Abita beer, specifically Turbodog, is my absolute favorite beer ever. I was sad to think that it may be quite a long time before I could see it again. I would like to thank my Mom for pointing out this bit from Abita’s website.

It may be a little foolish to seem to be worried about beer when so many terrible things are going on around the greater New Orleans area (GNO), but this is a glimmer of hope that not all the great things that make up the culture of New Orleans are not forever damaged or destroyed all together.

ABITA BREWERY SURVIVES KATRINA

We were very fortunate to have escaped major damage from Hurricane Katrina as most others around the Abita Brewery did not. As far as we know every employee or team member evacuated to safer areas. We thank our customers for their patience in these trying times. The Brewery is without power for an unknown amount time but we are working diligently to restore it. Once the power is restored, the beer will be flowing again. Our prayers go out to all who have been affected by the storm. Our area is a beautiful one, where roots run deep and we know that it will rebuild stronger and better than ever.

Abita would like to extend a special thank you to the relief team for promptly clearing the road to our brewery which had been blocked by fallen old-growth trees.

ABITA EMPLOYEES:

We have temporarily relocated our admin office to Baton Rouge while storm cleanup continues.

We are attempting to reach all Abita employees so that we can know where everyone is and do our best to communicate information as it becomes available. If you know of a way to reach others, please give us their contact information and forward this information to them.

Our main concern is determining how to keep in contact with you. You are not expected to report to work at this time. However, we do ask that you contact Leo ([email protected]) and provide all of your current contact information and location.

We need to establish the best way to stay in communication with you. Please let us know:

• Where you are,
• How you can best be reached by phone, e-mail or text message,
• Special needs or concerns you may have,
• Any messages we can relay to loved ones in other locations

Communications are difficult so please provide all forms of contact information… phone, cell phone, email etc…

Please stay in touch. Also, please give us information on other employees you may know of.

We’ll do what we can to help. Our thoughts are with you.

NOTICE
**We are very concerned that two Abita employees are unaccounted for – Dennis Early and Kathy Tujague. Kathy was last known to be in Gulfport with her mother and Dennis was in Picayune. If any one has heard from them, please have them contact us ASAP as we are very concerned and worried about their well-being.

Beautiful imagery from the past life of the city under water.

Shutterblog :: A quiver in my lips as if I might cry

I love the rain. I am sitting here in Starbucks working on several projects and it started raining about 20 minutes ago. It’s raining fairly hard right now a with the typical Tampa area lightning fanfare to go along with it. Hard rain always reminds me of the rain when I was growing up in New Orleans. It doesn’t just rain in little spurts there like here in Tampa. When it rains there it can rain for days on end. Seriously, no sun, no breaks in the clouds… just days of rain. It’s always a kind of cleansing experience, a nice long rainstorm and everythign is kind of clean.

Wow, I really can’t believe it’s all in shambles, this sux!

Thanks to Ken Lemieux for directing me to this site:
New Orleans by Satellite

The image seems to updated every few hours.