Abita Brewing Company - Purple Haze

Purple Haze is one of Abita’s most popular beers and it’s definitely a unique beast. After fermentation and filtration, Abita adds actual raspberries to this craft-brewed wheat lager (a wheat lager? with fruit? – we can’t recall drinking anything like that before!), creating a very interesting effect on all aspects of this beer, from its color to its aroma to its flavor. Expect a very intriguing peach color on the pour with some mild haze and an ample, white head. The raspberries are not shy in the aroma department, lending an impression of tartness along with the wheat notes. Some mild bready/crackery malt aromas come through with a touch of herbal hops underneath the berries, and a dry hint of lager yeast. Wheat beers tend to do well with citrus fruit (like the optional lemon or orange wedge served with hefeweizens and witbiers, respectively), but we found the raspberries really work here, offering a natural flavor devoid of any artificial or extract qualities. Pale malt forms the core of this brew with wheaty grain notes building up stronger in the finish, and the hops adding some floral tones and mild herbalness. This brew can be enjoyed a la carte, or try matching it up with a raspberry tart or cheesecake. Cheers!

Abita Brewing Company, situated approximately 30 miles north of New Orleans, is the oldest craft brewery in the Southeast and one of the oldest in the United States. At the time of its founding in 1986, we were still very much within the early days of the American craft beer renaissance. Nevertheless, the region was ready for better beer and by 1994 Abita had grown to the point of needing a new facility. They moved the main brewery into a larger building a short way up the road, leaving the original facility to become their popular brewpub. Currently Abita is brewing at a pace of 125,000 barrels annually (a far cry from the 1,500 of their first year!).

Despite their growth, Abita still brews each beer in small batches, taking advantage of protected artesian wells so pure that the water is fit for brewing directly from the ground, and is added straight to the brew kettle without any chemical preparation. The local Choctaw Native Americans believed the water to have curative properties, and it was they who named the springs “Abita,” which translates as “healing waters.”
Abita Brewing Company is also notable for their charitable work. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which spared the brewery any major damage, Abita first brewed this month’s feature, Restoration Pale Ale, to raise money for hurricane relief. One dollar from every six pack sold was donated to the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, amounting to over half a million dollars. Additionally, $115,000 has been donated to the town of Abita Springs to expand and revitalize the historic Tourist Park in the town’s center. To celebrate Abita’s 20 year anniversary in 2006, the brewery threw a massive party; thousands attended and $20,000 was raised to benefit the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s Employee Relief Fund, which is dedicated to helping displaced food service workers return to their homes and their jobs.

For more information about the brewery, brewpub and/or scheduled tours, call 985-893-3143 or visit www.abita.com.