Out With The Old, In With The New?

In the New Orleans area for the holiday season? Looking for something fun to do? You should totally check out Dixie Brewing...soon to be Faubourg Brewing. Now, you will have to venture out to New Orleans East, but it's so worth it.

This past Saturday, Austin, my friend Caroline, her boyfriend Grant, Caroline's sister Elizabeth, and I went to Dixie Brewing. That morning, I had my last final of the semester (I know, a Saturday final...really?!), so once I finished that, I headed to New Orleans. Originally, we were going to go to Abita, but they aren't doing tours right now (thanks corona pt 1001). Then, Austin thought about Dixie, so we decided to do that and booked the

tour at 3:30.

Driving up to the property, you could see the building, and it looked very nice and updated. The outside was somewhat like a park (check out the video at the bottom of the post). They had little walking trails with a pond, as well as a field area with picnic tables and chairs set up (socially distant, of course). There was also live music. Everyone there was so nice and helpful, especially in recommending beers...great for a rookie beer drinker. We didn't really have to do much to check in, so we all decided to get a drink before the tour started. I got a Seerpucker, which was a blackberry sour, and let me tell you, this one was really tart but still good. Austin and Grant got an IPA and Caroline got a peach Bellini seltzer (house-made) that they make. Elizabeth was running a little late, so she didn't get one :( The tour made up for it though.

It was just the five of us on the tour, which was nice that it was so private. Our tour guide was great. He was funny, entertaining, and really chill. First, we went into a room, and our tour guide talked mostly about the history of the brewery. Then came the fun part--tasting the beers. we got to try three different beers. We each got a small size beer glass with the company's logo on it and got to take these home, which we thought was pretty cool since the name of the brewery is changing soon. Now, we will have a piece of the old brewery/logo/name forever (or as long as we keep it). I'll be the first to admit that I was somewhat skeptical of going to Dixie. I knew that they sold a more basic beer and didn't think that there would be much variety as far as types of beers or flavors, but I was definitely wrong. Come to find out, these basic beers are just the ones they sell in stores; they have so many other types at the brewery. I'm learning to like beer, but I like sours the most right now, which is not very beery (if that's even a word). The first beer that we tried was the Original Dixie Lager (the taller can to the right in the picture). I guess it was what you would call a basic beer, but y'all, it was actually really good. It was really smooth, which made it easy to drink. It definitely had that beer taste. We all liked this one. Between each tasting, our tour guide rinsed our glass, so there weren't any remnants in the glass of the different beers. Next, we tried the Blackened Voodoo (the black, smaller can in the picture). As the name suggests, this one was very dark and heavy. I liked the flavor, as it had slight coffee notes, but I couldn't finish my small glass since it was so heavy. We had to drink our samples somewhat fast because we had a little less than an hour for the whole tour. Don't worry though. No beer went to waste because Austin finished it for me. He really liked this one. Caroline, not so much. The last one we tried was the Crimson Voodoo. It was a raspberry white ale (pictured in the glass). This one was my favorite one out of the three that we tried. It was similar to a sour, but it was so good. Everyone liked this one too. Since this was the last of the three, we took this one with us while we walked around where they actually make and package the beer.

They had a small museum upstairs, which had many things, including old cans (some full) of past Dixie beers. Then, we went into where they made the beer and packaged it, and our tour guide told us about the process. Getting to learn about this was actually really cool. It takes a decent bit of time to make beer, which I didn't really know. The "beer" that was in this room (other than the ones that were being packaged) did not have alcohol yet. Then, he showed us a ton of empty cans (hundreds of thousands) that were already stamped with the Dixie label. Since they are changing the name in a few months, they won't be able to use them. So what are they going to do with all these cans? Well, there is an aluminum shortage, so Dixie is going to be able to sell these cans to other breweries to use or to someone that can melt them down to be made into something else. After looking into this room, we got to see where they store the beer while it ferments, which is how it gets the alcohol. Sadly, this was the end of our tour. We all thought we could have stayed and learned more (or drank more) for at least another hour, but oh well. Guess we just need to go back?

After the tour, we checked out the little museum area and then went back downstairs to the bar. Upstairs, they had a table with 6 or so cards talking about 6 or so beers. I decided to order one of these, called Fleur de Lime. Y'all, this beer was so good!! I was going to get a lime seltzer beer at first, but then I saw this one, which was one of the ones we saw upstairs. The bartender told me that this one was good and that it was 9% (way high for a beer), so I decided to try it. I am so glad that I did. Everyone liked this one and wished they had gotten it instead. It was somewhat sweet but not too sweet. Definitely, 100% recommend. Caroline got a French 75 seltzer and the boys and Elizabeth tried other beers, which they liked (not as much as mine though). After we got our drinks, we sat outside at a picnic table to listen to the music and talk. It was perfect weather that day for it, but there were some mosquitoes since it was warmer this past weekend in New Orleans. This made us leave a little earlier than expected because we were getting bitten, but we needed to go to watch the LSU game anyway.

Before we left, we made sure to get some things to go. Grant got a sign with the brewery's logo on it. Caroline and Austin and I each got a 4-pack of the Key Lime Pie beers that I tried. Told you that it was that good. So, would I go back to Dixie Brewery (or Faubourg)? Of course! They change the beers that they have on tap frequently, and these aren't sold in stores. So, the only way to get these are to go to the brewery. With the name change, they are also changing the recipes too, so there will be even more to try. So, if you are in town for Christmas and want something to do, you should definitely check out Dixie Brewery and try the old recipes before they change!

~Cheers 🍻(had to change for this post)~