From:  Atlanta Retro, atlretro.com

By Jennifer Belgrad
Contributing Editor

All right, it’s down to the wire. Do you know what you’re getting your Kool Kat? No ideas? Don’t Panic. I got you. In no particular order, here are five fantastic and local gift suggestions for your special someone:

Plaza Theatre Memberships: What could be more perfect? A whole year of date nights taken care of in one fell swoop and you support Atlanta’s oldest continuously running independent cinema, which opened in 1939! There’s even a deal for a couple’s membership. Done!
Film Fan: $45 – Membership card, Plaza T shirt, one free movie pass, 1.50 off one regular admission Sunday – Thursday*, one invitation to our annual membership party. ($29 is tax deductible)
Double Feature Fan: $80 – Two membership cards, two Plaza T shirts, two free movie passes, 1.50 off regular admission for Two Sunday – Thursday*, Two invitations to annual membership party. ($48 is tax deductible)
Cast and Crew: $250 – Two tickets to the Silver Scream Spook Show + Two membership cards, two Plaza T shirts, four free movie passes + 1.50 off regular admission for Two every day*, Two invitations to annual membership party.  ($182 is tax deductible)

R. Land Art: Personally, I like to buy art for my guy. It’s something special and no home is complete without it. R. Land is ARTlanta’s favorite son. He will not steer you wrong. BUNNY FOO FOO is a classic, but it’s hard to beat AHA SPECKLES (<—– My not so subtle hint).

 

 

 

PIGMATA: One of my local heroes, Jim Stacy, brings us more salty goodness. For foodies he’s best known for serving up corndogs through Pallookaville and PBS’s GET DELICIOUS, but now there’s PIGMATA. Artisan meats, cured and smoked, homemade Brunswick Stew, fresh Half Sour Pickles, Corndog Casseroles, and whatever his fabulously fiendish mind dreams up next. Are you hungry yet?  Like it on Facebook to see updated specials or email Jim (laffo@pallookaville.com) for goods available right now.

 

 

Photo credit: Jennifer Belgard.

The Beer Growler: I know, I know.  I’ve already written about them, but their growlers are a seriously great gift (especially paired with anything from PIGMATA). Some Valentine’s-inspired options include:  Original Sin’s Hard Cider (dry traditional cider made with two types of champagne yeast), Ommengang’s Aphrodite (Aphrodite has champagne-like carbonation. Plus enchanting flavors with whispers of raspberry and pear, and hints of funk and tartness created by the Brett yeast. Grains of paradise are infused into the nectar, and when poured Aphrodite is crowned with a luxuriously shimmering rose-pink head), or Southern Tier’s Choklat (Belgian bittersweet chocolate is combined with dark malts to make this rich chocolate stout).  Your sweetie a teetotaler? No worries. They also carry Abita Root Beer (Sweetened w/ pure Louisiana cane sugar, the resulting taste is reminiscent of soft drinks made in the 1940s and 1950s, before bottlers turned to corn sugar and fructose. Caffeine-free). So good!

 

Chocolate F/X: It wouldn’t be right to skip the chocolate on Valentine’s Day. Atlanta RollerGirl Demi Gore whips up these badass confections named Best Local Chocolate in the AJC’s Best of the A 2011. There’s TAKEN (Be a Prisoner of Love with this heart-locket chocolate with the word “Taken” scrolled across the front. Packaged with 12 assorted truffles); FROM ANOTHER GALAXY for the STAR WARS lover (Includes one white chocolate with chile-spiced praline pecans Storm Trooper; one milk chocolate, peanut butter and pink Himalyan sea salt Yoda; and one dark chocolate with dried cherries and chipotle peppers Boba Fett in a gift box. Totally out of this world!), and, of course, YOU’RE THE S#!T! (Molded chocolate pile o’ poo comes with writing on it in a nifty red keepsake box. A fun, loving gesture for that special someone in your life!).

See?  That wasn’t so bad.  If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get some (tee hee). Happy Valentine’s Day!

http://atlretro.com/2012/02/08/gent/

I’ve had a few Abita brews in my time, from Turbo Dog on a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street to an Andygator in my own home. This, however, is my first time enjoying their liberally hopped Restoration Pale Ale. The result of tossing plenty of Cascade hops into the mix along with four malt varieties is a brew that is not only well balanced and refreshing, but one that also carries with it a nice bit of hoppiness to compliment the malt base.

The beer comes in at 5.1% ABV and 20 IBU — just about perfect for recovering from a long day hiking or captaining your shrimp boat. I found it more than suitable to enjoy while watching the Super Bowl.

Appearance

Restoration Pale Ale pours a clear golden amber in color with a smallish white head that fell to excellent lacing.

Aroma

Toasted bread, light piny hops and a touch of grapefruit come together nicely.

Taste

The flavors echo everything that I picked up in the nose. Biscuity malt dominates as a moderate helping of piny, earthy hops come in halfway through each swallow. The bitterness is solid, but far from overbearing. There’s also a touch of grapefruit and other citrus in the relatively dry finish.

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed Restoration Pale Ale. It’s not as hoppy as some of the icons of the style, but it is quite drinkable and well balanced. At the relatively lower alcohol level, it’s not quite sessionable, but it certainly won’t frown upon you for having a couple on a beautiful Spring day — which is exactly what I plan to do once the weather warms up.

Rating: 3.5/5

This is a review of a promotional sample received from a PR company representing the brewery.

The Can

The Sixer

The Bottom

Just in time for parades down St. Charles Avenue, Abita's long-awaited entry to the craft can movement hit the stores. Today, as beer o'clock loomed, NoDef laid down $8 (+ tax) for a six-pack of Jockamo IPA at the Mid-City Rouses, confirming that yesterday was indeed the delivery date. Judging by the half-empty look of the shelf and the customer who marveled at the cans in line, we weren't the only ones who were curious.

Once reaching the back of the frigid walk-in cooler section, we found that others had been where we now ventured, in search of a happy hour reward. Aluminium vessels of Amber and Purple Haze were either yet to be delivered or gobbled up by a horder that probably owns one of those giant screened tents that frequently appear during parades on the St. Charles Ave. neutral ground. But there, next to the bottles, was the feathered head dress of Jockamo. While the celestial harmonies of angels and a spotlight did not shine down from above as we sort of expected, the apperance of the New Orleans' Big Chief local brew in a compacted, portable form was more scintilating than expected. Or, maybe we just really wanted a beer.

Like the bottles before it, the packaging on Abita's cans has been amped up with the addition of soft, earthy colors, and sharper text. With the design left to bring in the visually attuned consumer, beer nerds are left to salivate over the bottom of the packaging. In an informative Flavor Proife section on the underside's left column, details are provided about food pairings (Jockamo matches well with Mexican, Thai and bland food, we learned). Below, a sliding scale displays the darkness of the color (16 - copper) and hoppiness (52, Williamette and Columbus). Next, there's details and a picture of the malt (pale, red and caramel), and sketches of the recommended glassware. At the bottom, along with the obligatory Alcohol by Volume percentage (6.5%), there's even a line that specifies the yeast variety(California Ale). 

Being aspiring beer nerds in a town of cocktail savvy, we were tempted to look all of that stuff up. But, truth is, we wanted a beer. Upon announcing the coming of cans over the summer, Abita proclaimed that the cylinders would be coated with a protective lining to preserve the taste of the beer more closely, and provide protection against UV rays and oxygen. In truth, the version of Jockamo we drink as we write tastes closer to the version out of the tap. The bottled version's familiar yet jarring bite of hops was not there at first sip, and it resulted in a smoother swig. While still not the most flavorful IPA on the market, the beer went down easy. Which is to say, it will pair well with parade.

While we're thoroughly enjoying a nice brew after a long day, we're also looking forward to the final step of this excursion. The taste and relaxation is great and all, but this next part just might be the most lasting part of drinking canned beer: 

  http://noladefender.com/content/abita-cans43-hit-shelves7#comment-50258

By David Freese
St. Tammany News
Published on Sunday, February 5, 2012 12:09 AM CST

Consumers and loyalists of Abita Beer will have more places to bring their malt beverages starting this week.

“We want our customers to drink our beer more places and more conveniently,” said David Blossman, president of Abita Brewing LLC.

The Abita Brewing Co. has bottled its beer since it opened in 1986, selling “heritage style” bottled beer, which endorses a shorter neck than most modern beers. “We like it (heritage style) because there’s less head space for oxygen in the beer,” said Blossman.

But the company has been told repeatedly by customers its beer can’t be taken on some parade routes during Mardi Gras or even on some tubing excursions, Blossman said, and customers are ready for a change.

The company has seven main brews, five seasonal beers and three harvest beers but has selected three recipes for its new canned lineup, including Amber and Purple Haze, which will be sold in packs of 12, and Jokcamo, which will be available in six packs.

Abita Brewing Co., now 25 years old, has since acquired state of the art filling equipment from a vendor in Germany. This equipment was introduced first in Germany, and its second point of interest is in Abita Springs, according to Blossman.

In a new warehouse facility, built specifically for their new package line and filling equipment, Blossman oversees work being done and also works alongside employees from Germany who have spent several months gathering data, tweaking equipment and making sure the machinery runs properly. These machines will be able to produce 400 cans of a beer a minute and 1,000 cases an hour, according to Blossman.

“We went out and got the finest filling equipment so we can lower the air content,” said Blossman.

The equipment will help lower the dissolved oxygen amounts in beer fill, resulting in the quality Abita Brewing aims to achieve. Blossman said that “water based liner does an excellent job of protecting the beer from the aluminum.”

The company had kept canned beer in mind for years but several priorities halted them from introducing the aluminum, including the cost and the quality.

“There have been some negative connotations to the cans,” said Blossman. “In the years past people have tasted canned beer that taste like metal.”

“The other thing that kept us from doing it in the past was obvious capital,” he added, saying the price of aluminum fluctuates, and depending on the market it can be expensive or economical.

The freshness of canned beer had concerned the public and the brewing company for years, too, but that ideology has changed.

“People are now open to the idea of good beer being canned,” said Blossman.

The company began distribution on Thursday and will deliver the newly canned beer to local merchants just in time for the carnival season.

“We’re just coming out for Mardi Gras, but it will be year round,” said Blossman of the canned beer distribution. “It’s a perfect time for us.”

Abita Beer lovers have been asking for it, so starting today, they'll be able to get Abita Beer in cans.

Abita Brewing Company President David Blossman tells 99.5FM the company has decided to offer three of its seven flagship brews in cans in stores, restaurants and bars in the New Orleans area.

"Amber and Purple Haze will be available in 12-pack, and Jockamo I.P.A. will be available in six-pack," Blossman said.

Blossman says those beers will be available in 12-ounce cans and will sell for the same price as the bottled beer.

Blossman says the company decided to offer its beer in cans because "cans have really come a long way. Now you see some fine beers in cans, and people's ideas of drinking full-flavored beers in cans has improved and they don't look at it as a negative thing."

He points out the cans shouldn't affect the taste of the beer as "the can liners that they use nowadays do an excellent job of insulating the beer from the aluminum, thus not giving that tinty, metal flavor that you'd get from years past."

Cans are also more convenient in some situations, says Blossman. "Coming out with cans during Mardi Gras season, for us, is the best time ever because they don't allow glass in the streets during Mardi Gras. Cans are lighter to carry than bottles and you can fit more in an ice chest."

Abita canned beer will be available first in the New Orleans area. Distribution will be expanded in the coming weeks.

Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 10:00 AM

By Todd A. Price
Follow

Can't wait to get your hands on Abita in cans? Then sign up for the Can Release Pub Crawl on Friday, February 3, and down all three canned Abita beers before they arrive in stores the following Monday. Cans are only $2 during the pub crawl.

Courtesy of AbitaBe the first to try Abita in cans at the Feb. 3 pub crawl.

The journey begins at 6 p.m. with cans of Abita Amber at the Uptown Bulldog (3236 Magazine St.). At 8 p.m., head over to the Balcony Bar (3201 Magazine St.) for cans of Jockamo IPA. The last stop is the Rendezvous (3101 Magazine St.) for cans of Purple Haze.

All participants must complete a free registration either online at shop.abita.com/events or at the Bulldog on the day of the event.

Abita also announced that in early February it will release on draft the Saint Gleason Imperial Red Ale. For each pint sold, Abita will donate 25 cents to Steve Gleason's family trust, which helps the former Saints player participate in experimental treatments for his debilitating ALS. The Saint Gleason ale will be available at bars and restaurant that serve Abita Select beers.

For more information, visit abita.com.

Todd A. Price can be reached at nodrinks@timespicayune.com. Read more about the bar scene at nola.com/drink or nola.com/bar-guide. Follow him at twitter.com/toddapricetp.

Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 5:08 AM

New Orleans was once the brewing capital of the South. Swiss immigrant Louis Fasnacht opened the first brewery in New Orleans in 1852 where the Cotton Mill apartments now stand. It closed by 1876.

Workers inside the bottling plant at the Union Brewery in the mid-1930s. Photo courtesy of the Historic New Orleans Collection. Beer's history in New Orleans gallery (13 photos)

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An influx of German immigrants around 1850 led to a rapid expansion of commercial breweries. By 1890, there were 30 breweries in the city. But refrigeration, pasteurization and improved transportation put relentless pressure on breweries to merge or close, as did changing tastes by consumers.

The New Orleans Brewing Co. was the result of an 1890 merger of six smaller brewers at the site of the Louisiana Brewing Co. It operated a vast complex at Jackson Avenue and Tchoupitoulas, and a second facility was in the old Weckerling Brewing, now part of the National World War II Museum. Among its brands was Eagle Beer. The brewery closed in 1949.

Falstaff, which moved into Louisiana in 1936 by buying the local National Brewing Co., dominated sales in the 1950s and ‘60s. During that time, Falstaff, Dixie, Jax and Regal held 80 percent of the local beer market.

Regal was made popular by its jingle, “Red beans and rice and Regal on ice.” It was produced at the American Brewing Co. brewery on Bienville Street, today the site of the Royal Sonesta hotel. American closed in 1962.

The old Jax Brewery on Decatur Street was turned into a shopping and dining complex in the 1980s.

Dixie was the last old-line beer to be brewed in the city, as well as the last major independent brewer in the South. Katrina flooded the brewery, which was then damaged by looters. Dixie is now made in Wisconsin.

But beer brewing has returned to south Louisiana through microbrewers such as Abita, NOLA Brewing and Heiner Brau.