Tin Roof Brewing - Brewery Tour #1

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2011 was to visit at least 6 breweries during the year.  No rules on how small or how large, how far away, or anything else on this one... just 6 breweries.  (Well, I guess one rule... have to be commercial, hanging out in some homebrewer's garage doesn't count!)  With that in mind, Jay and I took the time to stop in on the Tin Roof Brewery last weekend.  The new brewery is located in an old building between River Road and Nicholson Drive, just south of downtown Baton Rouge.  They didn't have anything brewing at the time, but co-owner Charles Caldwell was happy to take the time to show us around and share a few pints. 

Tin Roof is starting out a little small, but they still have a 30-barrel brewing system and a couple of new fermenters to work with.  In addition to the tanks for heating and chilling the water, all the cleaning equipment... it certainly has all the feelings of a legit microbrewery, and plenty of room to expand.  As of now everything is kegged in 5-gallon kegs for distribution to the area bars, but a bottling line is certainly in the future plans for the brewery.  

A few weeks ago... well... longer ago than that I guess... I attended the Tin Roof roll-out party at The Bulldog.  I was pretty critical of the Perfect Tin Amber the first time around, and after talking to the guys, they weren't extremely thrilled with it either.  The good news is that they have been working on improving it with each batch, and I can say that work has definitely paid off.  The newer version of the Amber Ale has more body to it, better malt flavors, and a more distinct color to separate it from the Pale Ale.  The Pale Ale is still a solid beer as well, hoppier (as it should be) and a well balanced easy to drink brew.  

I'm really excited about the progress they've made in just a few months since rolling out the first batches, and I know they have some fun seasonal brews and new flagship beers in the works for once they really get going and have the first two down to a science.  So, keep up the good work guys, and cheers to having some local beers!