Dixie Beer is bringing operations to New Orleans, Eastern New Orleans

13th August 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

After over a decade away from home, local brewing company Dixie Beer announced it will return brewing operations to New Orleans at 3501 Jourdan Road in New Orleans East.

“We welcome the new jobs this facility will create along with the tremendous economic impact that Dixie Brewing will continue to have on the New Orleans region, the state of Louisiana, an the rest of the country. We are excited that it will all begin right here in New Orleans East,” said District E Councilmember Cyndi Nguyen at the press conference announcing the move.

Nguyen later acknowledged that the moment was so uplifting and overwhelming that those words at the press conference did not come easily to her.

“At the press conference, I paused because I couldn’t find the words at first to convey my excitement,” Nguyen said.

Hurricane Katrina displaced Dixie, founded in 1907, from its historic Tulane Avenue brewery. That location never reopened after the storm. Dixie first relocated to Wisconsin, then moved to the Blues City Brewery in Memphis, Tennessee in 2017.

The Bruno Family purchased the then-struggling Dixie Brewing Company in 1985. Tom Benson, the late owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans, bought a majority share in Dixie from Joe and Kendra Bruno in 2017 with plans of returning brewing operations to the Crescent City.

“We are thrilled to be announcing this development here in New Orleans East, as we renovate a building no longer in commerce and turn it into a center of vibrant economic development,” said Gayle Benson. “This is the realization that my late husband Tom had and his goal was to bring business to New Orleans and to be able to bring such an iconic brand such as Dixie Beer back where it belongs makes it that much more exciting.”

Ben Hales, senior vice president and COO for the Saints and Pelicans, said returning the brewery to its original location on Tulane Avenue was not possible due to the new VA hospital complex, so they looked at other possibilities in the Greater New Orleans Area. New Orleans East seemed like a natural fit.

“The question was where would we have the greatest impact in building this?” Hales said.

The Dixie Brewing Company will renovate and equip an 80,000-square-foot portion of the former MacFrugal’s building on the Industrial Canal. The brands will include Dixie, Dixie Light and Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager. Plans for the project aim to make the site a consumer destination via the establishment of a brewpub, brewery tours, and other recreational amenities. Hales estimated that the new brewery will be operational between 18 months and two years from now.

The hope is that more businesses will follow Dixie’s footsteps into New Orleans East. Hales pointed out that the Poydras corridor was fairly undeveloped before the construction of the Superdome. Now, it’s a hub for offices and restaurants.

“This is an opportunity to go into an area and bring real jobs to people,” Hales said. “There’s no reason New Orleans East shouldn’t be successful…If New Orleans East is doing well, then the city is doing well and it’s good for everyone.”

The New Orleans City Council is excited at the new jobs the brewery will bring, plus the potential for a New Orleans East rebirth. Nguyen said there are a couple of other exciting projects coming to New Orleans East that she cannot yet disclose. But she expects these projects to become public in the next three to five months.

“This project is truly a catalyst for economic development in eastern New Orleans,” Nguyen said. “We have to continue to open doors for businesses.”

This article originally published in the August 13, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.