Rock 'n' Hops

On a Saturday evening in early May, surrounded by sacks of grain, giant copper vats and pallets piled high with beer crates, we stood in the half light of the twinkling fairy lights strung above the NOLA brewery factory floor, a craft beer producer in the deserted warehouse district of New Orleans, for the first Rock 'n' Hops festival.  Across two stages, local band The Breton Sound presented an evening of their favourite Louisiana bands and performers while the breweries '"Tap Room" provided an endless (and free) supply of six different NOLA beers.  The event was held in aid of the GRAMMY charity Musicares, an organisation set up to provide assistance to musicians when, for example, a hurricane destroys your rehearsal space or floods carry away your instruments - a scenario several of the bands told us they where familiar with.

Great live music, great venue and free beer.  A perfect combination if ever there was one.  They even had a funky little Mexican food truck parked outside which I'm sure would have been delicious, it's just that we somewhat stuffed ourselves before we arrived - on Yo Mama's bacon and peanut butter burgers.  Sounds odd but it actually turned out to be one of the best burgers we've eaten - although this list seems to get longer each week.

Back to the festival...

Favourite beer of the night - Flambeau Red.  An ice cold, easy going but full flavoured brew the colour of autumn, full of toasted hoppy goodness with a subtle hint of citrus and spice.  

Favourite act - Gary Larson & Nora Patterson of The Royal Teeth's gorgeous stripped-down acoustic set gave us goose pimples.

Having left New Orleans, we drove north over the swamps and mangroves that surround the city, along the eastern bank of the Mississippi and on to Clarksdale, a town considered by many to be the home of the blues, in order to spend the evening at the awesome Ground Zero Blues Bar (part owned by Morgan Freeman and so-named as the alley in which it sits is considered the 'ground zero' of blues music).  From there, we made our way to another musical mecca, the place where rock and roll was born, Memphis Tennessee.