NOLADrinks – 4-26-18 – Picton Castle and Tall Ships NOLA 2018 – Crawfish and NOLA Crawfish Festival

On this week’s The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias, we have a couple great interviews. First, we interview Captain Sam Sikkema of the Picton Castle sailing ship while on-board. The ship participated in Tall Ships NOLA 2018 and is set to embark on a round-the-world trip from New Orleans. We talk about their program, the ship, and how the crew manages meals aboard as well as what they enjoy visiting the many exotic ports they see. Next, we chat with Chris “Shaggy” Davis of NOLA Crawfish King. We cover next week’s NOLA Crawfish Festival, the crawfish season, and how a boil goes down.

Pictured above from left – Captain Sam Sikkema of the Picton Castle and Bryan Dias and NOLADrinks.

NOLADrinks – 4-26-18 – Picton Castle and NOLA Tall Ships 2018 – Crawfish and NOLA Crawfish Festival

We kick things off talking about this week’s show. We also touch on Jazz Fest and many of the events that happen around it here in New Orleans.

Next, we head aboard the Picton Castle, a sailing ship in town, that participated in Tall Ships NOLA 2018 and is a part of the Tall Ships America organization. We visit with Captain Sam Sikkema on-board the Picton Castle while she is docked on the Mississippi River at Woldenberg Park and prepares for an around-the-world trip.

We talk about the ship, their education and training program, and discuss how the crew eats during a trip. We discuss a bit on how they source in foreign ports and some fun things the crew enjoys eating and drinking when they visit exotic locations.

In the second-half of the show, we pay a visit to our friends at Sylvain where Chris “Shaggy” Davis of NOLA Crawfish King stops by. We talk about next week’s NOLA Crawfish Festival taking place at Crescent City BBQ on Monday through Wednesday (off-days between Jazz Fest weekends…) We chat about the great music line-up for the event along with all the good beer, BBQ, and, of course, crawfish you can get your hands on.

Pictured at left from left Bryan Dias and Chris “Shaggy” Davis of NOLA Crawfish King and the NOLA Crawfish Festival.

We also talk about the crawfish season, how it works, and how a boil goes down. If you’re not from around here or are new to town, you may wonder why we fuss so much about “mud bugs” here in New Orleans and in Louisiana. We got you covered. Even those in-the-know might be interested to learn about how crawfish are priced, farmed versus wild, and, perhaps the greatest debate – seasoning and what ingredients to use in the batch.

We close out the show talking about next week’s installment with Aimee Brown of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (NOWFE) and Elizabeth Pearce and Abigail Gullo of Drink & Learn. Lastly, we talk a bit about the mint julep and one, in particular, made to celebrate the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo (same day this year) that blends in Tequila and goes for a paltry US $1,500!

On the map below that shows the location of Central City BBQ (NOLA Crawfish Festival) and Sylvain, you can subscribe to, stream, and download The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias podcast.

Cheers, You All!

~ Bryan