The Louisiana Craft Brewers Guild is putting pressure on LSU to expand its beer choices for sale in Tiger Stadium after only one local brew—Abita Strawberry Lager—was offered to fans for purchase.
The move by LSU “suggests a rift between LSU and the local small business community,” says Cary Koch, executive director of the Louisiana Craft Brewers Guild. He’s not asking for all the tap handles to be Louisiana beers, he just hopes there could have been one or two kiosks primarily offering local products.
“Louisiana’s brewers are desperate to know why the university they support with tax dollars, and one from which a number of them have graduated, would consciously choose to prop up out of state and out of country competition,” he says, adding even the LSU licensed Bayou Bengal by Tin Roof was left off the menu.
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The nine alcoholic beverages offered—seven beers and two wines—were chosen by LSU Athletics, its vendor Aramark and through a survey released to fans before the season started, according to Robert Munson, LSU senior associate athletic director. It’s important from an operational standpoint, Munson says, to have an issued limit on beers offered so staff can get used to the new sales.
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“This is new to us,” Munson says. “We want to be as efficient as we can, and we will expand the beer selection as we improve.”
Munson says the athletic department is looking to expand beer offerings “sooner, rather than later,” but couldn’t estimate when they would bolster the beer menu. He also doesn’t know which beers would be considered to be added in the future. Sales data from Saturday’s game was unavailable by press time.
This story originally appeared in Daily Report on Thursday, Sept. 5.