And the Valley Drinks: HEY IT'S CRAFT BEER WEEK

If you didn't realize, it's American Craft Beer week, which means all kind of cool events across Southeast Louisiana to celebrate. Breweries are trying out new experiments and in general doing everything they can to get their wares out there. The Louisiana scene has been exploding in the last few years, but the thing is, there's so much of a market here that there's still quite a bit of room to go beyond the Abitas, NOLAs, Parishes, etc...

One of the lesser-known local outfits that's just starting to get a foothold is Chafunkta Brewing out of Mandeville. Its a small brewery that just opened in 2011, and still only has a handful of offerings and I've only been able to sample them recently at the Baton Rouge Beerfest, among others.

But the other night at the Chimes, I got my hands on the Kingfish Cream Ale. It's an American cream ale, which, per beer advocate:

Cream Ales, spawned from the American light lager style, are brewed as an ale though are sometimes finished with a lager yeast or lager beer mixed in. Adjuncts such as corn or rice are used to lighten the body. It is not uncommon for smaller craft brewers to brew all malt Cream Ales. Pale straw to pale gold color. Low hop bittering and some hop aroma though some micros have given the style more of a hop character. Well carbonated and well attenuated.

The beer is obviously named for you-know-who, and it's a solid beer, if not quite that sessionable for a paler ale.

Kingfish Ale is a light colored American Cream Ale with minimal hop flavor and a hint of lingering sweetness. It's crisp and refreshing like a lager, with the flavor and complexity of an ale. Named after Louisiana legend Huey P. Long, we proudly say, "Every Can A King!!"

via d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net

Review

There's a lot to this beer -- its heavy, even through the bouquet which has a rich, sweet malty smell. On the come there's a lot going on, with a quick spike of light, but noticeable hoppiness that kind of rolls around back into the malty sweetness. With a dash of hops on the back end in the after taste. The cream heaviness makes it a tough beer to picture drinking all day, at least for my tastes. Though at 5-percent ABV it won't go to your head quickly. I give it a solid three out of five stars.

I'll be doing my best to try some other local options the rest of the week, so stay tuned and stay thirsty my friends (OH YEAH HE WENT THERE).