Red River Brewing founders plan on expanding this year
Red River Brewing Company promises it’s been “making our local water palatable since 2008,” and with their business growing, the group of founders said they are excited for the business’ potential in 2015.
Beau Raines, one of the owners of Red River Brewing, said this year is going to be a huge year for the company. With the planned large expansion will come some fun and unique events, he said.
“We’ll be pouring some ‘future’ beers at History on Tap, so we’d encourage people to come to that event and see what we have planned. History on Tap is March 26 in downtown Shreveport.”
Raines said his company’s goal first and foremost is to make a great product.
“Any beer at Red River Brewing Company has to be something we’re proud of,” he said. “And we want to drink again and again. We’re also very proud to be a part of the local community, and we want these two passions to resonate throughout our brand: beer names and message. That’s the reason we chose the name of the brewery and the reason we try and tell a story about our region or community through every beer.
“We take pride in making good beer, but we don’t get caught up into conforming to specific style guidelines and dissecting beers to death,” Raines said. “It’s beer. And ultimately, we want our beers to be a part of our customers’ experience of making wonderful memories with great friends. And we’re as passionate about that as we are about the product we make.”
Red River Brewing was founded in a local garage, but the two other founders, Jared Beville and Robert McGuire actually met at church before deciding to go into home brewing. Raines had known Beville since college but it was when he moved to Mobile, Ala., that he really got into craft beer.
The founders began planning and saving money until they finally jumped into the market in 2012, but it was Shreveport’s BREW event in 2013 that helped them truly get off the ground. “BREW has a special place in our heart as we’ve served beer as home brewers or as the brewery there every year,” Raines said. “It was also an avenue for us to build confidence in our work based on the feedback from attendees. You could almost say without BREW that Red River Brewing Company may have never come to light. All the struggle to get to that day made the response we received overwhelming.”
It was through BREW and the Malt Munching Mash Monsters that the group met Steve Parks. “Steve is an incredible brewer who has a passion for beer that borders on insanity,” Raines said. “And we’re so fortunate to have him on board.”
The guys behind Red River Brewing Company have learned a lot about business and brewing since those early days. “Honestly, we didn’t have a clue what we were getting into it and the scary part is that we really thought we did,” Raines said. “During the infancy stage of our operation, we got a bad batch of kegs. We were still learning, so we thought we were doing something wrong. After hours and hours of ‘fixing the problem,’ we finally gave up. We called the vendor the next day and discovered it was a manufacturing defect, not us rookies. Let’s just say there’s a list of things we’d have done differently, but if anything it’s taught us how improvise.”
Raines has also learned quite a bit about pairing beer with food.
“Beer, like wine, can greatly enhance the enjoyment of a well-prepared meal,” he said. “There are three considerations to make: cut, complement and contrast. With cut, one option is to have a beer that adds acidity or tartness to cut through a rich entrée that might have a heavy sauce. You can also use beer to complement food, such as using the spiciness in Hay Ryed (a shameless plug) to go along with a spicy dish like boiled crawfish or jambalaya.”
To learn more about beer and food matches, Raines likes “The Brew Master’s Table,” written by Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. “He argues that beer is a better complement to food than wine due to its versatility, carbonation and many different available options. I think there’s some meat on that bone. For something easy to try – few things complement each other better than a great beer such as our River Monster with a great pizza.”
Raines said the community’s support has been overwhelming.
“We’re proud of where home is.
The beer-brewing, beer-drinking community has given us way more than we have given them. We just want to share our passion with our customers.
Our passion is making your beer. We’re not beer bullies. Nobody likes a bully,” he said.
–Susan Reeks
