To see a slideshow from this year’s Beer Festival, click here.
For Todd Munsey, the Fifth Annual Zapp’s International Beer Festival epitomized the part of Louisiana he has come to love since moving here from Virginia five years ago. “This is what Louisiana is all about,” said Munsey, human resource education senior. “Drinking great beer outside on a beautiful spring day in South Louisiana. It doesn’t get much better than that.” Munsey, along with 1,500 attendees, enjoyed the great weather and sipped beer under the Live Oak trees at LSU Rural Life Museum on Saturday afternoon at an event that had undeniable southern flavor.  The festival featured an assortment of tents with more than 200 homebrews, foreign and domestic beer and ales scattered among authentic antebellum architecture and artifacts.  Attendees paid a $25 entrance fee to sip on as many different beers as they could handle while walking through the rustic surroundings of the Rural Life museum and listening to the music of Lafayette-based Zydeco band the Bayou Boys. Vendors came from across the state and nation, and featured beer heavyweights such as Budweiser and Miller as well as microbreweries, regional breweries and homebrews. “It is a beautiful day for drinking beer,” said Kristina Creighton, a waitress at Zea’s Rotisserie Grill Restaurant in Towne Center. Creighton spent the afternoon working at the Zea’s tent serving Heiner Brau beer. Heiner Brau is a microbrewery in downtown Covington owned by brewmaster Henryk “Heiner” Orlik. He is one of only 10 German brewmasters in the United States and has been making beer since age 16. Orlik opened the brewery the week before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and has been producing a variety brews that are sold at several grocery stores and restaurants throughout the state.”Two of three beers sold in Louisiana is a Budweiser product, so being a microbrewery here is difficult,” Orlik said. “Being a brewmaster is a very unique job in America. There are no schools here. There are more doctors and lawyers than there are brewmasters.” Micro-breweries like Heiner Brau produce 50,000 barrels a year or less, with a barrel equaling 31 gallons. Regional breweries like Abita and Samuel Adams produce more than 50,000 barrels, but less than the millions of barrels produced by Budweiser, Miller or Coors.  Orlik said micro-beers are usually fresher and often unique to the area of the country where they are produced. “In Germany, every small town has its own brewery. You have the mayor; he’s the number one man, and you have the doctor, he’s number two; and then you have the priest, he’s number three,” Orlik said. “And you know who number four is.” Another microbrewery represented at the festival was B.J.’s Brewhouse, located near the Mall of Louisiana on Bluebonnet. Todd Landry, finished beer specialist at B.J.’s, spent the afternoon serving a delicious Belgian strong white beer seasoned with coriander root, orange peel and spices.  B.J.’s brews seven staples year around and brews 14 beers in all throughout the year. The brewhouse carries 47 beers on tap and specializes in Belgian beer. John Canady works on the other side of the business. Canady’s family owns Bootleggers Brewing Supply on Scenic Highway. Bootleggers sells every supply necessary for the average Joe to brew his own microbrew. Canady said he has brewed several varieties of beers and mastered a few of his own recipes. He said it usually takes two to four weeks to brew a beer and just about anyone who’s willing to try can do it. As the lines at the port-o-potties got longer and more and more vendors displayed “tapped out” signs, attendee Brian St. George, a Virginia native who works as a chemical engineer in Baton Rouge, wandered through the festival with a huge grin on his face. “The Beer Fest is the best Baton Rouge has to offer,” St. George said. “It’s all about having some drinks, seeing some people you haven’t seen in a while and just having fun.”—Contact Jack LeBlanc at [email protected]