The Best Beer You Can't Get in Asheville

As you might have noticed, I am a fan or broadly sweeping statements. I thought I might share with you my favorite regional beer from somewhere other than North Carolina.

The key statement here is that this beer is not available in North Carolina. Sure, there are a lot of great beers from around the country that I could have mentioned but this one is particularly special to me. Also, breweries like Founders from Grand Rapids, MI and several offerings from Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee are distributed here so they don't count.

I want to share the magnificent beer called Southern Pecan from Lazy Magnolia Brewery on the southern coast of Mississippi.

According to their website they are available in most of the states surrounding us but they have yet to make it across the North Carolina border.

I first had Southern Pecan on a trip to New Orleans several years ago. We flew to New Orleans to meet some friends to go to see the Detroit Lions play the New Orleans Saints. This was the opening game of the 2009 season. The reason that is significant is because the Lions had just come off of their 0-16 season. The only team in NFL history to accomplish 16 consecutive losses in one season.

So for all the bad football we were about to watch, Matt and I wanted to discover beer that was better than the two for one happy hour macro-brews served at most of the local bars.

We discovered a place called Beer Fest in the French Quarter. Like many of the bars along Bourbon Street, Beer Fest was kind of dark and gross but they had some really interesting and incredibly expensive beers on tap. This selection included beers from a brewery we had never heard of - Lazy Magnolia.

So we tried the nut brown ale, Southern Pecan. At the time, nut brown ales were probably my favorite style and this beer did not disappoint. I found it a smooth and creamy beverage with just a hint of sweetness. We had just discovered our New Orleans beer experience.

Several years later, while we were living in Atlanta, Lazy Magnolia started distributing to Georgia so we were able to get this beer at our favorite local beer bar.

I don't miss much living here in Asheville - the beer scene is so great and there are a lot of wonderful beers distributed into our city - but I did miss Lazy Magnolia's Southern Pecan. (I also miss one brewery out of Atlanta that I'll tell you about sometime...)

Last week, Matt was in New Orleans for Jazz Fest and he returned with a 12 pack of Southern Pecan just for me. Isn't he sweet?

So if you find yourself in New Orleans - or Mississippi for that matter - check out this nut brown beer.