Sampling New Orleans' Finest

Ariel and I recently took a road trip through the Deep South, and decided to make a small detour to pass through Abita Springs, Louisiana, home of Abita Brewing Co. I mean, c'mon! We would be crazy not to seize the opportunity to sample New Orleans' most famous beer, freshly brewed.

So, first the bad news. Abita doesn't get a whole lot of points for creativity or complexity. It's beer is shoot-em-straight, plain Jane stuff that doesn't try to push the boundaries of taste. It seems to me that they've been bottling mostly the same lagers, ales, and wheat beers since they first opened up shop in 1986. They have no real aspiration to be an innovator in the beer world, or to compete with the "extreme" craft breweries out there like Dogfish Head, Stone, and Victory.

But, here's the good news. Across the board, Abita makes pleasant, if mild, tasting beers that all have a smooth signature finish that I can really appreciate. Maybe it's the fact that they use natural "artesian" spring water in their brewing process. Whatever the reason, I like.

More good news? Lately, the brew masters over at Abita have shown some interest in experimenting with new styles that are more complex and flavorful than the ones of years past. The company recently introduced two such "big" beers to the market--Abbey Ale (a Belgian-style Dubbel) and Andygator (a Helles Dopplebock)--both of which are really good. Though the they weren't available on the sampling menu that Ariel and I ordered from at the Abita Brew Pub, we did have each of these new comers over dinner in the Garden District one night.

Without furher adieu, here's a list of the beers we sampled at the Abita Brew Pub, and what I thought of them.

Abita Light (4.0% ABV, 10 IBU)

Nothing special. Your standard lager, but with a pleasant, non-metallic finish.

Purple Haze (4.2% ABV, 13 IBU)

American-style wheat beer with slight raspberry flavor. Probably one of Abita's best known beers, but I really would rather not drink it, if I had the choice. As a general rule, I like to keep fruit out of my beer, with the excetion of Dogfish's Rasion d'Etre, which incorporates raisins in the brewing process and is just awesome.

Abita Amber (4.5% ABV, 17 IBU)

A Munich-style lager with a little more body than the Abita Light. It also has a slight malty, and caramely-flavor. One of my favorites of the lot. This would make a good session beer on a crisp Fall or Spring afternoon. Perhaps this is why the Amber is Abita's strongest seller in the U.S. Just goes to show that if you make a tasty beer that doesn't "dumb down" beer drinkers, folks will buy it. Maybe Coors and Anheuser-Busch should take note.

Abita Golden (4.2% ABV, 11 ABU)

An unassuming "continental" lager. As the folks at Abita like to say, "Abita Golden goes well with just about anything." Maybe that's part of the problem. I like my beers to have a little more character, and to bring out some of the flavors in whatever I'm eating rather than just serving as a palette-cleanser.

Abita Turbodog (5.6% ABV, 28 IBU)

Finally, five beers into our tasting, we got a beer that has some of that characteristic hoppiness and bitterness that I love in brown ales and IPAs. In fact, Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with Willamette hops and a combination of pale, crystal and chocolate malts, which give it bitter-sweet chocolate and toffee notes. Good stuff.

Abita Red Ale (5.2% ABV, 30 IBU)

Not a big fan. I have to say, I don't usually like red ales. They have a really cool rusty color, but I find that their taste falls short of the mark. Maybe it's just that I like bitterness with my malty-ness, and not either/or (red ales are relatively bitter, as you can tell from the high IBU rating this one has, but not especially malty).