Beer Can Blog

Beer is one of the reasons that lots of folks like New Orleans. Collectors like the beer and the cans, too.

In the early 1970s, when the Beer Can Collectors of America (now the Brewery Collectibles Club of America) was founded, there were three breweries in New Orleans producing beer in cans; Falstaff, Jackson, and Dixie. Jackson Brewing Co., adjacent to Jackson Square, closed about 1972 and Falstaff closed about 1978, leaving only Dixie to face the "beer wars" of the 1980s and 1990s, and ultimately hurricane Katrina.

Aside from there being three breweries producing cans, Louisiana law was favorable to grocery store chains having their own "house brand" of beer, resulting in more can varieties that were good for trading with collectors in other parts of the country. The nearby Texas market also added some additional brand names. Also, in Mississippi and Louisiana they had unusual can sizes, 10 and 14 ounces in addition to the traditional 12 and 16 ounce cans. The odd size cans were ostensibly to address loopholes in state tax laws on the 12 & 16 oz. cans.

Jackson Brewing Co. at various times had Jax, Jax Draft, Fabacher Brau, Tex, and Kassel beer, the last being brewed for Handy Andy stores in San Antonio, TX. Jax sizes were 10, 12, and 16 oz., Fabacher Brau sizes were 10, 12 oz., while the others were only 12 oz.. When Jackson closed, Pearl Brewing Co. of San Antonio, TX picked up the Jax and Kassel brands.

Falstaff at various times had Falstaff (10, 12, 14, and 16 oz.), Falstaff Draft and several store brands. The store brands included Time Saver (a chain of convenience stores), Krewes (for National Canal - Villere grocery stores), and Fischer's (for Winn Dixie stores).

Dixie Brewing Co. at various times had Dixie, Dixie Lager, Dixie Light, Dixie Amber Light, Coy, and various store brands. Dixie and Dixie Light were sold in 10 and 12 oz. sizes. The store brands were sold under the Royal Brewing Co. marketing name and they included Fischer's, Krewes, Golden Brau (for a grocery store chain near Lafayette, LA), K & B (for K & B Drug Stores) and Schwegmann's (for the Schwegmann Brothers Giant Supermarkets).

Another interesting aspect of New Orleans culture was that in some Schwegmann stores, when you entered the store, you could pick up a cup of fresh Dixie beer on draft or a can of Schwegmann beer to enjoy while you shopped. A friend of mine told me that in that store, people were on the honor system. He had seen people in the checkout line twirling an empty six pack holder and the cashier would ask "OK, what was it?" and then would add the price of the already consumed six pack to the grocery checkout receipt.

Most, if not all of Dixie's production now is in bottles, including Dixie Voodoo Dark, Dixie Crimson Voodoo, and the chocolate-flavored Dixie White Moose. Dixie Beer has a slightly distinctive flavor, as it is aged in cypress-lined tanks. For a variety of reasons, Dixie has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for years. I don't know how long it will be before we know if there is any future for Dixie.

There have been a few brewpubs in New Orleans, the most durable is the original, the Crescent City Brewhouse. As most of the French Quarter is above sea level (being on the old natural levee of the Mississippi River), Crescent City might be OK. I noticed some newsreel of what looked like Jackson Square being dry and cleaning up taking place.

North of Lake Ponchartrain is the Abita Brewing Co., one of the original southern microbreweries, opening in 1986. It survived the hurricane, being largely out of service because of the loss of electricity and scattered employees unable to reach work.

There were some older breweries in New Orleans that closed before the 1970s, including the American Brewing Co., brewers of Regal Beer.

[This post was originally on my other blog "geosciblog".]

For the past 30+ years I have been collecting beer cans and other beer-related items (breweriana). A few years back my collection topped out at more than 5,000 cans, but lately I have been paring down my collection to a few hundred favorites.

Along the way, while learning various aspects of brewing history, I began sampling canned beers from the remaining established regional and local breweries. Then in the late 1970s arrived the microbrewery beers, including those from the first micro (some prefer "craft breweries"), New Albion Brewing Co., of Sonoma, California. Since then, I have tried somewhere around 3,000+ American beers and ales. I used to keep a running list, but changing computer systems, lost discs, etc. have resulted in the older lists being missing. Anyway, from time to time I will pass along my thoughts on new beers/ales of good quality. My senses of smell & taste are not finely-tuned enough to offer fancy reviews, but I have tried enough brands to know "what is good and what ain't".

If ever in Nashville, Tennessee, I recommend a stop at the Blackstone Brewing Company brewpub. [For those unaware, brewpubs are restaurants that brew their own beer.] Open since 1994, they have won awards for some of their brews and now some of them are available in bottles. As I write, I am enjoying a bottle of their Nut Brown Ale that I received from a friend at a local beer can show. I also hear that Yazoo Brewing Co. and Bosco's brewpubs are worthwhile stops (of course have a designated driver or another strategy for enjoying their products in moderation).

I haven't had time to re-visit all of the Atlanta brewpubs lately, but I would recommend 5 Seasons, Max Lager's, Gordon Biersch, and Buckhead Brewing Co. (Stockbridge, Cumming, Alpharetta), based on past visits. I haven't been to Parkside Tavern next to Piedmont Park in probably 4 or 5 years, so I don't know about them. I sorry to say that I would avoid Rock Bottom in Buckhead as the last 3 or 4 visits have been major disappointments. The first few years they were open in the late 1990s, their beers/ales were very good, now they are just bland, especially disappointing are the Pale Ales and India Pale Ales that lack the pronounced hop aroma and flavor characteristic of those varieties (sorry, I am a bit of a hophead). More "beer talk" will follow another time...