Craft Beer Catching on in Shreveport

The craft beer industry is on the rise across the nation and in the past few years the Shreveport-Bossier area has been the beneficiary of that. We now have three craft breweries in our area and within a slightly larger radius many, many more. In Texas, craft beer is a huge industry and you can plan an entire vacation travelling around the state to sample craft beer in cities from Nacogdoches to Austin, to Houston, San Antonio, McKinney, Dallas, and Fort Worth. There are over 100 microbreweries in Texas alone.

According to the Brewer’s Association, small and independent breweries grew by eight percent in 2016, and in 2015 the craft beer market was $22.3 billion dollars which is 21% of the market. That is getting into pretty big money. There are over 4,000 breweries in the United States. Bars are getting in on the wave too; The Round Bar in Shreveport has 60 taps serving craft beer. In Des Moines, El Bait Shop, has over 200 craft beers on tap. Shreveport-Bossier is a little behind the curve in embracing craft beer but now that it’s finally here the public is supporting it in a big way.

The first craft brewery to open a tasting room in Shreveport was Great Raft Brewing in October 2013. Bossier City’s first craft brewery, Flying Heart, opened in Spring 2015. Our third brewery, Red River Brewing, licensed the day before Great Raft in 2013 but opened their tasting room in

The patio at Flying Heart

2016 just on the edge of downtown Shreveport.

Each of our three breweries have a distinct personality and ambiance. There are no beer snobs here: everyone who patronizes one of these establishments is a lover of craft beer – period. While the brew houses hope to make a profit, and a perhaps a living, each supports and encourages visitors from out of town to visit the other breweries.

This is the craft brew culture: of course there is competitiveness, but there is also support. In the eyes of a local brew master, “it’s us against the big guys like Anheuser-Busch.” It’s clear that Big Beer would like for the independents to go away. Sales of brands like Miller Lite and Budweiser are down and Big Beer is responding by buying out small breweries. Consider that in 2015 Time Magazine reported that Big Beer’s plans to quash the rising challenge from microbreweries included buyouts, and now in 2017 craft beer sales have declined slightly because of these buyouts:

“The [Brewers Association] reports that, in 2016, craft brewers produced 24.6 million barrels of beer, or 1.4 million more than the previous year. However, the craft beer industry also lost out on 1.2 million barrels that would have been considered ‘craft beer’ had their breweries not been acquired by larger corporations prior to the start of the year.” 

How is a little brewery to compete with Big Beer and why should we want them to? Craft beer is popular because each blend is unique. To qualify as a craft beer, according to the Brewer’s Association, a brewery must produce “less than 6 million barrels per year; not be more than 25 percent owned or controlled by a non-craft brewer; and brew beer using only ‘traditional or innovative’ ingredients.”

Strawberry Shandy with fresh watermelon

 For example, Flying Heart produces several delicious seasonal Shandy style beers which are very popular: the Strawberry Candy Shandy and the Blackberry Shandy they produced in the summer of 2016 were extremely well received. While  not always embraced by some craft brewers, the Shandy beers are often favorites because of their versatility and light alcohol content. On a hot, humid summer day in Louisiana, a Flying Heart Strawberry Candy Shandy with a chunk of cold watermelon floating in it can’t be beat. For the consumer who wants a heavier, stronger beer, Flying Heart’s Barrel 52, a robust porter with a whiskey finish, is the way to go.  That’s the beauty of craft beer – it’s not mass produced one size fits all anymore.


Red River Brewing has their own specialty beers with a strong line of rich porters, a popular wheat ale named Hay Ryed, and a German style lager, Heliopolis, which is very popular.

Great Raft’s popular Southern Drawl and their pale ale, Commotion are found pretty much everywhere in town: their taproom, restaurants, grocery stores, bars. As the only local brewery of the three to be distributed by Eagle Distributing, Great Raft is closer to the Big Beer model than the other two breweries. Eagle distributes Abita, Budweiser, Corona, Michelob, etc., as well at the Great Raft beers.

Red River Brewing Hay Ryed

 Against the big beer names like Budweiser and Miller Lite, the craft breweries work a little harder to get their beer, and their name, out there. All three breweries host events such as game nights, cornhole tournaments, local history seminars, and book clubs to help draw in customers. Food trucks are a huge part of the craft brew game: the two cottage industries often piggyback on each other.

With summer in the South upon us, take advantage of Shreveport’s growing craft industry and check out each brewery. Don’t feel obligated to pick a favorite: each offers a unique contribution to the craft industry and we certainly need to support local business. Take advantage of Flying Heart’s large patio from where you will soon be right in the heart of the very exciting Downtown Bossier expansion which is nearing completion. Visit Great Raft’s huge warehouse, play a game of cornhole, or sit inside their tasting room. At Red River, their large, brightly lit interior provides space for a medieval sticks game and cornhole as well as gallery space for local artists. They also have a patio in the shadows of I20 near downtown Shreveport. All three offer tours of their brewery.

Encourage your favorite restaurant to carry options from all three local breweries. If you don’t see the brew you want, ask for it. The craft beer industry has arrived and brings new and exciting things with it. We should all support that.

The Battle of New Orleans v.2017

And so it begins.

Mayor Landrieu is cleansing the city of New Orleans of its diversified culture and rich history.

While you were sleeping they came in Kevlar and face masks, license plates removed from their vehicles, in the dead of night and cut one of the targeted monuments into four sections while guarded by snipers who were prepared to shoot down citizens who might protest too vehemently about the dismantling. The sections were loaded onto a flatbed truck and hauled away to some unknown storage facility.

In a statement this morning, a smug, beaming Mayor Landrieu promises that the rest of his master plan will

Sniper guarding contractors at Liberty Place

be executed in the following days with removal of the Robert E. Lee monument, P.G.T. Beauregard monument, and the Jefferson Davis monument.

Of course that will not be the end of it.

Now that the instigators of this travesty, Take 'Em Down NOLA, have gotten this affirmation of their cause, nothing will stop them from renaming everything in New Orleans to their satisfaction including Touro Hospital and Tulane University.

New Orleans will soon be as sanitized as any other town anywhere else in America with little to define its rich cultural background.

As I've said before, if you don't think this can happen where YOU live, think again. What's to stop them from taking down similar monuments in Washington?

If these NOLA monuments celebrate white supremacy as they say, are the plantation homes next? Why should they be allowed to stay? Weren't the plantations symbols of white supremacy, too?  Just bulldoze them all into the river. Take Dixie beer off the menus of NOLA. There literally will be no end to this.

The mayor's actions are now, finally, gaining national attention both pro and con; from The Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Landrieu said the memorials don’t represent his city as it approaches its 300th anniversary next year. The mayor said the city would remove the monuments, store them and preserve them until an “appropriate” place to display them is determined. “The monuments are an aberration,” he said. 

“They’re actually a denial of our history and they were done in a time when people who still controlled the Confederacy were in charge of this city and it only represents a four-year period in our 1000-year march to where we are today.”

From The New York Times:

Professor Robin A. Lenhardt, a law professor at of the Center on Race, Law and Justice at Fordham Law School, said in an email that city officials should be concerned about where to go from here. “Simply to remove the statutes without a plan for community engagement and discourse would be a mistake, a real missed opportunity,” she wrote.

ABC News gives their story this rather biased and inflammatory headline:

New Orleans takes down white supremacist monument.

And then this from Breitbart:

“The removal of these statues sends a clear message that New Orleans celebrates our diversity,” Landrieu said. “What is done is done. We will no longer allow the confederacy to be put on a pedestal in the heart of our city.” Back in 2015, Landrieu had the monuments declared a “public nuisance” in order to push for their removal. Unrest in the city did not come until after Landrieu demanded they be removed, however.

Word is that the next target is the P.G.T. Beauregard statue tonight.

It's an absolute travesty to destroy these pieces of art and history.

 Help stop this! Make contacts! 

Lt.Governor Billy Nungesser : 225-342-7009 or email at lt.gov@crt.la.gov

 Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry: 225-326-6079,225-326-6757 or email at ConstituentServices@ag.Louisiana.gov.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards email, or call 225-342-7015.

President Donald Trump: whitehouse.gov/contact/

Previous Posts at DaTechGuy blog:
Mitch Landrieu Begins his Plan to Erase History in NOLA (4/24/17)
Mayor Landrieu's Plans to Remove Monuments in the Dead of Night Exposed (4/17/2017)
The Slippery Slope is Now Open (3/27/17)
A Disappointing Ruling from the 5th Circuit (3/13/17)
Still Fighting the Civil War (2/5/17)
Mayor Mitch Landrieu's Solution to 172 Murders: Equity Circles (12/26/16)
Removal of Historic Confederate Monuments in New Orleans Thwarted -- For Now (12/21/2015)
Report from Louisiana: Update on the Confederate Monument Removal Controversy (1/18/2016)
The Lives of My Ancestors Mattered Too (2/1/2016)
The Ongoing Battle of the Confederate Monuments: An Update (4/18/2016)
Confederate Monuments and Unintended Consequences (6/27/16)
Report from Louisiana: Revisionist History and Confederate Monuments (9/19/2016)
Report from Louisiana: Mass Shooting in New Orleans While Landrieu Fiddles (11/28/2016)



Previous Posts on This Blog
Battle of New Orleans v.2017
List of Offensive Monuments, Streets, Names in NOLA ...is Puzzling (4/23/17)
Confederate Monument Removal Scheduled for 1:00 a.m. Monday (4/22/17)
The Confederate Battle Flag Rises Again in South Carolina (2/6/17)
Can the Violence in NOLA be Alleviated with Equity Circles? (12/26/16)
Shreveport Work of Art Still Needs Funding for Restoration (10/22/16)
Can You Help Clio? Restoration Fundraiser is Now Underway (9/5/16)
Epperson Demands UDC Remove Confederate Monument Within the Year (7/6/16)
Epperson's Continued Attack on the Confederate Monument (6/22/16)
Report from the Caddo Commission Meeting in Which Ken Epperson Blasts "Jake-Leg Bloggers" (6/9/16)
Caddo Parish Confederate Monument Under Attack (5/19/16)
Joseph Welsh Texada's Life Mattered Too (1/31/16)
The Heartbreaking Removal of the New Orleans Confederate Monuments (1/17/16)

List of Offensive Monuments, Streets, Names in NOLA as Designated by TEDNola is Puzzling

Touro Infirmary historical marker NOLA

A few weeks ago a Louisiana blog The Hayride posted the list of monuments, structures, buildings, street names etc. that the radical Take 'Em Down NOLA group wants changed or removed because they are "symbols of white supremacy in New Orleans."

Let's take a moment to look more closely at some of those "symbols."  I can't quite fathom the reasoning behind some of them.

The World War I Memorial Arch: a history of the Arch can be found here. What TEDNola finds offensive is that there are four tablets on the arch and the names are "segregated."  This excerpt is from the history page:

The monument is a handsome granite structure 28 feet 6 inches high, 21 feet 2 inches wide, and 7 feet thick. It will bear four bronze tablets, one to contain the names of those who died in service, two the names of white men who served, and a fourth the names of negroes who served.

The history of the monument is intriguing. It "was originally located in the center of Macarty Square, bounded by Alvar, N. Rampart, Pauline, and Burgundy Streets. In 1951 it was moved to the

WWI Memorial Arch NOLA

edge of the square near Burgundy Street, where it remains today."

Much of the funding was raised by door to door canvas in the Ninth Ward:

The idea originated with Dr. E. S. Kelly, a prominent citizen of the ward. He organized a committee which obtained $8000 through a house-to-house canvass, personal subscriptions and several entertainments, all the money being raised within the boundaries of the Ninth Ward.

All 1,200 names on the arch can be found here, yet according to TEDNola, the monument must come down because it is a symbol of white supremacy. Never mind the sacrifices and lives of those 1,200 people. That means nothing, apparently.

This is unfathomable.

Another targeted site is Touro Hospital - the name is offensive because it is named for Jewish philanthropist Judah Touro who built a cemetery and a synagogue in New Orleans as well as an infirmary for soldiers suffering from yellow fever, which later developed into the largest free hospital in the state. His charitable donations covered the entire nation, and even extended to Christians being persecuted in Jerusalem, yet his name is offensive and must be eradicated because according to TEDNola, he was "a Jewish slaveholder."

According to the Philanthropy Roundtable, Judah Touro was influenced by his former abolitionist boss and bought slaves to manumit them.  Max Kohler's essay in Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society affirms this. One of Touro's bequests was $10,000 to his Haitian born clerk, Pierre Casanave, who parlayed that bequest into his own personal fortune.

Perhaps TEDNola should do more research?

The list goes on and on and even includes offensive lamp posts on Rampart; some of the targets designated by TEDNola have more obvious ties to Confederate history than others, but the point remains the same - where does the slippery slope end?

The Civil War was part of our American history and cannot be denied. But beyond that, where does our offended culture stop? Once you allow one "offended" group to succeed in removing and renaming historic elements of our culture, you can't deny other offended groups the right to do the same. It is a two way street.

Who gets to decide what is offensive? If we decide football is barbaric, causes lifelong health hazards for participants, and evokes painful memories of Roman gladiatorial games where slaves were used, are we going to tear down the Superdome? What if I'm offended by animals held in cages and denied their right to live a life of freedom, are we going to do away with the Audubon Zoo? Ridiculous, yes. But the point is the same.

Mayor Landrieu is under the impression that these four targeted Confederate monuments cause racial division in the city. Apparently he believes that once removed this division and tension will go away, but he would be mistaken. TEDNola has no intention of stopping with these four and will continue to push their agenda through whatever means necessary.

Mayor Landrieu is a fool if he allows himself to be manipulated by this hate group.


Previous Posts at DaTechGuy blog:
Mayor Landrieu's Plans to Remove Monuments in the Dead of Night Exposed (4/17/2017)
The Slippery Slope is Now Open (3/27/17)
A Disappointing Ruling from the 5th Circuit (3/13/17)
Still Fighting the Civil War (2/5/17)
Mayor Mitch Landrieu's Solution to 172 Murders: Equity Circles (12/26/16)
Removal of Historic Confederate Monuments in New Orleans Thwarted -- For Now (12/21/2015)
Report from Louisiana: Update on the Confederate Monument Removal Controversy (1/18/2016)
The Lives of My Ancestors Mattered Too (2/1/2016)
The Ongoing Battle of the Confederate Monuments: An Update (4/18/2016)
Confederate Monuments and Unintended Consequences (6/27/16)
Report from Louisiana: Revisionist History and Confederate Monuments (9/19/2016)
Report from Louisiana: Mass Shooting in New Orleans While Landrieu Fiddles (11/28/2016)



Previous Posts on This Blog:
NOLA Confederate Monument Removal Scheduled for 1:00 a.m. Monday (4/22/17)
The Confederate Battle Flag Rises Again in South Carolina (2/6/17)
Can the Violence in NOLA be Alleviated with Equity Circles? (12/26/16)
Shreveport Work of Art Still Needs Funding for Restoration (10/22/16)
Can You Help Clio? Restoration Fundraiser is Now Underway (9/5/16)
Epperson Demands UDC Remove Confederate Monument Within the Year (7/6/16)
Epperson's Continued Attack on the Confederate Monument (6/22/16)
Report from the Caddo Commission Meeting in Which Ken Epperson Blasts "Jake-Leg Bloggers" (6/9/16)
Caddo Parish Confederate Monument Under Attack (5/19/16)
Joseph Welsh Texada's Life Mattered Too (1/31/16)
The Heartbreaking Removal of the New Orleans Confederate Monuments (1/17/16)


If you like this post, please Share!  If you LOVE this post, please donate!

NOLA Confederate Monument Removal Scheduled for 1:00 a.m. Monday

P.G.T. Beauregard monument, NOLA

In the continuing drama of the New Orleans Confederate monuments, it seems the matter is finally coming to a critical point.

Last week, Mayor Mitch Landrieu planned to remove at least two of the four targeted monuments in the dead of night, but his plans changed at the last moment when word was leaked to the public.

His plans are now back on track for this weekend. Reliable sources are suggesting that Landrieu will remove the monuments at 1:00 a.m., Monday although this is not officially confirmed by Landrieu's office.

This all began in mid-2015 when Mayor Landrieu decided the monuments were offensive and went to the city council to begin process of removal.   The four targeted monuments are: Lee Circle, P.G.T. Beauregard statue, Liberty Place monument, and the Jefferson Davis monument.

The city council voted 6-1 in December 2015 to approve removal of the monuments.

Immediately, a Facebook group called Save Our Circle was formed; they started a petition to save the monuments and collected over 29,000 signatures.  The petition was delivered to Mayor Landrieu to no effect.

The project was put out for bid and the removal contract was awarded to H&O Investments, contractor David Mahler but he pulled out of the contract after his Lamborghini was found torched in January 2016.

The quest to preserve the monuments has worked its way through the courts, all the way through the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals who ruled in March 2017 that the monuments can be removed.

The group instigating the monument removal is Take 'Em Down NOLA and has made it clear they will not be satisfied with simply removing the statues. They want school names changed, street names changed, and even the name of Tulane University and Touro Hospital changed.

Lt. Governor, Billy Nungesser, appealed to President Trump in early April 2017 to intervene, citing the American Antiquities Act of 1906, but there has been no response from Washington.

Only one contractor, Couzan Services, Ltd., has responded to the call for bids this time and his bid of $600,000 is far and above what the city's $170,000 budget.  Who is making up the difference?

Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards, takes the position that the monuments are a local issue for New Orleans and that the state should not be involved.  I find this position preposterous coming from a man elected to represent the entire state.  By that logic, a flood in Bossier Parish is a local issue and requires no response from the governor.

And so, here we are.

If you think, like Governor Edwards, that this is just a local issue, let me suggest to you that it is not. This is a slippery slope of epic proportions and serves only to divide us even further.  The Antiquities Act of 1906 would suggest that as a country we are interesting in preserving sites and artifacts that define us; like it or not, the Civil War is part of our history. To remove these monuments would be an attempt to hide part of our history.

It's not clear what Mayor Landrieu plans to do with the monuments; why is he in such a hurry to remove them when he has not articulated a clear plan to the concerned public about where he will put them? As pieces of art, this is a grave concern.  One reason he may be in such a hurry is that there are three bills in the legislature right now that may preserve them and perhaps Landrieu wants to get ahead of them.  There has been rumor that Whitney Plantation might be their destination, a decision disturbing on many levels.

Confederate era monuments were in large part erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy who raised money for them through private donations, bake sales, and other fund-raising events for the purpose of honoring their ancestors. Many of these monuments are beautiful works of art and sculpture and are priceless.

What can be done at this point to stop Mayor Landrieu's 1:00 a.m., dead of night, removal?  Make contacts:

Lt.Governor Billy Nungesser : 225-342-7009 or email at lt.gov@crt.la.gov

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry: 225-326-6079,225-326-6757 or email at ConstituentServices@ag.Louisiana.gov.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards email, or call 225-342-7015.

President Donald Trump: whitehouse.gov/contact/

ADDED:  To be clear, and realistic, it's unlikely that Landrieu could remove all four monuments in one night. His approach will likely be the Jefferson Davis monument and Liberty Place first.  And remember, these are still rumors; strong rumors, but the last round of strongly supported rumors of removal last week were true.  It is still critical that you contact officials for support to stop this before the monuments are in fact gone.

Previous Posts at DaTechGuy blog:
Mayor Landrieu's Plans to Remove Monuments in the Dead of Night Exposed (4/17/2017)
The Slippery Slope is Now Open (3/27/17)
A Disappointing Ruling from the 5th Circuit (3/13/17)
Still Fighting the Civil War (2/5/17)
Mayor Mitch Landrieu's Solution to 172 Murders: Equity Circles (12/26/16)
Removal of Historic Confederate Monuments in New Orleans Thwarted -- For Now (12/21/2015)
Report from Louisiana: Update on the Confederate Monument Removal Controversy (1/18/2016)
The Lives of My Ancestors Mattered Too (2/1/2016)
The Ongoing Battle of the Confederate Monuments: An Update (4/18/2016)
Confederate Monuments and Unintended Consequences (6/27/16)
Report from Louisiana: Revisionist History and Confederate Monuments (9/19/2016)
Report from Louisiana: Mass Shooting in New Orleans While Landrieu Fiddles (11/28/2016)



Previous Posts on This Blog:
The Confederate Battle Flag Rises Again in South Carolina (2/6/17)
Can the Violence in NOLA be Alleviated with Equity Circles? (12/26/16)
Shreveport Work of Art Still Needs Funding for Restoration (10/22/16)
Can You Help Clio? Restoration Fundraiser is Now Underway (9/5/16)
Epperson Demands UDC Remove Confederate Monument Within the Year (7/6/16)
Epperson's Continued Attack on the Confederate Monument (6/22/16)
Report from the Caddo Commission Meeting in Which Ken Epperson Blasts "Jake-Leg Bloggers" (6/9/16)
Caddo Parish Confederate Monument Under Attack (5/19/16)
Joseph Welsh Texada's Life Mattered Too (1/31/16)
The Heartbreaking Removal of the New Orleans Confederate Monuments (1/17/16)


If you like this post, please Share!  If you LOVE this post, please donate!