- Michael Roberts
- A bottle of Louisiana’s finest
A few years back, I asked a buddy of mine who lives in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana to bring me up some local beer. This was back when the Razorbacks actually played football, and my friend would travel north to see the Battle of the Boot at War Memorial — and for the record, we won every time he came. On his last trip up, the beer he brought up was from a brewery I had never heard of: Bayou Teche Brewing, a small brewery out of Arnaudville, LA that made me an immediate fan with the first taste of their LA 31 Biere Pale.
Those of you who attended the Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival this year (and there were a ton of you there) may have seen the Bayou Teche booth, and I hope that you all got to taste what they were pouring. I had the privilege of chatting with the friendly folks at the brewery in the lead up to the festival, and I found them to be some of the nicest folks imaginable — and extremely passionate about good beer.
The Bayou Teche Brewing goal is to make beer that can stand up to the fine cuisine that South Louisiana is known for, and I think they’re succeeding with their flavorful brews. And just last week, I ran into Hillcrest Liquor to grab six-pack to go with dinner and my wife pointed out some fresh sixers of the Acadie, Bayou Teche’s biere de garde — one of our favorite brews from the festival. I snapped one up, and enjoyed it with some gumbo.
It’s always fun to see new beer hit Arkansas, and I haven’t been this excited for a new brewery since Tommyknocker arrived earlier this year. In addition to the Acadie and LA 31, keep your eyes out for the Miel Sauvage, a deceptively strong (and delicious) honey beer, and the Cocodrie, an IPA that has just the sort of bite you might expect from a brew named after an alligator. I love our local brewers, but this is definitely a brewery that makes me branch out to the swamps to drink like the Cajuns.