While many a cocktail found their start in New Orleans, the Crescent City is now also a great place for beer lovers. In post-Hurricane Katrina, the city now plays host to nearly 20 breweries. One of the city’s best, Urban South Brewery, is celebrating 10 years in operation this March, with more than $1 million in community reinvestment and over 80 local jobs. Co-owners Jacob Landry and Kyle Huling love what they do and their ability to give back to those who have been dedicated to their brand.
When you first embarked on this journey 10 years ago, what was the vision?
Jacob Landry: The goal was to grow volume. With the laws here, you really have to scale if you want to make any money, because so many distributors [are] taking their cut, and retailers [are] taking their cut. We had to really plan for volume. I charted other breweries throughout the country that had done X amount of volume over the first five years, and that was really the only horizon we were looking at. We hit the numbers that we set out to within three years, so we had some early signs of what we were doing. And then in that second half, COVID hit. We’ve had so many challenges that we could have never anticipated, but it’s rewarding to be on this side.
What do you think the two guys that started this 10 years ago would think about where you’re at now?
Kyle Huling: I think they’d be pretty amazed. Like Jacob said, I think we had the vision. Everything was on paper that we wanted to do, but then to actually execute it. Who would have known about a pandemic and everything in between? But we had a vision for wanting to be one of the best breweries in the southeast and one of the fastest growing and biggest, and we did it. So, I think they’d be pretty proud.
Why is it important for Urban South to invest into the community?
Landry: It comes pretty naturally. Kyle grew up in New Orleans. I grew up in Louisiana. I spent a decade working in public service, in education. For us, it’s pretty essential to be leaders in the community. And, honestly, it’s one of the most rewarding parts of owning a business and growing to the scale that we have. We have the resources to be able to help organizations that are that are working in our community. Not to mention it’s kind of an ethos within our brewing community, because we’re scrappy. Most craft breweries that exist today, they all worked really hard, and for very low margin to get where they are. So, we understand the struggle. And when you have the opportunity to give back, it’s it feels natural.
Do you think there are any misconceptions about breweries and brewing beer in New Orleans or Louisiana?
Landry: The reality still in Louisiana is that 95% of the beer people drink is made by international brewers that don’t invest in our community. I think that’s the reality. So, if there’s any misconception, it could be that the success of the relatively few of us means that we’re making a dent in Louisiana beer. I want people to know that when they drink Louisiana beer, they’re investing in their community in that way that is really not happening when they drink macro beer made around the world and not made in their backyard.
Huling: The craft brewing industry was growing consistently up until fairly recently, and even in Louisiana, we’ve had craft brewery closures in the past couple years. It’s not all been sunshine and roses. There’s been challenges along the way. And there’s some brewers that haven’t made it.
What are the biggest challenges you face?
Landry: The scale that we do things at is not super efficient. Right now, aluminum tariffs are a huge problem. There’s a 50% tariff on imported aluminum, and we just don’t make enough in the U.S. So that’s going to cost us the equivalent of two jobs this year in additional costs that we bear. We pay for it. Either that or we have to pass it along to consumers, and we’re just not ready to do that given the inflationary environment that consumers have dealt with for the last few years. Margin and costs, those are huge. It’s a really challenging city to work in, as well. Saturdays are our biggest days in the tap room and, just this weekend, the power goes out twice. Two weeks ago, water was cut for the most of a morning and screwed up our entire production schedule. So, we’re in a city where these things are completely unanticipated, unexpected. We get no heads-up from any utility companies that they’re going to cut our very basic services on any given day. So that’s a that’s a real challenge that I think is relatively unique to New Orleans.
What’s the best part of your job?
Huling: I’d say it’s seeing the random person that you don’t know in the grocery store shopping for beer and grabbing our stuff off the shelf, filling their baskets with Paradise Park or Holy Roller. Walking into a friend’s house and they’re having a crawfish boil, and they’ve got all sorts of different beverages, but you see their cooler filled with your beer. It’s pretty satisfying.
Landry: Seeing Paradise Park cans on the ground at Mardi Gras. When you become part of the garbage of a city, really, or a part of the fabric of it, right? Across the Gulf Coast, between New Orleans and our operations in Pensacola, we employ about 90 people. And so that’s really cool, really rewarding. That there’s 90 people that not only have chosen to work with us, but we also get to provide their livelihoods [is rewarding.]
It’s like picking a favorite child, but do you have a favorite beer that you make?
Huling: That’s a great analogy, because that’s the way I think about it. It’s just like your favorite child, it could be hour to hour, day to day, you know, depending upon their moods and your moods.
Landry: It’s a very hard question. But at the end of the day, Paradise Park is our best-selling beer and really was a hit from day one. And then Holy Roller is the only beer that we make today that we made on day one. So those two beers are certainly ones that I just keep coming back to.
Lagniappe
Favorite Cocktail
Landry: Old Fashioned
Huling: Bloody Mary
Job if you weren’t doing Urban South?
Landry: Back to teaching or politician
Huling: Selling beer
