All photos by Lucie Monk Carter
Patience and a certain persistence have been key in the evolution of Baton Rouge’s Tin Roof Brewing Company. Beginning this summer, a scheme years in the making will be realized when the six-year-old brewery, located just out of the shadow of Tiger Stadium along Nicholson Drive, releases an officially licensed LSU beer, the Bayou Bengal. “It will be rolling out at the end of August, just in time for football season,” said William McGehee, Tin Roof co-founder.
In 2010, McGehee and fellow founder Charles Caldwell approached Charles D’Agostino, executive director at the LSU Louisiana Business and Technology Center Small Business Incubator, for advice on their plan to open a microbrewery. “We were going to be located a mile from LSU and we thought, let’s work together. We got in touch with Charlie and he said, ‘I’ve got a homerun idea for you,’” said McGehee. D’Agostino’s original idea to open a brewpub on campus did not materialize. “The timing was bad, and it just didn’t work,” said McGehee. “After that, we would check in with Charlie every month or two and say When do we want to revisit this?” With a new administration, the conversation was back on the table, and the deal between Louisiana’s flagship university and the six-year-old brewery was finalized in June 2016. “It took a while for everyone to get their hands on it and decide, yes, this is a good idea.”
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In an effort to deliver a beer that will be a homerun (some may prefer “touchdown”) with the LSU community, Tin Roof turned to a panel of local beer enthusiasts to choose the final recipe for the official LSU brew through a blind tasting. “We just wanted to know what the fans wanted. We have eight to ten recipes. They are all similar—light, drinkable beers,” said McGehee. To say the response has been positive would be an understatement. “We have had over twelve hundred people apply [to be on the panel],” McGehee said. The panel ultimately decided on a lager, with easy drinkability in mind.
In addition to the production of the first LSU-branded alcoholic beverage, the partnership will provide internship opportunities for students in the Manship School of Mass Communication to assist with social media and public relations beginning in the fall. Undergraduates in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences will also have the opportunity to log hours working alongside the three Tin Roof brewers and gain hands-on experience in fermentation science.
With the LSU partnership officially in place, McGehee now looks to meet the anticipated demand for their product by increasing the brewery’s capacity. “We have done previous expansions piece-meal, and this time we are trying to get everything where it needs to be. We currently have ten fermenters, and we have eight new fermenters on the way; those were pretty much ordered just for the LSU beer,” said McGehee. “We currently brew about four times a week. With a couple of minor adjustments, we can brew on our system twenty-four hours a day.”
In addition to the swell of demand from the highly anticipated LSU beer, Tin Roof is planning to expand their distribution from Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi into Arkansas and the Florida panhandle. The brewery also hopes to begin bottling some of their more popular beers in the near future. “We still think cans are the better vessel, but our market prefers bottles,” McGehee said.
The growing brewery will double in size by taking over the adjoining empty warehouse space for a total of 32,000 square feet along Nicholson Drive, situated between LSU and downtown Baton Rouge.
The on-site bar also allows the brewers creative license to curate new recipes and flavor profiles with three tap handles reserved for one-of-a-kind concoctions that can only be acquired at the brewery. “It’s another thing we try to do to provide unique stuff here,” McGehee said. Recently, the tap room featured their 5 Year Anniversary Oatmeal Pale Ale alongside a Hoppy Wheat infused with hibiscus, lemon, and grapefruit. Curious beer aficionados get a front row seat to the brewing process with a set of large windows separating the rustic bar and the production floor. Those wanting an even closer look can tour the brewery each Friday and Saturday.
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In addition to serving their five signature brews, the tap room also hosts weekly events as well as special release parties for their five seasonal beers throughout the year. “We partner with Lululemon to offer free yoga every Wednesday, and on Sundays we do a thing called Juke Joint night where we bring in local singer-songwriters to the tap room,” said Rivers Hughey, director of marketing and special events. “We recently did the Salt and Smoke festival. We partnered with a chef out of North Carolina and had an oyster station, a whole roasted pig, and some draft trailers in the green space. People had their blankets down and were really having fun. We also do a big tailgate party in August when we release our Game Day IPA. The space here lends itself well to that type of event.”
For now, the main focus is on doubling the footprint of the brewery and planning for the release of the LSU lager in the fall. “We will definitely have a release party, and we’d also like to do something special for all the people who’ve filled out the survey to participate in the blind tasting panel,” Hughey said.
“We are taking it one step at a time, but ideally we would love to have a line of LSU beers,” said McGehee. “This will be a big part of our growth.”
1624 Wyoming Street Baton Rouge, La. (225) 377-7022 facebook.com/tinroofbeer @TinRoofBeer
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