Ales in Comparison

“Cold one” has gone the way of “Coke” as an effective ordering shorthand for twenty-first-century beer drinkers. Once a workman’s brew, these days there’s an almost infinite range of options where suds and their sippers are concerned.

Craft beer now firmly occupies a position amongst the finer things in life, its nuances and tiers of tastes to be picked apart, paired, and described with a dizzying array of adjectives. It’s still cold, yes, and wet; but your craft beer might also be “piney,” “hopped,” “dank,” “floral,” “hazy,” “amber-toned,” “dark chocolate,” “tinged with coriander,” “sour wheat,” or possessing any number of other colorful characteristics in between.

You can get a hoppy, trendy India Pale Ale (IPA) pretty much anywhere. (The style is now up there with “clean bathroom” on the list of pub priorities.) But three recently opened Baton Rouge bars go far beyond pale ale, operating with the firm conviction that there’s a well-made microbrew to suit every taste. Coors Light, eat your heart out.

Brenton Day (accountant, runner, self-confessed beer maniac) helped curate our recent tour of ambitious new craft beer bars around town. Day can be found all over the web as The Ale Runner, sharing a steady stream of beer reviews, news, and original concoctions. As an energetic drinking buddy, for novices and obsessives alike, he’s incomparable, confirming that the craze for craft beer is not only contagious, but a great deal of fun, too.

CORPORATE BREW & DRAFT

Opened at the tail end of 2014, Corporate Brew & Draft (CBD) sits around the corner from its sister establishment, The Cove. CBD’s two long bars, extending from the interior’s glassfront to a mural-splashed back wall, divide the draft selections by origin: local at the right, imports to the left. It’s a sly push for guests to crowd around the thirty-something Louisiana taps and see what’s brewing in their own backyard.

A weekly keg rotation keeps the offerings fresh, a key consideration in CBD’s strategy. Assistant Manager Garrett Campbell is on hand to offer recommendations. “For Bud Light drinkers,” said Campbell, “I’d suggest a Catahoula Common [Gnarly Barley Brewing, Hammond] or Southern Drawl [Great Raft Brewing, Shreveport]. High drinkability with a craft twist.”

Further twists await in the series of specialty casks which CBD invites local breweries to fill with gussied-up variations on existing beers, splashing in ginger ale or a hint of graham cracker to complement a brew. “Zac [Caramonta, of Gnarly Barley Brewing] does some mean casks,” said Campbell. A recent cask for CBD elevated the brewery’s excellent Korova Milk Porter with fragrant coconut and cocoa nibs.

For more seasoned drinkers, Campbell is happy to talk shop. He and Day swapped the latest on Pacific hop harvests, “the three IPAs in the South that matter most right now,” and the next beers likely to land on local shelves.

Day punctuated his sentences with sips of a just-tapped batch of mouth-puckeringly hoppy Ghost in the Machine, the high-alcohol, double India Pale Ale created by Broussard, Louisiana’s, Parish Brewing Company, which makes a brief appearance in Baton Rouge stores and bars every few months. “I do about ninety-five percent of my drinking at home,” said Day. He sipped from his snifter. “But I come here for the specialty releases.”

At Corporate Brew & Draft, The Ale Runner recommends: Commotion, American Pale Ale, Great Raft Brewing • Jack the Sipper, ESB (Extra Special Bitter), Southern Prohibition Brewing • Ghost in the Machine, American Double IPA, Parish Brewing

THE DRAFT HOUSE

Opened in January 2015, The Draft House sails on an even keel through the fleet of Third Street bars in downtown Baton Rouge. No popped collars, no tapas, no midriffs. Mismatched wooden planks and dangling overhead lamps run the wall opposite the bar, and the back corner fits both a pool table and leather couch with room to spare. The chalkboards hanging above the bartender boast specials and new arrivals before she does.

With one hundred taps to choose from, we were loath to pick just one apiece. That’s what flights are for! Four six-ounce tasters of beer presented in tight formation, our choices ranging from a sour wheat to Abita’s strong coffee stout with notes of chocolate and caramel. (Day pointed out an added bit of local flavor in the latter: “It’s brewed with PJ’s espresso.”)

The dim lights and exposed brick at the back will put you in a mood for darker brews. The oatmeal stout is exceptional too. The flight’s a nice value; while the samples are small, they prompt chatter and the confidence to branch out. Hey, it’s only six ounces … then you can order something new.

At The Draft House, The Ale Runner recommends: Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout, Abita Brewing • 40 Arpent Milk Stout, 40 Arpent Brewing Company

BOTTLE & TAP

Bottle & Tap offers proof that the craft beer movement has departed the fanatics’ niche. The bar, just opened in July 2015, has a small but attractive draft selection long on local brews, with an even larger bottle and can collection. But the real draw is in the lower prices made possible by a beer list that’s only conservative by the highest of standards. Bottle & Tap isn’t fighting to stay at the top, chasing down each new keg or specialty cask. But it’s comfortably current.

Along with live music and karaoke, the bar plays host to trivia nights from local fact-finders Let’s Get Quizzical, where the free-flowing taps and popping bottles boost the air of competition, if not your personal recall.

At Bottle & Tap, The Ale Runner recommends: Korova Milk Porter, Gnarly Barley Brewing • Turnrow, Harvest Ale, Tin Roof Brewery

***

(Left) One of the first establishments to offer a slate of worldwide beers to Baton Rouge drinkers, The Chimes “had to step up its game,” claimed Day, with the establishment of more beer-focused bars around town. Now with a tap system overhaul, programs like “Chimes Beer University,” and the latest local releases hitting The Chimes and its offspring restaurants, the popular pub is as crafty as ever.

To accommodate the ongoing exploration, bar menus have grown by page and scope to the point at which even the most seasoned drinkers end up begging for guidance when faced with a novella of worldwide brews.

The solution: Treat each trip to the bar as an opportunity for discovery and for celebrating the talents of Louisiana’s, and America’s, ever-expanding crop of accomplished craft brewers.

Details. Details. Details.

The Ale Runner 
thealerunner.com

Corporate Brew & Draft 
2561 Citiplace Court, Ste. 300 
Baton Rouge, La. 
(225) 771-8508 

facebook.com/CBDBR

The Draft House 
421 Third Street 
Baton Rouge, La. 
(225) 248-6511

facebook.com/drafthousebar

Bottle & Tap 
11445 Coursey Boulevard 
Baton Rouge, La. 
(225) 300-4559

bottleandtapbr.com