The Abita Brewery Tour (picture heavy)

Last week we went to Covington, Louisiana for a long over due visit with close friends. Covington is right by New Orleans, and yes we did visits but that is for another time. Covington also happened to be right next to (literally) Abita Springs home of the Abita Beer Brewery. So OF COURSE we went on a tour! The best part about this tour was that it was a) free and b) free beer all.on.tap. You could drink as much as you wanted.

The tour pretty much began when you walked in. There was a souvenir shop, sitting areas, the bar (of course) and some nifty little "get the hook on the bottle" game, which we never par took in. The lounge area was very cozy and wooden panels everywhere. The walls were filled with Abita painting and other paraphernalia. When we got to the right side of the bar (after standing in line) we were carded and then given a quick briefing on what was going on. Not only did we discover they had every Abita beer on tap (even ones not sold in stores) they also had 2 of their bottle conditioned special brews out and ready to try. 

So many choices!

I ended up getting as many of their hoppy beers as I could. Which was 3 pints. Which was 48 oz total. YUMMY! My Beers were; Spring IPA, Jockamo, and Restoration. Restoration was not as hoppy as the other two, but it had my favorite hope in it, Cascade, so I had to give it a try! They all were impressive. Matt had more of a varitey; Turbodog, Black IPA, and a taste of their Abbey Ale. 

The tour of the actual brew area was fairly short due to ongoing renovation of their facility. It was still pretty cool though.

Tanks

Where to the cooking happens. Yes, there is cooking in beer making!

Where it ferments into beer

Info Flyers that were laying about the tables.

After the 20 minute tour you are given another hours in the tap room just hanging out and sampling more beer. So of course we took some pictures.

Our lovely friends and hosts.

Us

All together now!

Roughly the tour was maybe around 3 hours long. It was fun, relaxing and most definitely interesting. They even had a porch area if you wanted to sit outside, it was a lovely day out, and just relax in the sun. The absolute best part of this whole adventure was the cost. It was absolutely FREE! No, I am not joking. However, we did end up buying quite a lot of their beers after the tour, I think that is their plan though. They have about 5-6 tours a week. One on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and three on Saturday. You need to be 21 or over fore the tour (obvious reasons) and wear closed toe shoes. So if you are ever just east of NOLA consider stopping by the Abita Brewery, you will not regret it.