Tin Roof Brewing Video: Click Here to watch
Baton Rouge has the University, the Capitol, the Governor’s Mansion, the Mississippi River and even a fast-food chain, but it has never had its own beer — until now.
Tin Roof Brewing Company, located on Nicholson Drive and started by childhood friends from Natchitoches — Charles Caldwell and University alumnus William McGehee — aims to bring Baton Rouge its own unique flavor of the popular alcoholic malt-and-hops beverage.
The friends and co-owners began brewing Wednesday and hope to have two beers — Voodoo Bengal Specialty Pale Ale and Perfect Tin Amber Ale — on tap in local restaurants and bars by mid-November and in bottles on store shelves early next year.
Voodoo Bengal, named in reference to southeast Louisiana and the University, is brewed with specialty malts and pure Louisiana cane syrup, according to Caldwell.
Both beers were created for the taste buds of Baton Rouge, Caldwell said.
“We tried to keep a clean, dry finish,” Caldwell said. “A lot of people in Baton Rouge don’t like a strong, bitter aftertaste.”
 
The two friends said they dreamed of opening a brewery after becoming interested in craft beers toward the end of their undergraduate college years.
“I spent a year on a ranch in Colorado and fell in love with beer there,” Caldwell said.
The two decided to go ahead with the idea after Caldwell got more interested and active in the brewing process and McGehee graduated from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
“[Caldwell] was hating his job,” McGehee said. “I was hating the idea of being a lawyer.”
The friends realized Baton Rouge was the ideal place to start a brewery, considering the proximity to the University and the opportunity to be the city’s only local beer.
After deciding on a brewery name, the duo found a location on the Nicholson Corridor, just north of campus. The building has the necessary space and location and even has a tin roof covering the front.
“The building is an old Sears distribution center,” Caldwell said. “We’ve got plenty of room to grow into.”
Unfortunately, the rest of the process did not go so smoothly.
Caldwell and McGehee, who said they hoped to finish a product by the start of football season, were soon faced with delay after delay. Without the right permits, they couldn’t get the needed electricity and water to brew any beer.
“It was really tough, us coming in here day after day looking at these tanks, wondering when we’re going to have beer in them,” McGehee said.
While waiting for brewing to begin, McGehee and Caldwell contacted Red Six Media, a marketing company run by six University graduates out of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center. Red Six Media created a website and Facebook and Twitter accounts for Tin Roof.
“We just think this is really the beer capital of the world, according to people in the South, and it should have its own beer,” said Matt Dardenne of Red Six Media.
The Tin Roof Facebook page has more than 1,500 fans, and while there are posts on a variety of topics, including LSU football, most are people asking about the availability of the beer.
While the company is working with Red Six and distributor Mockler Beverage Co., the two owners are, essentially, the company.
“We’ll be brewing, we’ll be washing kegs, we’ll be sweeping floors and out on sales calls,” Caldwell said.
 
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Contact Frederick Holl at [email protected]