Last year NOLA marked its first 12 months in the East End with an inaugural birthday beer festival that spilled out onto its Rundle Street-adjoining laneway. This weekend, it’s round two.
“[Before opening] we got a lot of people warning us it’s not always as peachy as you think,” says NOLA co-owner Oliver Brown. “But it’s been a non-stop, wild ride since then.”
There’ll be 26 specialty beers from 26 of the guys’ favourite brewers to toast the two-year milestone. Some are one-offs. “A lot of the wilder stuff you can’t really get your hands on easily,” Brown says.
The laneway will become a fruity-beer haven. Exclusive brews include Western Ridge Brewing’s mulberry cleansing ale and Big Shed Brewing Concerns’ red-cherry East Coast IPA. A few saisons (a fruity, refreshing pale ale) will be pouring as well: a mango-flavoured brew from Clare Valley Brewing Co. and a sour-cherry nitro from Lobethal Bierhaus.
Wrap your hands around a long-awaited (and much-requested) Cajun-fried-chicken po’ boy. “It’s taken two years to get the chefs on board,” says Brown. “We’re doing it for the people!” Deep-fried pickles will make a two-day return.
There’ll also be live music from Cal Williams Jr – a regular (and staff favourite) at NOLA’s Blues & Brews nights – and folk musician Aidan “Jazzy” Jones, plus a beer-art auction and a late-night limbo competition.
NOLA’s Second Birthday Beerfest is on Saturday December 9 and Sunday December 10.
