Speaking of freakin’ enormous storm surges: My brother-in-law, skiving off architecture school by building actual houses for actual people who actually need them at the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, sent up a Mardi Gras care package that included several bottles of Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan ale.

On the one hand, I want to swear that I shun beers that contain ingredients other than water, malt, hops and yeast. On the other hand, my favorite beer for years has been Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewing Company, which is amended with corn. Still, I took one look at this pecan beer and thought, “candy beer,” but ended up wrong. Whatever they’ve got going on there, it’s subtle. It winds up being very nicely balanced: malty, toasty. I never would have picked out the rogue nut esters. Crazy delicious.