Beer, burgers, bluegrass and cancer services — an unlikely combination.

Baton Rouge’s own Tin Roof Brewing Company will celebrate its second anniversary Friday night with an all-ages event on its own turf. The brewery is hosting a roundup of local food trucks and serving beer, with proceeds benefiting Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge.

Just a mile down Nicholson Drive from the North Gates of LSU, Tin Roof Brewing Company has its roots planted in the local scene. From the tanks labeled by names of Louisiana rivers and lakes to tin tackers stamped with the words “geaux local,” Tin Roof’s investment in its hometown is clear the moment one steps through the front doors.

Naturally, the brewery has chosen to commemorate its anniversary with a homegrown party. According to Tin Roof’s advertising director John Peak, Tin Roof deliberately planned the event for the Friday before the Ole Miss game as a nod to founders Charles Caldwell and William McGehee.

“There is a fun dynamic in the brewery,” Peak said. “William went to LSU, Charles went to Ole Miss, so having it right before the Ole Miss game really fits our brand. The rivalry speaks for itself.”

Tin Roof has collaborated with two other local organizations, Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Mobile Food Vendors Association, to put on the event. Though it may seem like a strange combination, spokesman for Mobile Food Vendors Association John Snow said the event came together naturally.

“It’s been so seamless how everything’s come together, because we all understand what one another’s about, and it’s easy to come together over something that makes sense,” Snow said.

The groups’ collaboration goes beyond just planning an event together. While Tin Roof will be selling its own drafts to raise money for Cancer Services, local food trucks will incorporate Tin Roof beer into a new item on the menu created in honor of the brewery’s anniversary.

“All of our food truck chefs are exactly that — they’re chefs,” Snow said, who also owns the popular Taco de Paco truck. “They’re going to come up with unique and new items and options that incorporate Tin Roof into their dishes, and I think they’re gonna blow some minds.”

Connie Boudreaux, the organization’s advertising associate, said she wants to show University students that even if money is tight, they can contribute to the cause in their own way.

“We’re a completely local organization, so partnering with other local business really means a lot to us, because we know what it’s like to be kind of the underdog,” Boudreaux said.

Boudreaux, Snow and Peak all said they hope the event will help boost awareness of all three local organizations.

“Most people drive up and down Nicholson, and they have no idea that this is even back here,” Snow said of the brewery. “You have no idea, and then you walk in here, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I had no idea that this was going on in Baton Rouge.’”

For some University students, an event like this may be a change from the usual routine. Peak said he’s frustrated with the idea that nothing ever happens in Baton Rouge, one he thinks makes many students feel stuck in a rut and leads them to move out of town after graduation.

“Cool stuff is happening that they need to know about,” Peak said. “You can go out to another bar and have your everyday, run-of-the-mill Friday night experience, or you could come out to Tin Roof and have some food trucks having a cook-off, and it benefits a good cause.”

Peak said he hopes an event of this scale will serve as a springboard for more activity in his part of Baton Rouge and even start an annual tradition.

“We don’t want it to be a one-time thing,” Peak said. “We want it to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger every year.”

In addition to food and beer, the Tin Roof anniversary party will also feature live music by local bluegrass band The Ramblin’ Letters. The event will take place on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Tin Roof Brewing Company’s location on Wyoming Street.

When: 5 p.m., Friday
Where: Tin Roof Brewery, 1624 Wyoming St.
What: A benefit for Cancer Services of Greater
Baton Rouge
‘We’re a completely local organization, so partnering with other local businesses really means a lot to us.’