When I went to New Orleans back in March, I had so much on my to-do list that I didn’t have much time to visit breweries (I know – unusual for me!) The only actual brewery I visited was Crescent City Brewhouse, but I still did quite alright sampling a variety of local craft beer on tap at various establishments throughout the French Quarter (full guide on my favorite French Quarter bars here). Here are some of the beers I tried!
Urban South Brewery
New Orleans, LA
Urban South Brewery is located in the Lower Garden District neighborhood, but you can find their beers all over the city. In fact, their Paradise Park lager became my go-to while I was visiting NOLA. It’s a light and refreshing 4.5% lager that’s a perfect everyday beer. I also tried their Holy Roller hazy New England IPA at Bourbon Street Drinkery (who by the way, have an AMAZING craft beer selection).
Tin Roof Brewing Co.
Baton Rouge, LA
This brewery is located up the river in Baton Rouge, but I found their Voodoo Pale Ale on tap at Spirits on Bourbon. This is a 5% American Pale Ale hopped with Citra and Simcoe hops, giving it a tropical citrusy finish.
Abita Brewing Company
Covington, LA
If you’re a beer fan, chances are you’re already familiar with Abita, as their flagship beers are pretty widely distributed across the United States. I’m certainly no stranger to their delicious raspberry Purple Haze brew, but while I was at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop in NOLA I enjoyed their Amber Lager which I had never had before. It was another good, light everyday beer. On a future trip I certainly want to make it out to their taproom in Covington to try some of their seasonal / limited release beers (it’s about an hour north of NOLA, across Lake Pontchartrain).
Crescent City Brewhouse
New Orleans, LA
Crescent City Brewhouse was the one brewery I did get a chance to visit while in NOLA, as it’s located right in the French Quarter and was a great spot for a casual dinner and a flight. Here were the beers I had in my flight:
- Pilsner – a 5.1% light and crisp pilsner with floral notes
- Red Stallion – a 5.5% malty and sweet red ale
- Black Forest – a dark and rich 5.5% Munich-style beer with coffee notes
- West Coast IPA – a 5.7% hoppy and piney IPA
- Carnival Alt – a 5.4% limited release that had notes of toffee
Gnarly Barley Brewing
Hammond, LA
Also located about an hour north of NOLA is Gnarly Barley, whose Jucifer IPA I was able to try on tap at May Baily’s Place in NOLA. As the name may suggest, Jucifer was a juicy and citrusy 6% hazy IPA hopped with Citra and Mosaic with tropical notes of papaya, mango, and grapefruit.
Port Orleans Brewing Company
New Orleans, LA
Also at May Baily’s Place, I tried Riverfront Low Tide, a 4.5% low calorie lager by Port Orleans Brewing Company located in NOLA’s East Riverside neighborhood. I ordered it because the tap looked cool, but even better is finding that it was a good refreshing beer AND was low in calories!
New Orleans Lager & Ale (NOLA) Brewing
New Orleans, LA
Not far from Port Orleans, in the Irish Channel neighborhood is NOLA Brewing. I had their smooth drinking 5% Blonde Ale on tap at Cajun Mike’s.
New Orleans had some great craft beers, so when you need a break from those strong Hurricanes, be sure to give some local beers a try around town!
C to Shining C 
Leave a comment