what an introduction to Urban South! This beer offers a twist on its popular Snoball Juice IPA, which is inspired by the classic New Orleans treat, the "Sno-ball." A snow-ball is a customizable sweet made with a mound of fluffy shaved ice, then flavored with sweet syrups and topped or stuffed with a number of mix-ins and add-ons. For its beer version of this sweet treat, Urban South adds almond and vanilla as well as a heavy dose of lactose to create a decadent yet hoppy beer. 

It's pretty difficult for me to pick a favorite beer during our visit, but if you held a crossbow to my head (everyone uses a gun... how boring!), I'd probably pick Muddled: Fuzz. Imagine that, a peach beer! Inspired by a Peach Fuzz cocktail, this sour ale is packed full of peaches and displays undertones of ripe banana and juicy orange. 

Pleeps enjoying our visit to Urban South.

Up next was Oh the Humidity (great name, by the way). "Nice!" I thought as I read the description of this beer. "Cantaloupe!" One of my favorite summer fruits is cantaloupe, and I'm continuously dumbfounded as to why more breweries don't brew more melon-based IPAs or fruited sours. Although cantaloupe and mango sounds like an odd combination, this fruited sour ale was delicious, displaying both delicate notes of ripe melon and more aggressive tropical flavors of mango. 

Back into IPA territory, it was time to try a beer called Grapefruit Holy Roller. For this beer, Urban South took its flagship NEIPA and cranked up the grapefruit to 11. Hopped with Citra and Mosiac, the addition of grapefruit pushes this beer of a cliff into an abyss of pithy citrus goodness.  

It was time to appease Pleeps, as he was champing at the bit to try a beer called Very Berry Banana. Any time we encounter a beer with banana in it, Pleeps instantly begins salivating. This particular beer is part of Urban South's Tropitoulas Series of fruited sours. The series takes its name from the street on which the brewery resides (the aforementioned Tchoupitoulas Street). This version features mixed berries and banana. Needless to say, Pleeps was on it! 

Pleeps is two-fistin'!

It doesn't end there. We were digging the fruit beers here so we continued to sample small pours of a few more beers. Up next was Building Lives, a beer brewed in collaboration with Son of a Saint, a local charitable organization. This sour boasts huge additions of guava and banana to create an intense blast of tropical fruit. Proceeds from sales of this beer benefit Son of a Saint. Not one, but two banana beers? Pleeps was in heaven!

We also tried the Lime Cucumber Gose, an unfiltered kettle sour wheat beer with kosher salt. This refreshing beer is made even more thirst-quenching thanks to the addition of key lime and juice from fresh cucumbers. This one was through-the-roof light and refreshing, and soooo drinkable! 

I couldn't leave without trying Urban South's take on a smoked beer. A collaboration with with Bhramari Brewing out of Asheville, Smoke Show begins with a base of flaked corn, flaked rice, flaked wheat and Golden Promise malt. The grain bill also features 20% of bourbon barrel-aged smoked malt from NC's Riverbend Malting. This one hinted at some mellow smokiness, but was more toasty and caramel-forward overall.  

Looks kids... it's a Three-Pleeps!

After our visit, I knew this was going to be one of our favorites of the entire trip. Pleeps had an absolute blast, and was excited to try two different beers brewed with bananas... at the same brewery! By the way, you're in for some more Urban South shenanigans once we hit Texas. We were both surprised... but you'll have to wait until Day 6 to learn more.

After an amazing experience at Urban South, it was off to Parleaux Beer Lab, which took us northeast along the Mississippi River. The brewery's name is derived from a bit of French wordplay. Since the brewery is near the river, they took the French word for "bywater" (par l'eau) and parlayed it into a unique name for the brewery. Language for the win! 

This place was right up my alley. You basically just order a beer and sit in the middle of the production space among the sacks of malted barley, fermentation tanks and other assorted implements and ingredients used in the brewing process. We parked at a small couch with a coffee table and just enjoyed the view of some kegs and stainless steel tanks what I assumed was the fermentation cellar. I was definitely "in the zone" at Parleaux, a sensation not entirely synonymous with "loaded," which oftentimes strikes at some point between breweries 3 and 4 during any given day of beer traveling. It didn't hurt that the beers here were fantastic. 

Chillaxing with my main monkey at Parleaux.

First up? Here we go again with the pilsners. This time, it's an "international style pilsner" called Truth & Consequences that's hopped with Nelson Sauvin, one of my favorite varieties from New Zealand. The white grape and citrusy zing of this hop really spruced up this pilsner, giving it a pop of crisp fruit in the finish. 

After an enjoyable first quaff, I stuck with another lager. However, this one was quite different than the one I'd just imbibed. Enter Ruby Coaster, a foeder-aged smoked Helles Lager. They had me at "smoked." Of course, they also had me at "foeder" and again with "lager," making it a trifecta of some of my personal favorite things about beer. If I'm not mistaken, this may have been my first smoked beer of the trip, and it didn't disappoint. 

Pleeps getting the hang of Parleaux.

After a few relatively tame beers (although Ruby Coaster was smoky as all hell), I tend to crave hops. If and Only If, listed on the board as a DIPA, piqued my interest. Check out its unconventional yet amusing beer description:

True or false: You can grow delicious hops if and only if you are between the 40° and 54°N parallel. FALSE! “If and Only If” was massively hopped with African Queen, a hop grown near the 34°S latitude line in South Africa. This hop, along with the Slovenian Styrian Dragon, yields a double IPA with enormous berry and stone fruit flavors and aroma. Clocking in at 8.6%, “IF and Only IF” occupies a biconditional delicious dank state if and only if enjoyed fresh.

Turns out I saved perhaps the most special beer for last. Famille: Foeder Aged House Saison was created to celebrate Parleaux's 4th anniversary. In 2019, the brewery installed a lovely oak foeder to use exclusively for aging its house saison, which is inoculated with a special house culture. The grain beer for the base saison utilizes German pilsner and Vienna malt as well as spelt, raw wheat, and flaked barley, while the hop combo features German Tettnang and Cascade. The beer is then fermented and aged in the foeder with the Brett-forward house culture. 

But that's not all that's special about this beer. According to Parleaux, Famille is a "solera inspired beer." What exactly does this mean? I didn't know either, so it's Google to the rescue! Turns out solera brewing is a beer-making process that dates back hundreds of years. Think of it as the "circle of barrel-aging." Whether beer or wine or sherry, the concept is the same. In the case of this particular beer, whenever Parleaux packages Famille, they refill the foeder with fresh wort to feed the house culture and also to blend with the aged beer already present. Pretty cool, eh? 

Pleeps holds on to his beer at Parleaux. 

Up next, it was off to Courtyard. Inside, this place came across as dark and kind of uninviting, to be honest. The tasting room was so dimly lit that I didn't even get any pictures. We felt kind of out of place at first but slowly got a little more comfortable once the beer was flowing. Inside, the brewery's mish-mash of eclectic design elements warrants its self-imposed title of "neighborhood dive brewery." Can't say I've come across that term before, but I love me a good dive bar, so kudos to Courtyard for embracing that aesthetic. 

Courtyard opened its doors back in 2014 on a 3-bbl system when New O was still fairly undeveloped with regard to its craft beer scene. The city has always been about bars, not breweries. NoLa was pretty much the only game in town. Over the years, the brewery managed to gain a following through its honesty and integrity when it came to the brewing process (i.e. they'd dump beer if it wasn't right). This is a practice I definitely embrace, especially in this day and age where breweries pretty much get one shot at impressing someone... right, all you FOMOs out there? 

Sadly, we didn't spend a lot of time at Courtyard, but after reading this amazing article by the folks at Good Beer Hunting, I'd wished we did. (It's a great story and I urge you to take a few minutes to read through it at some point.) I opted for one of its few house beers called Preach!, a DIPA hopped with Citra and Mosaic. Can't go wrong with that hop combo! It's one of the brewery's signature beers, so I'm glad I got to try something that's a favorite of the locals. 

Up next was a stop at Zony Mash Beer Project. Relatively new to the scene, Zony Mash opened its doors in September 2019. The brewery is situated in the historic Gem Theater, one of just two remaining African American movie theaters still remaining in New Orleans. Inside, the seating for the tasting room bleeds into the brewhouse and fermentation cellar, though everything is situated in a modern-looking space with an open floor plan, bright colors and zig-zagging blonde wood accents. 

But what about the brewery's name? Well, I thought Zony Mash was a quirky name for a brewery, to say the least. Turns out the brewery's moniker pays tribute to an album by the classic New Orleans funk band, The Meters (Cissy Strut or Tippi-Toes, anyone?). There's a bit of music trivia unbeknownst to me prior to going down a Google rabbit hole. 

While we were digging the space and the beers, Zony Mash turned out to be a one-and-done stop for us... and I'll tell you why. But first, let's talk about the beer. I opted for a pour of Refried Confusion, a fluffy pale ale  hopped with two of my favorite varieties: Nelson Sauvin and Citra. The beer was enjoyable enough, as was the snack we got from a local food truck. To be honest, I can't even recall what we ordered (it was probably tots), because what was about to unfold is largely what I remember about Zony Mash.

************WARNING: RANT ALERT!!!************

If you partake in or enjoy Zumba in any capacity, kindly skip over the following paragraph. 

I haven't had a good rant in a while (maybe I have, but who's counting?). At any rate, here it is. Zumba really needs to go away. Any exercise where a group of women in yoga pants prance around in a circle and occasionally clap their hands and yell "Woo!" in unison can just cease to exist... especially when it's done in a public place and there is drinking to be done. My eyes rolled so many times while we were here that I might be permanently be cross-eyed as a result. The intolerable music that blared from the speakers while Zumba takes place only compounds my utter disdain for this activity. I could see Zumba classes at the Zima factory, but not a small craft brewery, especially with customers present. I think I'm going to go on record and say this was a worse experience than a screaming child at the next table. Maybe not multiple screaming children, but certainly one loud-mouthed toddler. So to all you Zumba disciples out there... go to a real gym and actually EARN your beer. 

No Zumba for Pleeps, thank you.

With that said, our beers were enjoyable. Of course, that's in relation to the horde of ladies partaking in Zumba, which was the complete opposite of enjoyable. I would have liked to stick around for seconds, but by the time Zumba ended, the tasting room area turned to chaos, so we shuffled off to our last brewery of the day.

We arrived at Second Line just in time for trivia, and the place was packed. It was a pleasant summer evening by the time we arrived (perhaps around dinner time) and we managed to snag a tiny table in the outside beer garden area, which was more like a courtyard. I'm always down with some good old competition while I'm drinking, so this provided some entertainment while we enjoyed a beer outdoors. Unfortunately, you had to have an app on your phone to participate, and there were like 3 questions per round, which meant a lot of dead space. Oh well, at least the beer was solid. 

Pleeps is ready to hit the sack!

I was just happy to chill outside for a bit and soak in some fresh air. By this time of day, I was pretty exhausted and just wanted to kick back for a bit before heading to our hotel to retire for the evening. A sampled a pair of beers during our visit while throngs of locals competed for trivia glory. 

My first beer was Nutfluff, a porter brewed with hazelnut, coffee, marshmallow and cocoa. I followed this up with a West Cost IPA, which seem to be making a slight resurgence these days. One can only hope. Unfortunately, I was lost in a pre-evening haze during our visit to Second Line, so I'm afraid I can't speak to the overall quality of the beers here. I will say that I ordered a second beer, so they must have been pretty solid. By now, it was time to stick a fork in me. I tried to coerce Brewslut into checking out some live music at one of the city's many venues, but she was three sheets to the wind. It'll have to wait until next time. 

Well kids, that does it for our day in New Orleans. Although we didn't partake in jazz, BBQ or flashing our ta-tas, we still enjoyed our time in this historic city and really got to dig deep into its recently burgeoning craft beer scene. Stay tuned for our next installment, which continues through Louisiana and finally delivers us to our destination: Houston, Texas! Until next time...