Entry 4: New Orleans 2022, Zony Mash, the Beerological Point Of Interest

 Entry 4 in a series on New Orleans (should have been posted June 5th but I got distracted)

Zony Mash is making history in a place of history.

The Gem Theatre once housed one of two African American movie theaters in New Orleans. When the theater closed, it stood vacant for years until Wayward Owl brewery moved into the space and created a great brewery from what I read online. They ran for about two years. 

The brewers behind Zony Mash saw their opportunity and moved in. 

The exterior of the building is much the same as it would have been if you were headed to see a show. And this is kind of beautiful in a lot of ways, to me at least. 

Located "uptown" near the Broadmoor area, the beer posters fill the slots where movie posters once were. And when you walk in, it still has that kind of theater foyer feel to it. The area that I assumed was once upon a time the parking lot is now a stone-filled outdoor beer garden, with a small corner stage, hardly any shade. 

We were there very early on purpose. We checked in with our tickets, got the wristbands, bought a couple beers, hit the food truck parked outside for some of the best red beans & rice, tacos, and quesadillas we'd had in a long time. 

I started out with the Tiny Bubbles beer, which was a good pairing with the quesadilla. 

The heat had dropped off substantially but radiated up towards us from the stones. I have to imagine that it's not fun being out there in August! 

We were there for the beers and for the band. Rebirth Brass Band was highly recommended to us by the bartender at d.b.a. and we were all for it. 

As noted in the previous entry, Julie let us know the brewery was doing a lot of sour beers, and we're happy to enjoy those. 

My next beer was the King of Carrot Flowers which Julie recommended. 

While it sure looks like carrot, I didn't detect any carrot flavor. Carrots don't really have a lot of flavor. However, this had a strong mango taste and I liked that a lot. 

The crowd was starting to filter in, I thought it was weirdly under crowded to start with. We took some seats on the left, and waited for the band to start up. They seemed to be running late, I got the impression as this was the third band I'd seen in New Orleans that running late may just be on time for some folks. 

That's okay as long as it starts up. 

Sound checking continued well past the start time, and Doug went to get me another beer. This time I went for the Session Pale Ale, Makin' Groceries. 

Just in time for the band to come on out and make a joyful noise. Rebirth Brass Band was featured in the show Treme, and for over 20 years they've been a huge feature in New Orleans Jazz, defining things in a new and fun way. Traditional yet new, with a sense of hip hop and jam bands, you could imagine how much fun this was. 

Lost track of the beers we had, started writing this entry months ago and got distracted by work. 

Let's just say, Zony Mash isn't located downtown, it's out of your way,  but it is worth it to take the trip out there. Do it.