Parish Brewing Update

Not too long ago I had the chance to swing by Parish Brewing Company (Facebook - Twitter) in Broussard, LA to check out all the progress founder and brewmaster Andrew Godley has made on his new brewery.  I had swung by a few times in recent months to see the new digs but this was the first trip with the equipment installed and beer flowing.  Here's a shot of the new place, empty and waiting to be made into a fully operational brewery:

As you can see there are just a few pieces of equipment hanging out... a keg washer, bottling line, a grain mill, and the lines for the heating and cooling system along the wall.  On the last visit, this is what had taken over:

Well would you look at that!  A 30-barrel brewhouse, hot and cold water tanks, and three 60-barrel fermenters!  Parish Brewing was operating on a 1.5 barrel brew system before this, so it's one hell of an upgrade.  Andrew figured in the first batch of this system he'd brew almost more beer than in a year on the old one.  Currently only Canebrake is being produced but once the demand for that one is more consistent the plan was to move on to the South Coast Amber and Envie American Pale Ale.  Bottling was slated to begin shortly as well once the brewery got a handle on the demand for the draft supply.  In fact, bottling was almost ready to begin, with stacks of labels, 6-pack holders, and cases at the ready:

 

And I know the question everyone wants to ask... when will we be seeing some of this magical Canebrake in Baton Rouge?  The answer is soon, the word is that once the demand for the current markets levels off and the brewery can plan their allocation for Baton Rouge, we'll be seeing some.  I'm pretty sure Mockler has the account so getting a few tap handles in town shouldn't be a problem once they are ready.  In fact, some of the kegs stacked in the walk-in cooler were already planned to be sent to the BR bars!  And if that looks like a lot of kegs, well keep in mind that 60 barrels of fermenting space takes 360 1/6 barrel kegs!  (Yeah, I know it won't be 100% efficient, but it makes the math easier.)

I can't wait to see it on the taps next to some other local favorites... then see it on the shelves in the store in 6-packs (and possibly bombers?) shortly after.  And I know it won't be too long before the other flagship ales are available and I know there are a few seasonal and specialty beers already in the works.  So all I can say is that even Abbey Ale is pretty excited about more Parish Brewing beers.