Today was free beer day.

Today was free beer day. Yes I said free beer! Back in 2000 Lin (my late wife) and I were in New Orleans. We asked one of the locals for good place to get crawdads and were directed to a little restaurant in a store front on the main drag outside of Kenner LA (adjacent to the city). I asked for a good local beer. The waitress told me about Abita Amber made by the Abita Brewing Company. Well it might as well have been an illegal drug…I was hooked.  Abita Brewing company will never need surety bonds, LOL! Ever since then I have been on the prowl for it wherever I could find it. When Donna told me we were going to stay in Abita Springs, I knew we were going to stock up and tour the brewery as well.

Today was that day. We had a terrific lunch at the Abita Brew Pub and enjoyed an excellent wheat beer. Oh yeah and some good eats as well. We discovered that this was the original brewery that had been outgrown. The new place was a mile down the road from the pub. After some leisurely chatting we headed off to the brewery.





We arrived just prior to the 2:00 PM tour. Tours are given on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as well as weekends. Entering the tasting room was like going into a really nice pub. A long bar with a scattering of tables. Just outside was a pleasant patio with more tables. Seemed like a really nice place to hang out and drink beer.





Well, that’s just what it was. One of the staff handed out cups, pointed to the drafts behind the bar and said help yourself. There were no limits or restrictions, just enjoy yourself and make sure you open the tap all the way or else you get a cup of foam. Oh yeah, did I tell you it was free?





After tasting all the different kinds, each of us settled into a beer of choice and sat at the bar as the staff told us about the history of beer and how Abita makes their particular beers. Very informative and we had more free beer. We then made our way to the actual brewery and saw all the vats and cookers and such. That done we returned to the tasting room for more...yeah, you guessed it …free beer.





We bought a few items and headed out to visit the local Harley dealers and enjoy the good weather. OK the drizzle was much more tolerable after the visit to the brewery.

All in all, a very good day.
Stu