Kirk Coco’s inspiration for opening NOLA Brewing is inextricably entwined with the US Navy, Hurricane Katrina, Dixie Beer, and the clap.

In a city of colorful characters, Kirk Coco is a colorful character. A wonderful combination of impetuousness, frank honesty, and business acumen, Kirk’s venture into brewing is from his telling something akin to a blind man wandering drunk along the edge of a cliff. But in this case the blind man’s sense of direction is impeccable. What could a guy who was a lawyer, a US Naval officer, and now a successful entrepreneur, regret? How about being 8 years old and not making out with Maria Bertucci? 

Kirk’s plus one guest on tonight’s show is his buddy, barbecue chef, Neil McClure from McClure’s Barbecue on Magazine Street, Uptown. Neil’s been fighting with his neighbors who don’t like the smell of smoking meat and want to chase his smoker off the street. And they’ve succeeded. Neil’s wheeled his smoker over to Kirk’s brewery and they’re setting up a kitchen in the new NOLA Brewing Tap Room to dish up smoking barbecue with your beer. Even a cloud of barbecue smoke can have a silver lining.

This conversation about beer, barbecue, Bertucci and beyond is classic Midnight Menu +1 fare: heartfelt, hilarious, and fueled by beer and smoke.