Pure Louisiana: Abita Brewing

I've talked about them before.  Okay, I've talked about them once when I managed to spirit away a bottle of their special Marti Gras brew.   But given my semi periodic trips to the Crescent city, it's kind of surprising that I hadn't talked about Abita brewing at any length. Well I'm gonna now.  It's happening...
yep...
any moment now...

Here's the deal.  Abita is to the South as Boulevard is to the Midwest or New Belgium is to the West or what Sam Adams is to... well the entire freaking country.  You find it out and around and for good reason, it's pretty good.

Like the breweries mentioned above, they have a flagship beer that is the go-to for most microbrew lovers in the area.  The Abita Amber is a fairly typical, slightly malty light amber ale in the same spirit as a Fat Tire.  It's got some mild roasted, nutty notes with just a hint of hops in the back that makes for a decent beer to sink in large quantities.  Best of all, it's available at just about any bar in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South.   That being said, I had the chance to track down some of their other beers during my last visit and this is what I came up with.

Jockamo IPA: The quasi-masochistic hop-heads from the Pacific Northwest would probably make farty sounds towards this IPA.  It doesn't come at you with that intense bitter flavor that is associated with the style.  It's aroma actually has some fruit notes alongside the tell-tale citrus.  There is some spicy, citrus hops but they kind of float on a tide of heavy, fruity malt sweetness.  It's a little out of sorts for the style, but a pleasant beer anyway.

Purple Haze: Raspberry beer and pretty decidedly so.  Lots of sweet fruit on the aroma and even more packed into the flavor.  A little too much for my tastes.

Hop Gator: The bartender at Lagers Taproom didn't know what kind of beer this was.  BeerAdvocate even seems to fumble over itself when it comes time to classify this.  It starts off with a very, very light spicy aroma.  The flavor reminded me much more of a pepper beer then anything else.  The green chili is especially pronounced at first, but it slowly melds into a more herbal hoppy finish.

SOS: This is a beer brewed to help the continuing cleaning efforts on the gulf coast (yes... they are still at it.  Thank you BP, good work).  A sweet, fruity pear flavor dominates this beer right off the top.  The finish is a little on the dry side with the hops adding a woody, pine flavor.  The two different flavor profiles actually clash rather nicely in this beer.

Andygator: Finishing with a specialty brew.  This is a helles dopplebock with a very light roasted aroma.  It's a big-bodied smooth beer that has some light, sweet toasted flavors that leads to a very drinkable beer.  What it's really doing, however, is skillfully hiding the upwards of 8% alcohol.  It's one of those beers that can be classified as dangerous.  You can drink a lot, yes you can.  And you can wake up with an imprint of the bathroom floor on the side of your face.  That's how they do things in Louisiana... so I am told.