We took our time driving across to Covington, went for a look in Cabela's Outdoor & Sporting store.
Met up with Jim and Lesley at the motel. It had truck parking but it took Jim several attempts to get in to the carpark because it was a tight turn and there were cars parked making it difficult. Of course, he eventually parked. We got settled then jumped in the soul-train to get to Abita, to the brewery for the 2pm tour.
We were a tad early and the staff were still setting up so we looked around the visitors centre/bar/shop. David had a go at what can only be described as a drinking? game - a ring on a string hanging from the ceiling. On the wall, a wooden beer bottle. Aim: take the ring and swing it at the wall and get it over the neck of the bottle. David did it in about 4 tries. (Beginner's Luck...)
Quite a few people arrived and so the 'tour' began before 2pm with the hostess, Christine, giving a general history of the brewery and the nature of their beer.
They then told us that we were going to line up at one end of the bar, walk through, grab a plastic cup and pull ourselves a beer! They would have had about a dozen of their signature and seasonal beers on tap! We were told we could have as many tastes as we wanted and just to keep lining up! Bloody brilliant! The host, Robert, soon realised that we were the 'party people' and he kept making jokes with us.
David liked the Spring IPA and the Imperonator, the Amber and the SOS (Save Our Shores). Jim liked them all! Lesley and I like the Strawberry Ale. I tried the Golden Ale and I also liked the Andygator. Lesley tried the Purple Haze which has raspberry flavour added and she liked that too. Just as well we were able to 'taste' because I would never in a million years have bought strawberry flavoured beer! And now I'd buy a carton!!! Thanks Dave for being the 'responsible adult' / sober driver for the day, because the three of us were near-on plastered after realising that the Andygator was 8.5%!!!
We drove about a kilometre into Abita Springs town and then went to the Abita Brewpub. This was originally the location of the Brewhouse but they needed more space. The Brewpub is now a restaurant. It was 4pm and we were starving having not had time for lunch!
The food was fantastic - David had a Jumbalaya Ryan and I had the Fried Shrimp. Lesley asked for the Pecan encrusted Catfish - it was huge but she loved it! They have quite a decorative garden/entry area and we spent some time looking at all of the displays. Best brewery tour day we've ever been on!
Driving back to our hotel, we saw a flock of Canada geese and they had goslings! Lesley and I walked back to the park and were able to take some close up pictures of these beauties!
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