Back in September, Tin Roof’s Voodoo American Pale Ale bested 131 competitors to win a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival. The upset victory made Tin Roof the first Louisiana brewery to win the country’s biggest beer competition—in the beer snob city of Denver, no less. It was the cap on a Cinderella season for the brand.
The recognition won’t go on Voodoo’s spooky cans, but it does give CEO Jacob Talley license to do something he’s wanted to do since taking the job as the Baton Rouge brewery’s CEO just over a year ago: Get experimental.
If Tin Roof was a band, consider 2019 the dawn of its psychedelic phase, with its newly installed canning facility and small tanks primed for niche batches of one-offs and seasonal flavors drawing on international inspirations.
“The bigger we get, the smaller we need to think,” Talley says. “You have to take chances and try different things regularly.”
A new Mexican coffee-style stout, with notes of chocolate, cinnamon and orange peel, will roll out soon alongside a tart, grapefruit-infused Paloma version of the popular gose.
Talley has loved building an eclectic team of local talent that even includes a West Coaster who brings California and Oregon brewing experience to Tin Roof.
Also a father and husband, Talley launched monthly family nights at the brewery, and he relishes building its influence as a strong community partner for events and nonprofits. Most importantly, he didn’t leave his much-loved job at a distribution company to maintain the status quo at Tin Roof.
“The easiest thing would be to put out a Strawberry Blonde Ale,” Talley muses. “But we’re driven to not just do the easy thing. We want to innovate.” tinroofbeer.com
CHATTING WITH TALLEY
Your spirit animal: Coyote
Advice you’d give your 18-year-old self: Don’t wait around for other people to show you what to do. Take more initiative!
What did you want to be when you were a kid? I was always fascinated with the radio and being a radio personality.
Click here to read about the rest of our People to Watch in 2019.
This article was originally published in the January 2019 issue of 225 Magazine.
