Karlos Knott’s family has lived in Arnaudville for three generations, since his French-Acadian ancestors settled there in the late eighteenth century. On the family land, which sits between Bushville Highway and Highway 31, backed by Bayou Teche, a brewery was born inside a discarded railroad car in 2009.
Knott, now president of the company, founded the brewery with his brothers, Byron and Dorsey. They were the third brewing company to form in a state now home to thirty-seven. Operations have since moved from the little yellow railroad car to a large red warehouse, inside which a statue of Mary overlooks the steel fermenters, each named after old towns along Bayou Teche. Several bottles rest on either side of Mary, forming a makeshift altar; these are the brews the crew is most proud of, Knott said. Like the old railroad car, it’s a reminder of how far they’ve come.
For ten years, Bayou Teche Brewing has maintained its roots of experimentation and crafting beers complementary to Cajun and Creole cuisine. “It’s in our DNA,” Knott said. “It wasn’t a marketing thing, it was just who we were. We wanted to include our Cajun and Creole heritage in the DNA of the brewery.” Every month, they create a new concoction they like to call “crazy beer,” often inspired by Cajun food for flavor, with ingredients like smoked apples and sugarcane for fruit beers, or meat and spices for darker lagers and stouts. In February, they developed a boudin brew that flew off shelves in minutes. November’s crazy beer will be a stout made with gumbo and Tony Chachere’s—a Cajun Breakfast Stout. “We don’t want to be the biggest in Louisiana, but we do want to be the Tobasco Sauce of beer. Tobasco’s not the biggest, it’s probably not the best, but when you think hot sauce in Louisiana, it’s the brand you think of,” said Knott with a laugh. Tobasco is his favorite, by the way.
The brewery’s tap room is open daily, and they hold weekly events in their outdoor beer garden. The tap room is a cool respite from the thick summer heat, with twenty-four beers ready to pour and a jukebox playing the likes of Jimmy Buffet, Otis Redding, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Movie night is every Thursday in the beer garden, featuring screenings of classic science-fiction and horror films, accompanied by handmade Cajun Saucer Pizza straight from the wood-fired pizza kitchen. Friday Night Live sees a local Cajun or Zydeco band on stage every week.
On weekends, Bayou Teche Brewing is more of a fais do do, a place for people to gather and engage with one another over beers. Come Saturday, the brewery’s gravel parking lot often overflows to line Bushville Highway. As many as 200 people will come out on their busiest day of the week to drink, take a brewery tour (offered in English and French), enjoy live music, or participate in song trivia before a DJ closes out the night. Sundays are always for Cajun Jam sessions and competitive games of bourré. “If we’re having fun, we know our customers are,” Knott said. They’ve even hosted weddings on the porch of their beer garden’s bungalow cottage. We’ll cheers to that. Visit bayoutechebrewing.com for a calendar of events and information on brewery tours.
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