“Beer is an Outside Beverage”

By Ian Guevara

“Hey, do you wanna go see a nude bike ride with me and my dad?” Danny asks me as I walk up to him outside the brewery.

Breweries are about friendship. Meeting places where no matter how long you’ve spent from each other stories recapping the gaps flow like beers from the tap. And meeting up with Danny is always an entertaining adventure.

Danny and I have known each other for the better part of 20 years, but as time has passed, and as age and responsibilities pile up like an endless bundle of laundry, Danny and I only get to hang out with each other for snippets at a time.

“Take a look at this!” Danny exclaims as he shows me a ridiculous Tik Tok of a man teaching Chinese through vulgarity. This is the experience, a swirling adventure through random Youtube videos, beer, and catching up on life.

Ian and Danny at the Red White and Brew - Hammond, LA

Beer is an outside beverage. Like me, it needs to be free from its confines and allowed to breathe. As we drank outside on the beautiful outside patio of Port Orleans, I remembered the first time I had ever drank a beer from this lovely brewery.

The beginning of the pandemic led many people to enjoy the outdoors once again. While I’ve spent countless springs and summers in the sun under the clouds, under trees, and in the shadows of mountains, the pandemic forced us all into personal prisons. Driven to the point of near insanity, locked in the confines of my small condo, I settled into a monotonous routine of exercise, work emails, exercise, and dinner. As each similar day dragged on, spring turned to summer, and the more I began to relate to Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

One afternoon my roommate Nick pulled me from the malaise. He was going to meet up with a few friends at the park. Immediately I was hesitant. As much as I wanted to leave the house, I was weary of the potential disaster the outside world could be. I hadn't seen it in several months, and I feared the worst. Visions of apocalypse, Mad Maxx, and roving hordes of gangs dressed like Joe Exotic searching for toilet paper and power mixers filled my mind.

Nick reassured me that the world was still the same… just quieter, and he convinced me to tag along.

Of course he was right, and moreover it was delightful to see that people were outside enjoying the park, nature, and the simplicity of just being outside. Kites were flying, burgers were grilling, and soccer balls were bouncing.

As we settled into a game of bocce ball on the picnic fields I had my first sip of Port Orleans Brewery beer. A cooler filled with cans of River Front Lager chilled despite being berated by the June sun. It was delicious and I craved more.

Located on Tchoupitoulas a block away from Tipitinas, Port Orleans Brewery is a beautiful venue supporting a wide range of beers from no thrills, but solid lagers and ales to trippy sours, goses, and pale ales that have no real classification other than “dope”.

I didn’t wish to get too wasted so I opted for only two flights. What makes beers so fascinating to me is the varieties of colors and tastes. Port Orleans did not disappoint.

The first flight consisted of the “3-Day Hibiscus Summer Ale”, the “Bucktown Brown Ale”, the “Riverfront Lager”, and the “Kennerbrau Kolsch”. Mother of GAWD that summer ale was super tasty and crispy. It has a pinkish/golden hue with only a slight fruitiness with a tinge of sour. The Bucktown Brown Ale is dark and smoky making it a solid beer. Similarly, the Riverfront Lager and Kennerbrau Kolsch were solid beers. The clear star here is the 3-Day Hibiscus.

Admittedly, I tend to gravitate toward lighter, crispier, and weirder beers. Those excite me. However, it's important to drink the “dad beers”. Those are your solid .250 hitters in the lineup. They won't hit homers, but they get on base. If a brewer does the “dad beers” well, they’ll most likely knock out their weirder experiments out of the park.

My second flight was a rainbow, and I could not wait to dive in. “Big Snack’s NOLA Style Blueberry Pie Sour”, “Prickle Rick’s Tequila Aged Pale Ale”, the “Strawberry Margarita Gose”, and the “Dope Whip Soft Serve Sour” had me salivating.

Big Snack’s is a super sweet sour where I found that the sweetness hides the sourness of the beverage, but it is still tasty as hell. Prickle Rick gets into a super weird territory much like its namesake. It's just… weird like Rick Sanchez. But its aftertaste leaves you wanting more while it slowly slams you with sweetness. It also has hints of tequila and pear which makes for a tasty outing.

Now I’m a sucker for any Margarita Gose so this is clearly a biased review. The Strawberry Margarita Gose is an excellent and solid margarita gose that's salty, sweet, and the strawberry flavor is subtle.

Another beer veering into the weird territory is the Dope Whip Sour. I’m convinced a mad scientist concocted this brew. It's a pineapple sour that has a creaminess like a soft serve ice cream cone, but I think that the pineapple is just a little too sweet and hides that sourness. I dig it, but just crave the puckering that comes with a solid sour.

As for the atmosphere, Port Orleans is a great venue with large windows allowing you to peak into the nuts and bolts of the art being created in the background. It has a kitchen serving Avo Tacos and plenty of seating inside and outside.

P.S.

Big shout out to Sierra, the bartender, who directed me to several more breweries along the Gulf Coast that will definitely be making it on here eventually.

PORT ORLEANS BREWERY:

4124 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Social Media:

https://twitter.com/portorleansbeer

https://www.facebook.com/portorleansbrewingco/

https://www.instagram.com/portorleansbrewingco/?hl=en

https://untappd.com/v/port-orleans-brewing-co/6190277

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