In a bright red hangar-style warehouse located on the edge of the Irish Channel, the Crescent City’s newest microbrewery works feverishly to produce their first batch of beer.

New Orleans Lager and Ale Brewing Company, located on the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Seventh streets, sits in what used to be a rundown scrap metal workhouse filled with rusty pieces of iron and steel. Now its contents shine brighter than ever.

But the facilities aren’t quite ready; welders are putting the finishing touches on large glistening steel tanks, streamlined grain crushers and 1,860-gallon fermentation machines.

Founder and President Kirk Coco, a retired United States Navy officer, originated the idea to open the brewery after a night of drinking with New Orleans home brewer Byron Towles.

“My big goal was to make something,” he said. “No one makes anything in New Orleans anymore.”

Coco had lived in Seattle and visited the large amount of microbreweries in that area. In a city filled with a unique brewing history, he wondered why New Orleans no longer had a microbrewery of its own. Being a businessman, however, he had no idea how to make beer.
Towles recommended brewmaster Peter Caddoo, a former Dixie Brewing Company brewer with over 25 years of experience. “I made my first batch of beer on the day John Lennon was killed,” he said. “I called it the Lennon Lager.”

Caddoo, who has a degree in culinary arts, had several different job offers from area restaurants, but decided to meet with Coco anyway. The two met at Uptown watering hole Cooter Brown’s to discuss Coco’s business plan.  

“I knew Peter was thinking, ‘This guy’s an idiot. He’s just another guy who wants to open a brewery in New Orleans,'” Coco said. “I had heard of other people who were going to open a brewery but never did – it’s a pipedream.”

Caddoo liked Coco’s plan, and the two formed NOLA Brewing, along with 24-year-old Dylan Lintern, now NOLA Brewing’s Vice President of Finance and Operations. Lintern moved to
New Orleans from San Diego after working for Firehouse Brewing Company. He began brewing beer during his undergraduate years at Colorado University in Boulder, a hotbed of microbreweries.

“Most people typically think that college students only like to drink Budweiser and Bud Light,” he said. “But, the craft industry is getting a younger face on it.”

Coco agrees. “The majority of the target market is under 35.”

The brewery is slated to brew the first batches of their flagship Brown and Blonde Ales in their new warehouse this month.

The Brown Ale has a clean finish and is pale-bodied without the unusually strong bitterness of a dark ale. It has subtle hints of coffee or chocolate malts that don’t overpower the flavor. Caddoo said he created the Brown Ale so that those who enjoy dark ales can savor its refreshing taste even on New Orleans’ hottest days.

Coco said that the outreach from the community has been helpful because the city realizes how important small businesses are.

Loyola College of Business professor and Legendre-Soule Chair, Nicholas Capaldi also stressed the importance of small businesses.

“Most of the jobs that are created in New Orleans are created by small businesses and most people who graduated work for small businesses, not large corporations,” he said. “As an admirer of microbreweries, I welcome it to New Orleans.”

Peter Burns, associate professor of political science, echoed Capalidi’s sentiments. “Small businesses have a face in front of them,” he said. “We might not have contact with somebody who is the face of a big business, but we will know the person who is running the local coffee shop or the microbrewery.”

Not only is NOLA Brewing receiving support from the community, but also from other microbreweries.

“You wouldn’t expect people in your same industry to be as helpful,” Coco said. “We’re just making beer for New Orleans.”

Rachel Strassel can be reached at [email protected].

A welder patches one of NOLA Brewing’s new steam kettles. Employees have been hard at work bringing the brewery up to production stadards.

NOLA Brewing’s unofficial mascot offers up a frosty brew from their Irish Channel headquarters. (Dan Helfers/The Maroon)