NOLA Brewing's Cool New Renovations and Releases

There's a lot of construction happening at NOLA Brewing these days. Eater stopped by the Tchoup Street brewery to take a peek at their post-Isaac renovations and try the new IPA, Mechahopzilla, which is amazing in an 8.8 percent ABV kind of way. NOLA's Vice Prez Dylan Lintern and Head of Sales, Buck Brown, talked about some exciting new changes for the brewery, while a farmer picked up bins of hops to reuse at his farm and some good alt-country blasted over the loud speaker.

"The storm tore off a door, which took out a skylight and damaged our merchandise room and a lot of the merchandise," Brown said. "But it's okay. It opened up this other room that's like the perfect space for a bar."

The offices and employee lounge area are currently under construction? there's building materials are all over the place? and across the brewery, in a second warehouse space, a humongous new walk in cooler has just been built to speed up their ever-growing production. "We're going to add taps to the side of it," Buck said, "and we're building the bar next to it." Legally, breweries in Louisiana cannot sell their products directly, so they'll use the barroom for tastings and tours.

Amidst the stacks of Hopitoulas ready to hit stores in October? The four packs come in tall boys that are the perfect pour for pint glasses? Dylan Lintern explained why NOLA Brewing doesn't bottle: "Bottles let in light, and light changes the taste of the beer. That's why people say draught always tastes better, because it's not exposed to light oxidation. Anyways, If you want to really enjoy craft beer, you should be pouring it into a pint glass, whether it comes from a tap or a bottle or can."

In the future they hope to can all their beers, including some very exciting upcoming "High Gravity" beers with ABV over 7 percent. For now you can try Mechahopzilla at the Avenue Pub. The beer's release party starts tonight at 6 p.m.

· All NOLA Brewing Coverage [EaterNOLA]

[Photo: flickr/EaterNOLA]