- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Abita Brewery Visitor's Center
Rating Details »
- Hours:
Tue-Fri. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
7 reviews for Abita Brewery Visitor's Center
My wife is a huge Abita fan but no longer lives in NOLA, so she decided to get some merch to represent. They had a Purple Haze shirt she liked so she ordered it.
Initially they sent her the wrong shirt, so they told her to send it back while they sent her the right one. She did, and they offered her a couple pint glasses for her trouble and to make up for the cost of shipping the incorrect shirt back. Due to a UPS snafu, we couldn't sign for the glasses at our place so they got sent back. One email to the incredibly helpful Kathy Tujague later, the glasses were sent to my wife's office.
Great mail order service! And pretty good beer--due to some cool developments in the beer distribution scene here in Chicago we can get a lot of their varieties all over town, and will definitely do so.
I went to the Abita brew pub twice, and enjoyed it both times. It's nothing totally over-the-top amazing, but it's a really good time given the surroundings.
The regular beer sampler was fantastic--a lot of beer, though; probably about right for two people not looking to get drunk. Neither my boyfriend nor I enjoy hoppy beers, though we vary in lightness/darkness tastes, and the sampler was a very good range. The spinach and artichoke dip was fantastic, and the penne primavera was pretty decent for a brew pub. We enjoyed both of the harvest beers, as well. The satsuma wit reminded us a bit of blue moon, and the strawberry one was very tasty.
The service was good--very prompt and friendly.
This was the first brewery I ever visited in the US when I was in college. We weren't even planning on going there but somebody in the car mentioned that we should make a quick stop, on the way to a disastrous canoe trip (a long story).
We took a brewery tour, which I remember to be quite amazing as we were told to just hang out and keep drinking before the actual brewery tour even started. I also remember that some random people kept showing up with their Growlers, filling them up with beer of their choice. Hmmm... should they be doing that? This is why I love Louisiana, I thought.
Over a decade later, we made a trip to Abita Springs for the tour, as we were spending a week in New Orleans for the family reunion. The new place was quite nice and the brewery tour definitely more professional. They had some new beers that I had not tried before, notably, strawberry beer. Still one of the best brewery visit experiences that one can have, with very friendly and knowledgeable staff and free flowing beer.
Phenominal. Love the brew pub and the different tastings that you can only get there.
A little history. Turbo Dog, the staple of the line, made quasi-famous by Emeril, is based off the recipe of another great beer: Newcastle Brown Ale. Now, Newcastle (or Newkey Brown) is a long brewed ale from England, and in yesteryear, men would take their dogs for walks after work. Well, during the course of the walk, they would generally find the local pub, tie off the dog outside with the other dogs, and have a pint with the other dog enthusiats. Thus, the nickname of "The Dog" for Newcastle was born.
Fast-forward to modern times. Some drunken cajuns decided to start selling the beer they'd made in their bathtubs for years (okay, I'm taking big poetic license on that sentence) and had some good recipes. One of their favorite beers was "The Dog". They found the recipe for it and decided to make their own micro-brewed Loooseyanna version. To do that, they burnt the hops just a tad and kicked up the alcohol content a bit, thus giving it the nice dark color and extra kick, hence "Turbo Dog".
I can remember all this crap, but I can't remember .... something else.
If you're ever in New Orleans, make the never ending trip across Lake Pontratrain on the Poltergheist hallway bridge and go to the brewery, it's worth the trip through the sticks to get there.
People thought this was:
- Useful (4)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (4)
Beer was pretty decent, but as a brewpub itself it was fairly average. More like a typical bar that happens to brew their own beer. The food looked good but seemed overpriced. The crowd was older and nothing special.
Great Local Louisiana beer with standard selections and seasonal specials.
They offer free tours of the brewery every Saturday at 1:00pm and 2:30pm and Sundays at 1:00pm after which you get dumped into the "tasting room." There you encounter four free flowing taps of beer and as many plastic Abita to-go cups you can hold in two hand for as long as you can handle, or til you get kicked out (this is Louisiana, after all.) My friends and I hung out here for at least two hours, drinking as much as possible in that amount of time. saweet!
So tasty and so much fun!
People thought this was:
- Useful (4)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (3)
you rock my world abita. i tasted your sweet sweet nectar for the first time on friday and have been hooked ever since.
abita amber: very nice lager....tasted a bit of caramel. i'd rock this on a hot summer day.
abita turbodog: dayam! me likey. this is a dark....dark ale similar to guiness but a bit more sweet. has a chocolately flavor with a tinge of caramel sweetness. guiness ain't got nothing on you turbodog!!!
can't wait to try all your other brews as i come across them.
abita, i lub you!
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (4)