Beers with Chuck: Toast Under the Oaks

by Chuck P


Most first year craft beer festivals aren't successful enough to return for a refill. There are several things that can go wrong along the beer-soaked trail to impending doom. Fortunately, I think the folks behind Toast Under The Oaks, held a few weeks ago at the beautiful Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, will definitely be around for years to come.

Enjoying the scenery while sipping some suds.

Jay and I were eager to check out the selection of beers from local breweries and homebrewers as we made our way onto the lawn. As soon as we walked in we saw our friend Brenton Day (www.thealerunner.com) at the Brasseurs a la Maison home brew tent. He welcomed us with one of his personal brews and one of my favorites, The Mighty Quinn Coffee Vanilla Porter.

Brenton Day's Mighty Quinn Coffee Vanilla Porter

I get excited every time I find out Brenton is brewing a batch. The coffee and vanilla notes are just spot on. Being that it’s a thin-bodied porter means this is something I would drink even in the middle of the brutal Louisiana summer and the barrel-aged version will blow you away.

We made our way over to the local craft beer tents and stopped at one our favorite local breweries, Great Raft from Shreveport. I was happy to see that their session IPA, Make Believer was on tap and instantly ordered one. There’s a mild dankness that comes through from the citra hops and those juicy, citric notes from the galaxy hops were very bright. Their Commotion Pale Ale is my “go-to”, but if you can get your hands on their Make Believer, don’t pass it up!

Great Raft's Make Believer

Jumping back to the coffee beers, we stopped at Thibodaux’s Mudbug Brewery tent for their Cafe Au Lait Coffee Stout. Very light in body for a stout, the coffee and chocolate flavors balance themselves nicely making it another one fit for summer drinking.

Mudbug Brewing's Café au Lait Coffee Stout

It was nice to see a big turnout by the local breweries for this first year event. We were able to catch up with all of our friends from Chafunkta, Tin Roof, Bayou Teche and more. I’m happy to say Brenton Day took 3rd place in the homebrew competition with The Mighty Quinn and 1st place with his Citrattak IPA! 

I’m sure that this time next year Jay and I will both be enjoying delicious, local and homebrewed craft beers under the oaks again.