Abita Love

Hi guys. For my first post I wanted to share my favorite commerical beer: Abita. Lucky are us close enough to Abita Springs, LA (New Orleans, here) to enjoy their wonderful brews. Their Turbodog is always my favorite, but recently I've been fascinated with the new seasonal: Mardi Gras Bock.

I wish luck in discovering Abita to anyone who hasn't yet had the pleasure.

Cheers

I have a bottle of the Abita Amber. I avoided this beer for a long time, not sure why. I think there was another thread about this same topic a few months back. I'll let you know what I think. (whether you wanted to know or not! )

rOland said:

I wish luck in discovering Abita to anyone who hasn't yet had the pleasure.

Cheers

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I have always been partial to the dog! Abita used to be a rare find in my area but my local beer distributor has been carrying their products for some time.

I visited Abita's Brew Pub about three minutes from the brewery and took the "brewery tour" at the actual brewery.

The Brew Pub was excellent. Nice decor, good service, and excellent food. I had their Mocha Porter and Rye Beer. I would definitely go back.


Now the brewery tour was something else. We stood around for 30 mins waiting for it to start with four beers on open taps. There were mostly college students (or looking like college students) there that were downing the free beer before the tour like it was going out of style. I must say I had my share and also that I'd stay away from the Purple Haze (rasberry flavored Hefe?)

The tour finally started and ended about 5 mins later as the mumbling tour guide walked us through the piecemeal brewery. It stunk like horse manure, still not sure why and had a "river" of some unknown fluid running down it's center that kind of looked like grey water.

I do like Turbo Dog and their Amber is pretty good, but needless to say, I don't buy their beer anymore.


Good advice I heard from a friend in the restaurant business:

If you have a favorite restaurant that you REALLY like going to, stay out of the kitchen!

Yeah they have a lot of quality brews, but you have to wonder what they were thinking when they brewed Purple Haze.... guh... makes me sick thinking about it.

I'll take an Abita Amber in the French Quarter any day, though!

My girlfriend got me several of Abita's beers for Valentine's Day last year. Sadly, the golden was skunky so I couldn't drink it, but I really enjoyed the Turbodog and Purple Haze.

rOland said:

...Their Turbodog is always my favorite, but recently I've been fascinated with the new seasonal: Mardi Gras Bock.

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LOL - I kinda misread the name of the beer at first. Turb-dog doesn't sound like a very good beer does it?

I have had the Turbo Dog before, and I remember it being quite tasty!

I am also a big Abita fan. Last winter when I was down they had a special Restoration Ale that was pretty tasty. I'm hoping for a Pats/Saints superbowl!

I tried the Abita Amber yesterday. Terrible, had to dump it. I only bought 1 bottle so I think maybe it was skunked.

I had the Purple Haze and wasn't impressed, so i didn't try their other beers. Then i was at a bar where their only non-lite beer was an Abita Amber, it was great. So now i am a fan and want to get to LA to try the rest.

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DrinkingBeer.net - always a good idea

HA! I lived in NOLA for a few years, so on more than one occasion I was one of those "drunken college students" taking the free tour! The quality of the tour differs depending on the season, drunken-ness of the guide, etc. but I certainly had more good tours than bad ones. And some with highly knowledgeable brewers.

Generally I'm a big Abita fan. But, I find I prefer their kegged beers over their bottled ones...All through my college years they wouldn't bottle Purple Haze for fear that it wouldn't translate well. I don't think it did as I've had lots of skunky bottles of it.

When you can get Abita fresh I think they are great. The closer you are to south LA you can get their wonderful seasonal offerings too. Those were always a pleasure.