Feature Beer Friday: Parish's Envie Pale Ale

By Eric Ducote

Good morning again, and whatever time of day you're reading this, if you're in or around Louisiana, it's almost certainly HOT.  Extremely ridiculously hot.  And humid.  And being outside just in general sucks and it will for several more months.  However, we can't (at least not easily) live out lives entirely inside so when grills need to be lit, wings need to be smoked, sausage needs to be grilled, and lawns need to be mowed, we brave the elements and look forward to a tasty beverage to make us feel a little more whole afterward.  

This past weekend was one of those times as my friend Blake (who you might remember brewed the Southern Craft Three Generation Tripel) invited me over to fire up the BBQ and watch some World Cup action.  I needed a few brews for the day in addition to Blake's homebrew, so I grabbed some Jucifer and then noticed the canned Envie from Parish Brewing.  Not too long ago (I think January or February of 2018) Parish started contracting out the brewing and canning of their three flagship beers to Brew Hub out of Lakeland, Florida, a city just to the East of Tampa and the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers.  Lakeland is also home to Florida Southern College, whose campus contains a large concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings.  Fascinating stuff, really.

Parish Brewing's Envie Pale Ale

Back to the beer though... the first Brew Hub batch of Envie wasn't very well received locally, but since then Andrew and the Parish team have worked with Brew Hub to ensure that subsequent batches meet the same quality as the bottled and kegged Envie that comes out of Broussard, LA.  After hearing from many people that the more recent canned batches are all coming out exceptional I had no hesitation buying a 4-pack of the 16 oz. cans for a hot day.

My first thought is that I love the 16 ounce can packaging. I feel like more breweries should offer it, as it's great for a sessionable beer like Envie (or Canebrake) if I'm drinking it solo, and it's more to go around for bigger beers that I'm sharing.  This can was dated 05/09/18, but even though it's getting to be 6 or 7 weeks old, I still expect tropical hazy goodness.  The appearance certainly delivers on the expectations, hazy orange-yellow color with a frothy white head.  The aroma is full of fruity hop flavors, a little more exotic than the Ghost In The Machine I tried last week, but still familiar flavors like passionfruit and guava.  There is a little more bitterness and less fruit note on the taste, but still those tropical flavors dominate, leaving a finish of hoppy mango.  

This doesn't pack quite the hop punch as the Ghost, but this is also far more suited for a backyard BBQ in the middle of the summer heat.  Or the cans are perfect for a trip to the pool, the beach, or a canoe trip.  Stay safe out there, stay hydrated, and save room for a few beers! 

Jay D’s Backyard BBQ at Tin Roof Brewery

by Sophie Spring, intern

Our Bull Grill from Goodwood Hardware loaded up with meats at Tin Roof Brewing
photo credit: Jordan Hefler Photography

The Bite & Booze team was excited to throw a Backyard BBQ party at Tin Roof Brewery to help celebrate the release of their new Watermelon Wheat. The day started early, cleaning ice chests, loading red beans and Supreme Rice into the Goodwood Hardware trailer, lugging heavy cast iron pots to the brewery, cooking up cheese sauce and slicing smoked sausages. Aimee and Therese planned the schedule for smoking the chicken, ribs and sausage days in advance. The pimento cheese sauce was made with love the morning of the event, proportions of rice and beans and seasonings were calculated carefully, and lists of supplies covered tables in the office.

Grill me something mister! 📸: @jordanhefler . . . . . #jayd #hugjayd #biteandbooze #backyardbbq #batonrouge #br #gobr #225batonrouge #225 #summerBBQ #ribs #sausage #chicken #grill

A post shared by Bite & Booze (@biteandbooze) on Jul 10, 2017 at 11:20am PDT

What was on the menu for the event, you ask? Tender, fall of the bone ribs, juicy smoked chicken, and flavorful sausage. The trio of meat was accompanied by impossibly creamy pimento mac and cheese, dirty rice and BBQ beans.

Chef Aimee Tortorich shows off some Jay D's smoked ribs!
photo credit: Jordan Hefler Photography

All of which was served with an iconic slice of white bread to sop up all the juices that gather in the bottom of the red checkered trough used to serve our “Full Monty” (a plate of all three meats and each of the sides). The team used Jay D’s Spicy & Sweet BBQ Rub to season the meats, Louisiana Barbecue Sauce to mop the meats as we finished them on the grill and Louisiana Molasses Mustard and barbecue sauce were available for dipping and slathering.

What a weekend! The Jay D's Backyard BBQ at @tinroofbeer was a huge success. Sorry if we sold out before you got to taste all this deliciousness but hopefully we will be doing it again very soon! Stay tuned to find out where we will be cooking next. . . . . #backyardbbq #bbq #jayd #tinroofbrewery #watermelonwheat #summer #summerBBQ #usa #fourthofjuly #independenceday #225batonrouge #eatbr #gobr #batonrouge

A post shared by Bite & Booze (@biteandbooze) on Jul 5, 2017 at 9:52am PDT

The weather was perfect for the event, sun shining and clear skies. It was the ideal day to relax in the yard at Tin Roof Brewery, Watermelon Wheat in one hand a smoked BBQ rib in the other. As we anticipated, the “Full Monty” was our best seller. No one wanted to miss out on any of the meats or sides. We were so happy with the turnout, it felt like there was an endless line of people from the start to when we sold out of meat.

Sophie Spring and Chuck P. scooping the Supreme Rice dirty rice for service
photo credit: Jordan Hefler Photography

The team was running back and forth with hot trays of ribs and sausage, using paddles to scoop steamy dirty rice into hotel pans, pulling BBQ beans out and rushing to get them to our customers.

Sold out BBQ! photo credit: Jordan Hefler Photography

The food was gone before we knew it, and at the end of the night all we had left was the bottom of the pot of dirty rice and BBQ beans. Overall, the event was a success: beer, BBQ, and a good time!

Aaron's First Month: From Coors Light to Craft Beer

by Aaron Arnold, intern

Before late April I had no idea what Jay Ducote did or who he even was, but that all changed when Jay spoke to my Digital Marketing class at LSU. Usually the guest speakers don’t interest me all too much, but when Jay came along and talked about Bite & Booze, Jay D’s, and Govt Taco, I was sold. I am not sure if it was Jay’s public speaking ability that caught my attention or the fact that he ate and drank for a living. All I knew was that I wanted to be a part of his team.

A few days later I emailed Jay about the possibility of joining the company as an intern and he invited me to the office for an interview. When asked what my least favorite food was, I responded “pickles..” (as anyone should) and Blair replied “Oh great, Jay hates pickles too.” That’s when I knew I was in.

When Jay spoke to my class he said he was looking for a jack of all trades type of intern, and he meant that literally. On the first day I put tags on our bomb AF Louisiana Molasses Mustard (seriously if you’re reading this and haven’t tried it then do yourself a favor and go buy some right this second, this blog isn’t going anywhere) helped craft tweets for our Twitter accounts, created graphic designs, and worked a private dinner at the office. At the end of the day I had worked a little over 13 hours. You’re probably thinking “I bet this dude wanted to quit immediately”, but you would be mistaken. It was single handedly the best day of “work” I have had in my entire life, and I worked at Disney World for 6 months so that’s saying something! The best part about it was that at the end of a 13 hour work day I felt like I knew everyone in the office for years and that I was a part of the family.

Aaron rocking his Jay D's shirt alongside fellow intern Drew, helping serve at Jay D's Backyard BBQ at Tin Roof Brewery. Photo by Jordan Hefler Photography

In a month’s time I have done so many things that I never expected to do. I recorded a podcast sampling beer, wrote multiple blog posts, assisted at demos in grocery stores, made product deliveries, packed and moved our entire office (#RIPOfficeHouse), and attended a handful of Gov’t Taco and Jay D events. It has been a great experience so far and I can only imagine it will keep getting better.

In addition to all of these great experiences I’ve gained an appreciation for local products and most importantly craft beer, thanks Chuck! You would think being from the Baton Rouge area I would try to stick to local products, but I have honestly never thought much about it. Now, I make an effort to only shop at Calandro’s or other local grocery stores. The team has shown me a bunch of locally owned restaurants in Baton Rouge that I never even knew existed, and my fridge is stocked with delicious Louisiana beer.

I hope the rest of this internship goes just as smoothly as the first month, I certainly think it will.