Since it launched in November 2010, Baton Rouge’s own Tin Roof Brewing Co. has helped establish the Gulf South as an able participant in the world of craft beer. The brewery opened just as regional consumers began to seek out local micro-brew options, and sales of Tin Roof, a beer produced off Nicholson Drive near downtown, have steadily spread throughout the state and into Mississippi. It’s part of a growing subset of Louisiana craft beers that includes Bayou Teche, Nola, Chafunkta, Covington and several others.
Now Tin Roof is building on its success with an investment in new state-of-the-art equipment, including a larger brew house, additional fermenters and tanks for hot and cold water. The new equipment increases capacity, helping Tin Roof reach markets along the Gulf Coast in time for summer.
Moreover, Tin Roof expects to complete a taproom and beer garden at its Wyoming Street brewery by football season. The facility is a stone’s throw from Tiger Stadium.
“The new equipment is going to make us much more efficient. It’s going to help us get to the next step,” says co-founder William McGehee. “And the taproom and beer garden are going to create new opportunities for consumers to experience our beers.”
McGehee and his childhood friend, Charles Caldwell, opened the brewery while McGehee was finishing law school at LSU and Caldwell was working as a banker in their hometown of Natchez. Both were frustrated by their future prospects. One weekend, while Caldwell was visiting McGehee in Baton Rouge, they began talking about Caldwell’s past dream to open a brewery. He had even studied craft brewing in Vermont, but hadn’t figured out how to get the idea off the ground. McGehee suggested they resuscitate it together.
“I didn’t like the idea of being a lawyer, and he didn’t like being a banker, so we went for it,” recalls McGehee. “Our main goal then was just to still be in business by this point. To be on the verge of expansion is great.”
Tin Roof’s various selections, including its workhorse Blonde Ale and Perfect Tin Amber Ale, Voodoo Bengal Pale Ale, Juke Joint IPA and seasonal selections, are turned out daily. The beer is sold in cans, not bottles, because modern cans do a better job of protecting the integrity of the beer, says McGehee. It’s also a friendlier format for tailgaters and parade-goers, he adds.
With Tin Roof’s new equipment in place, construction is set to begin on the taproom and beer garden this summer. One side of the former warehouse will be sectioned off with glass panels and retooled into a taproom, giving fans a funky spot to sip new brews while also watching Tin Roof’s production. Outside the taproom, the brewery will offer open-air tables. The founders don’t plan to sell food themselves, but they will continue hosting food truck events and pop-up dinners.
Tin Roof has already participated in beer dinners and other culinary ventures, including a recent event that paired the beers with a special menu at Chef John Folse’s Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans.
McGehee says he and Caldwell liked the idea of opening the brewery near LSU and downtown Baton Rouge, even if they’ve endured criticism about moving into a rundown neighborhood. Their decision has proved fortuitous: Nicholson Drive between campus and downtown is the site of major anticipated investment, including a 3.5-mile modern streetcar route, the Water Institute for the Gulf’s campus and the proposed River District mixed-use development.
The taproom, says McGehee, will catch the thousands of new patrons expected to traverse the route, and it will give the brewery a chance to showcase new varieties.
“We’ll have our favorites,” says McGehee. “But we’ll also have enough to satisfy beer geeks who want something new.”
