Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle
, April 08, 2009 23:36
We took to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. There was a light rain, and at the entrance to the Causeway was a sign that stated due to weather conditions motorcycles were currently banned. What wimps! Aren’t they being a little overly cautious? Not quite halfway across we couldn’t see five feet in front of us. Rain crossed our windshield from left to right, completely horizontally. Our rental car seemed like it wanted to leave the road. Once before we felt as if we might be driving within close proximity to a tornado, and we considered the possibility again. Probably not, but this sure was a vicious and thrilling storm.
It started to clear as we approached the other side, and we could see some clear sky to the west by the time we finally reached land. The north entrance to the Causeway was backed up as far as we could see. Apparently, they had closed the Causeway soon after we entered it. We turned on the radio and heard reports of tornado warnings, and a sighting, in St. Tammany Parish (the north side of the lake). A few minutes later, the sun was shining as we pulled into the parking lot of Abita Brewery.
When were we last in Louisiana? It was certainly before Katrina, well before, in fact. At the time, the Abita Brewery was a small craft brewery. Back then, arriving a few minutes late for the tour, we were directed to the taproom, where we could pull ourselves a couple of brews and bring them along to catch up with the tour. And there we were, alone with a row of taps, where we briefly considered waiting, however long it took, for the tour to return.
That original brewery is now the site of an Abita brewpub, and the brewery and tour has a much larger, new facility. But the procedure is much the same. They’ll let you in about 15 minutes before tour time, where there is a bar with a row of taps and full-size plastic cups. You’re expected to grab a cup and pour yourself whatever you’d like, and return as often as you’d like. At some point there is a brief tour, after which you are returned to the taproom to continue enjoying their beers for maybe another half hour. Today’s selection included 10 different beers plus their excellent wintergreen-heavy root beer brewed with Louisiana sugar cane. Our favorite brews were the hoppy Restoration Pale Ale and the rich and chocolaty Turbodog.
It seemed about time we headed to the Vieux Carré and the Hotel Monteleone to check in, which we did as soon as the tour people kicked us and the nice couple from Scranton we were chatting with, out of the brewery.
Coming up… Rum Ramsey and Sherri Shepherd.
