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Gayle Benson's Faubourg Brewing inks deal aimed at building regional craft beer powerhouse

September 22, 2022 | Times-Picayune, The: Web Edition

Author/Byline: ANTHONY MCAULEY | Staff writer | Section: Business

Faubourg Brewing Co., the New Orleans-based brewery purchased five years ago by Tom and Gayle Benson, has merged with three other regional breweries owned by an Alabama private equity firm with the aim of building a regional craft beer powerhouse.

The Benson Group and Wiregrass Equity Partners of Montgomery, Alabama, said Thursday that a Wiregrass-owned holding company Made By The Water LLC that owns craft beer breweries in the Carolinas and Florida will relocate its headquarters to the huge Faubourg Brewery in New Orleans East as part of the deal.

The financial terms were not disclosed by the two privately-owned companies but they described the deal as "a 50/50 partnership", which would include additional investment by the Benson Group with plans to add more brewing capacity and to acquire additional craft beer companies.

"Our goal is to help New Orleans become as well known for its beer as it is for its cuisine and to see the local craft beer industry continue to grow and create quality jobs," said Gayle Benson in a prepared statement. "Our partnership with Made By The Water allows us to grow the Faubourg brand, and bring in a partner that is a leader in building craft beer brands."

The Bensons bought Dixie Brewing Company, as it was then known, in 2017 with the promise that it would bring brewing back to the city. Dixie Brewing, founded in 1907, had been operating from its Tulane Avenue facility until Hurricane Katrina forced it to shut down and contract brewing to out-of-state breweries.

Gayle Benson completed a new $30 million brewing facility on Jourdan Road in New Orleans East in 2019, the year after Tom Benson died. Two years later, the company changed its name and brand from Dixie to Faubourg, and has since introduced new beer brands and flavors, including Dat'suma, an India Pale Ale with satsuma notes, and Blackened Voodoo, a "Dunkel-style" dark lager.

Underused facility

The huge facility, located at the junction of Interstate 10 and the Industrial Canal, occupies 275,000 square feet on a 15-acre site. The pandemic began soon after it opened and it has been operating at well below its 80,000 barrels a year capacity. Only about one-third of the actual building space has been kitted out for brewing.

Neither the Benson Group nor Made By The Water would disclose their brewing volume figures, but the Brewers Association, a professional body for craft brewers, estimates that Faubourg's sales volume last year was about 12,500 barrels while Made By The Water's was just under 44,000 barrels.

The combined volume of the enlarged company would make it about the 46th largest craft brewer in the country, according to the association. By comparison, Covington-based Abita Brewing Company, sold about 140,000 barrels last year, making it the 16th largest craft brewer in the country.

Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, noted that craft brewers have proliferated over the last decade or so and now number about 9,300. From a fairly negligible share of the market at the turn of the century, they have captured about 25% of the national beer market from big brew houses like Anheuser-Busch and MoslonCoors.

Watson said the pandemic hit the sector hard as many craft brewers rely on direct sales through taprooms, brew houses and other venues, rather than packaged sales via supermarkets.

"It's a maturing market and the pandemic didn't help," said Watson. "The sector is now ripe for consolidation."

Ben Hales, chief operating officer of the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, who also oversees the brewing interests for the Benson Group, said the Faubourg deal has consolidation in mind.

"This is not just a merger," said Hales. "We're all doubling down and making additional investments, and not just in the Made By The Water headquarters but in other breweries that are a cultural fit for us over the coming years."

Splitting the jobs

Alexi Sekmakas, who joined Wiregrass two years ago as a partner and now is CEO of Made By The Water, will remain head of the larger group. He said Ian Berg, who is head of sales at Made By The Water, will have the same job in New Orleans. From the Faubourg side, Jason Daniels will remain as head of marketing and brand management and Dan Griffin will stay on as director of brewing operations.

Sekmakas said the company came about when Wiregrass CEO Darin Phillips, already a successful investor, discovered the Oyster City Brewing Company while on a family fishing trip in Apalachicola, Florida.

"It was essentially a passion project that grew out of what Darin saw was the beneficial effect of that craft brewery in that one little community," Sekmakas, a native of California, said.

Last year, Wiregrass bought North Carolina-based Catawba Valley Brewing Company, which makes Catawba, Palmetto and Twisp branded craft beers.

Sakmakas said that Wiregrass is mainly backed by individual investors "who are passionate about craft beer brewing."

"New Orleans and its culture and history is an ideal base for us to build on that," Sekmakas said.

The deal between the two brewers is expected to result in dozens of new jobs in brewing, administration and marketing at the Faubourg headquarters in New Orleans East.

New brewing skills

Oliver Thomas, City Councilmember for District E, which includes New Orleans East, welcomed the prospect of growth that the new deal brings.

"Mrs. Benson has brought in a company that will create new jobs and bring in new brands that will be made right here in New Orleans," he said.

The objective of making Faubourg and other breweries, including Abita, a hub of craft beer development will also help develop that skill set in the region, said Michael Hecht, CEO of GNO Inc., the regional economic development agency.

"This new partnership will be at the table as we work with local educational partners and additional beverage companies to develop new training," Hecht said.

But WWL's Tommy Tucker says UNO created the middle class of Noo-Awlins! That vax-pushing jackass' alma mater!

I'm looking forward to Newell on full blast this morning, too. Of course, Newell himself knows a thing or two about receiving a federal target letter. Not to mention throwing his support to gubernatorial candidate Honor Code John Bel so his wife could get that sweetheart Superdome Commission legal job. No wonder Newell takes off on all the big game and festival days -- he's got VIP seating that even Latoya Destroya herself is envious of!

When the Ford Foundation donates $1 million to The Picayune/Nola.com's investigative team, you know you better spout the neoliberal/modern Democrat Party/Woke party line: LINK /

John Georges be lovin' that free foundational gravy train.

Has The Picayune/Advocate printed/published a single word about the U.S. 5th Circuit's ruling upholding findings that the Biden-led government muscled Big Tech social media into censoring COVID and other viewpoints it doesn't like? I scan the website daily and don't think I've seen a single word about that historic case.

Former NOPD Deputy Superintendent Arlinda Westbrook left her role on Monday under undisclosed circumstances. Meanwhile, the City’s Department of Public Works acting director, Sarah Porteous, has announced her resignation, effective September 27.

The city has yet to select a replacement for either position. LINK /

"The Advocate editorial board endorsed her twice!" -- probably just a function of John Georges protecting his own business interests somehow.

The real lurking specter here is that scumbag Oliver Thomas, who happened to be absent when the City Council voted to fire Cantrell's communications director. If scumbag Thomas can't spot a patently unethical government situation now -- after his corruption conviction -- he ought to be run out of town on a rail -- he didn't learn a thing and is unrepentant. If that scumbag is elected mayor, it's light's out.

The local media was practically crying when that clown got caught taking money -- he was their guy! And now he is a brown stain on porcelain that refuses to be flushed away.

The plan for the massive 227-acre site, includes a water park, athletic facilities, hotels and a movie studio. According to our partners at Nola.com Bayou Phoenix expects 20% of the total cost to come from city, state and federal sources. Which could mean at least $100 million in taxpayer funding.

Councilman Oliver Thomas said, "If they complete their master plan there won't be anything like it within a five-or six-hour drive, wonderful assets for the region, wonderful assets for the city."

He went on to say, "Last year we put a million and five in the budget to start cleaning up and mitigating some of the debris and some of the rides and stuff that we need to move out the way."

Councilman Thomas said the lease approval is a step in the right direction for not just the city, but the residents of New Orleans East.

"I am sick of New Orleans, and I am sick of the conversations about what we want to do and what we're gunna do. We have to start showing our citizens what we did and what's being done," said the Councilman.

LINK

On WWL radio this morning, news alluded to Jason Cantrell's recent health problems that apparently included a "stroke" -- another jab victim?

"These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just want to have total control / Wanna know what you think / Wanna know what you do / And they don't think you know, but I know that you do," the lyrics read. "Cause your dollar ain't s***, and it's taxed to no end / 'Cause of rich men north of Richmond."

"I wish politicians would look out for miners / And not just minors on an island somewhere / Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothing to eat / And the obese milking welfare / Well God, if you're 5 foot 3 and you're 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds," the song goes. "Young men are putting themselves 6 feet in the ground / 'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kicking them down."

Video: LINK

Daily Mail article: LINK

Tiffany is the hottest sensation since New Orleans' own Jennifer Gaubert!

Jennifer Gaubert, a New Orleans lawyer and radio host whose drunken sexual encounter with a cab driver in 2012 ultimately landed her a pair of criminal convictions, saw her law license suspended for a year and a day Monday.

The Louisiana Supreme Court handed the punishment to Gaubert, 38, nearly seven years after she got into a cab following a night of drinking at Galatoire’s restaurant on Bourbon Street for a ride home to Lakeview. LINK