Beers with Chuck: Southern Craft Brewery, New Kid on the Block

by Chuck P

For the past five years, Tin Roof Brewing Company has enjoyed being the only craft brewery based out of Baton Rouge. But now, the capital city welcomes a new addition, Southern Craft Brewing Company.

I always found it odd Baton Rouge didn’t have more craft breweries popping up after the success of Tin Roof. The Lafayette area has Parish, Bayou Teche and the upcoming Cajun Brewing Company. New Orleans has NOLA, Courtyard, Second Line and the recently opened Urban South. 

Hopefully this is the beginning of a long-awaited trend in Baton Rouge.

This week Southern Craft did a massive rollout at the usual craft beer spots in town, but I decided new beers called for a new atmosphere, and I wound up trying their flagship beers at the newly opened Overpass Merchant.

Southern Craft Brewing's Red Stick Rye IPA

I started with the Red Stick Rye, a 5.4 percent ABV IPA. This is the one that started it all for 

Southern Craft brewers Joe Picou and Wes Hedges. The original recipe placed second at the National Homebrew Competition in San Diego in 2011. This brew has a nice dark amber color, an approachable dry finish and a really strong malty backbone. The overall hoppiness is very subtle, with the IBU (International Bitterness Units) coming in at 24.

Pompous Pelican Double IPA

Their other release, the Pompous Pelican, is an ambitious 8.4 percent ABV Double IPA. The hoppiness definitely shines through on this one, with 80 IBU that dance on the tongue. Southern Craft uses local raw cane sugar in this brew, and the Cascade hops give the beer a great balance of citrus and floral notes with a great spicy aroma.

I had to admit, both beers impressed me, and I’m very eager to see what Southern Craft comes out with next. Visit them online and grab a pint of each on your next visit to your favorite craft beer spot.

Don't Tempt Me with a Good Time: Louisiana Brewers Bash

The modern Louisiana craft beer scene got its start in 1986 with the Abita Brewing Company. Last year the Louisiana Brewers Guild, comprised of the owners and brewers of Louisiana's breweries, along with craft beer enthusiasts, got state legislators to approve the first Louisiana Craft Brewers Week. This September there will be a plethora of LCBW events across the South celebrating local brew, but perhaps the event with the biggest bang for your buck is the Louisiana Brewers Bash at The Irish House on St. Charles in New Orleans on September 24th.

This is the only event during LCBW where all nine breweries distributed in south Louisiana will be under one roof (the only Louisiana breweries that are unable to attend are Great Raft and Red River Brewing in Shreveport, LA, because they aren't commercially distributed in New Orleans). Tickets to the event are $45 and that covers beer-inspired Irish pub fare by Chef Matt Murphy, pours of eighteen different beers, and the opportunity to mix and mingle with other beer enthusiasts as well as some of the owners and brewers themselves! You can buy your tickets at brewersbash.eventbrite.com.

We've asked the breweries to supply a flagship, seasonal, or new release beer in addition to a one off specialty brew. This event will completely over take The Irish House and beers will be flowing both upstairs and downstairs throughout the night. This is the craft beer event you cannot miss! Here are the beers we have confirmed so far:

Great Raft Brewing floats toward Shreveport

A Great Raft Brewing growler to add to my collection

Great Raft Brewing is on its way to Shreveport.  Still in planning stages, the brewery hopes to be operational in 2013.  Andrew and Lindsay Nations, a new beer powerhouse couple, are the folks behind the brewery, and they recently made a trip to south Louisiana to meet some fellow Louisiana craft brewers as well as some enthusiasts like me.  Both Andrew and Lindsay are Cicerone certified beer servers, which means they probably know more than 99.9% of people in the world about beer.  They also both have degrees with fancy letters to put behind their names, but after working in the tech world and going to grad school in D.C., they decided what they'd really like to do is come home and make good beer for the people of north Louisiana.  I wish them all the best!

While they were passing through Baton Rouge I was fortunate enough to snag a couple bottles of some Great Raft test batches.  The one on the left is an American style pale ale with wheat in the grain bill and 100% Nelson hops.  It had a strong grapefruit-like presence on the nose and taste, while being light and refreshing with that extra wheat.  The picture on the right is a Saison brewed with lemon zest and pine needles.  The pine flavors are strong and the beer needs some tweaking, but the spirit is certainly there.  This is going to be an inventive and passionate brewery, and I'm excited to welcome them to the Louisiana craft beer scene as soon as their brewery is up and running!

Bandit Blonde Ale is the latest release from the Tin Roof Brewing Company

On Wednesday, November 9 Tin Roof, Baton Rouge's own local brewery, will launch their third beer to hit the taps of area tap rooms and restaurants.  The Bandit Blonde Ale pays homage to the Chinese Bandits, the famous defensive unit responsible for helping LSU bring home the 1958 National Championship. The beer is a light-bodied, crisp American blonde ale, which in their opinion and that of many of LSU's faithful, is suited perfectly for Tiger tailgating.

Tin Roof owners William McGehee and Charles Caldwell are thrilled to finally be able to launch the new brew to their Baton Rouge customers.  They had long been expecting a Fall release but it kept getting held up due to official collegiate licensing on the cans.  Tin Roof has been working closely with LSU, and students have already been attending regular brewing sessions at Tin Roof throughout the semester as part of a new, brewing-based food science course. The Louisiana Business and Technology Center, the LSU business incubator, has been assisting in business planning and marketing with its counselors and MBA graduate students.  The brewery also provides the LSU AgCenter with cattle feed.  Thousands of pounds of spent grain from the brewing process are sent to the dairy on a weekly basis.  While that is still moving forward in the process, the owners decided to go ahead and release the beer on tap now that they have the capacity to brew it.  They will also be donating 10% of all proceeds from the Bandit Blonde to the LSU Foundation until the proper licensing agreements are finalized.

The extra brewing volume is due in large part to the arrival of three new 60 barrel fermenters earlier this Fall.  A barrel, which is twice the size of our normal kegs (hence the 1/2 barrel name), holds 31 gallons of liquid.  Thus, the new fermenters will expand brewing capacity by over 5,000 gallons of beer per brewing cycle.  These extra suds will allow Tin Roof to keep up with demand in the Baton Rouge market and continue their expansion throughout the rest of Louisiana.  Prior to the new fermenting tanks the Perfect Tin Amber Ale and Voodoo Bengal Speciality Pale Ale were all they had room for.  Now the Bandit Blonde Ale will also have its spot in the brewery on Nicholson Drive.  Make sure to stop by on most Fridays from 5:30 to 7:30 PM to get a tour and a sample!