Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
Folks can throw back pretzel bites and beers while looking at a 10-barrel brew system in a former Ford dealership in St. Francisville. After two years of planning and 14 months of construction, Bayou Sara Brewing Co., 11943 Ferdinand St., will have its grand opening from 5 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 24. The idea to open a brewery goes back to 1995 at Camp Zama, Japan, where one of the four owners, Steve McKinney, was stationed in the U.S. Army with his wife, Amanda McKinney. “I realized beer was expensive over there,” Steve said. “I was complaining to my mother one time, and she sent me a homebrew kit. I started making beer, and Amanda and I were like ‘Wow. This could be really good.’” Thirty years later, the McKinneys began Bayou Sara Brewing Co. with Doug Cochran and his wife, Abby, who is also Amanda’s sister. The brewery has two dining areas, a full kitchen, an outdoor patio and brew system. An inside look The building was developed in 1937, so there was a lot of renovation and construction to be done. The team installed new bathrooms, plumbing and concrete curbs surrounding the property to prevent flooding, done by local company Maginnis Construction. Other projects became a community effort after the McKinneys asked for extra hands. "All of a sudden, within an hour, 14 or 15 people showed up to help," Steve McKinney said. Some of the building’s original windows were removed, moved to another wall and welded to the frame by the fire chief, Steve McKinney said. Details like reusing the original windows pay homage to the building’s history, and even the string lights are the original bay lights from the dealership’s garage that the team converted to LED. “That’s one of the things we talk about a lot,” Steve McKinney said. “We want this to be the community hub. The community has been so supportive physically and cheering us on.” The brew process The metal goliath toward the back of the building is something many don’t see every day. From the main dining area, customers can view the brewing system while sipping a beer. The importance of family is evident in the names of the five fermenters, each one named after both family's daughters: Catherine, Caroline, Elizabeth, Kate and Ella. "Typically, just for the process of everything, you identify each vessel as something. Since we had five, and me and Doug, between the two of us, have five daughters, that's what we named all the fermenters," Steve McKinney said. He gave a 60-second rundown on how the brew process works in the 10-barrel system, which is 310 gallons. First, grains are dropped into a mill where they get crunched up, then travel to a hot liquor tank filled with hot water, which makes “basically a big tea,” he said. The mixture steeps for an hour, then travels to a kettle to boil for a little over an hour, which is where things like hops or berries are added. From there, the liquid cools down and travels to one of the five fermenters (Catherine, Caroline, Elizabeth, Kate or Ella) where it sits for at least 10 days to two weeks, sometimes longer for a lager. After sitting in a Brite tank for a couple more days (usually where the liquid carbonates), the brew gets kegged and goes back out to the storage cooler. Batches will be made about once or twice a week, Steve said. The system yields beer galore but also leftover grain, which is given to local farmers for animal feed. Of course, the grain is nonalcoholic since it doesn’t reach the fermentation stage. The menus The business will have 14 house-made brews on tap, but to start, it'll have at least four brews until operations get in full swing: Blonde Ale, West Coast Pale Ale, New Zealand Pilsner and Single Hop Citra Pale Ale. Manager Cece Pike said the menu has pub-like foods like pretzel bites with beer cheese. There’s also a selection of appetizers, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, a kid's menu and a brownie á la mode for dessert. Steve’s favorite dish on the menu is the slider flight with three choices of pulled chicken, pulled pork or brisket on a brioche bun. Pike is most looking forward to the street tacos with pickled red onion and cilantro.
