Not only offering a place to drink incredible craft beer, breweries play an important role by bringing folks together within the community. Breweries also attract and retain talent, and Acadiana is growing both in breweries and in those who are upping the ante on what makes a craft beer so special. Here are a few of our favorites across the region.

Adopted Dog Brewing

When Ryan Pécot, owner and managing partner at Adopted Dog Brewing, found the perfect piece of real estate for a brewery, he hopped on the opportunity. “When I decided to move forward with the project, I had visited roughly 120 breweries in my travels and always felt that Lafayette would greatly benefit from having multiple breweries,” he says. “Great towns have great places for people to congregate, and well-executed breweries often foster this type of environment. For a community our size, it was wild to me that there were no breweries within the city limits.”

Pécot opened Adopted Dog Brewing in February 2023 and named it following a suggestion from his wife, Traci. “Both of our puppies (Tchoupitoulas and Paws) are adopted dogs and inspirational in our decision to develop Adopted Dog Brewing, MidCity Restaurant + Bar and Paws & Paw Paws, which are some of our other businesses,” he says.

Adopted Dog Brewing’s tasting room features industrial design with lots of dog artwork and repurposed keg features. It’s connected to the brewhouse so that customers are up close and personal with brewery equipment and operations. There’s also a large outside patio, a party deck and stage for live music, a private space for smaller parties and a turf yard. In addition to the family- and dog-friendly spaces, the brewery offers a tasty food menu (think wings, smash burgers, sandwiches and flatbreads) and traditional beer options.

Since opening, the brewery has grown to now offer 18 beers on tap. Of those, 14 brews are constant, and the other four rotate depending on collaborations and the time of year. “We offer two new beers each season, and we have two overarching six-month seasonal beers,” Pécot says. “To note, the Seedless (watermelon wheat) and Dude’s Trip (winter warmer) were huge hits. One of my personal favorites was the Summer Sizzle, which was a jalapeño pale ale. Of our regulars, both the Doberman Dark (lager) and Krayt Dragonfruit (sour) are popular. The Krayt sour is so popular, that we actually spun the base recipe off into a now-permanent Sour Series that is constantly changing but always available.”

Adopted Dog Brewing also hosts events throughout the year, such as trivia, bingo and live comedy. “This year, we’ll definitely host another Okteauxberfest, WinterFest and New Year’s Eve party,” Pécot adds.

Lead Brewer: James Lutgring

James Lutgring first began home brewing in 2003 and then professionally in 2015. Over the years, he has honed his craft and now puts his technical knowledge to the test at Adopted Dog Brewing. “I knew that James appreciated the history of beer, established grain bills and yeast types, which I feel is a necessary component to brew great beer,” Pécot says. “Once we had our core offerings established, he began experimenting with some unique and fun seasonal beers to offer a fresh variety to our customers.”

Top Sud

The 337 (a blueberry blonde lager) is the best seller and flagship beer at Adopted Dog Brewing. While the beer is fruited, it is a light lager with just enough blueberry added during the fermentation process to offer a hint of fresh sweetness.

329 Dulles Drive, Lafayette
337-504-5400
adopteddogbrewing.com

Crying Eagle Brewing Company

Eric Avery and his family opened Crying Eagle Brewing Company in 2016 after an inspirational trip to Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston. “Eric saw how welcoming the environment was to all types of people and all walks of life, and he fell in love with the sense of community the brewery provided,” says General Manager Amber Jay. “He wanted to recreate something similar for our area.”

Today, Ryan O’Donnell (who has 28 years of experience as a brewer) serves as Crying Eagle’s brewmaster. “His brewing style is unique, taking a more culinary approach to brewing by playing on flavor profiles you would find in your favorite recipes,” Jay says. “We started with just three beers, and now we keep 20 different beers on tap at all times.”

Crying Eagle’s top sellers include Louisiana Lager (a clean, crisp lager), Things Unsettled (dry hopped with tropical flavors) and Dark Honey (a traditional dark German lager brewed with locally sourced raw wildflower honey) and the brewery also offers a multitude of seasonal brews that are rotated on tap throughout the year (plus craft cocktails). There’s also a full-service bistro with menu items like salads, nachos, wings, sandwiches and pizza.

“We pride ourselves as not only being a brewery, but also a community center, and a hub for art and entertainment, creative beers and cuisine and our customizable guest experience,” Jay says. “We boast live entertainment five days per week, and we host family events, a Summer Concert Series with huge regional acts, tap takeovers, Oktoberfest events, cook-offs, fitness classes, cooking classes, countless charity events throughout the year and much more.”

The owners are now building Crying Eagle’s second location off of the lakefront in downtown Lake Charles.

Lead Brewer: Ryan O’Donnell

He currently oversees all brewing and production operations, all recipe development and testing … not to be confused with tasting, which, he says, “I do a lot of.” He adds, “Right now I’m heavily focused on developing lager recipes for our new Lakefront brewery. Those have a high degree of technical difficulty, but they are lots of fun to brew.”

Top Sud

The Don’t Blush Raspberry Berliner Weisse is a cloudy sour North German brew that dates back to at least the 16th century. It features wheat notes for a soft background and delicate mouthfeel, while raspberry acidic flavors create a refreshing but unique summer-style brew.

1165 E. McNeese St., Lake Charles
337-990-4871
cryingeagle.com

Parish Brewing Co.

Back in 2009, when there weren’t many breweries in the South, Andrew Godley decided to open Parish Brewing Co. “I grew up in Louisiana, but I moved to Pittsburgh after college in 2002 and discovered a thriving beer scene and culture,” he says. “When I returned home, I immediately recognized the lack of small breweries making innovative products and decided that I would make that opportunity into a business. I had lucky timing and started Parish a few years before the large wave of new breweries arrived.”

At the beginning, Godley was the only person developing brews for Parish (with Canebrake being the sole brew). “It was really popular in New Orleans on draft, and I didn’t have any free capacity to brew anything else for a few years,” he says. “Today we have at least 20 beers in the taproom at any given time.”

Founder and CEO Andrew Godly

Parish Brewing Co. now has a talented team of brewing experts that brew more than 20,000 barrels annually. “We are regarded as one of the highest quality breweries in America,” he says. “We are a big part of the local beer industry, making beers that the Louisiana market calls their own and consumes heavily, but, globally, people love our intense, innovative beers like Ghost in the Machine.”

In fact, Ghost in the Machine (a hoppy and slightly bitter beer) is Parish’s No. 1 beer, followed closely by Canebrake (a refreshing wheat beer brewed with sugarcane syrup). “This year, we celebrate 10 years of Ghost in the Machine,” Godley says. “Every month, we will re-release a Ghost variant or collaboration from the past that was a crowd favorite.”

Parish also brews 30 additional brews yearly, with seasonal beers also on rotation. “For example, we always release our Greetings From series beer annually just before summer — as it is a tiki cocktail-inspired fruit beer — perfect for hot days by the pool, on a boat or at the beach,” Godley says.

Lead Brewer: Ryan Speyrer

A head brewer at Parish Brewing Co., Ryan Speyrer is responsible for the initial production and brewing of the brewery’s suds. One of only a handful of Master Cicerones in the world, Speyrer is an expert in beer science. “He develops most of the recipes we now use today as well as managing many of the raw materials we source for our beers,” Godley says.

Top Sud

Ghost in the Machine is a big hazy double IPA that tastes very fruity and juicy. All of that tropical grapefruit flavor is from hops—there isn’t any fruit added to this big beer that comes in at 8% ABV.

229 Jared Drive, Broussard
337-330-8602
parishbeer.com

Tin Roof Brewing Co.

Located in West Baton Rouge, and started by two childhood friends (Charles Caldwell and William McGehee), Tin Roof Brewing Co. produces a variety of Southern, handcrafted beers. It all started in the early 2000s when Caldwell fell in love with microbrewed beer while working on a ranch in Colorado. When Caldwell visited McGehee (who also developed a palate for finer beers during a law school summer abroad program in Europe), the duo decided to open a brewery and produced their first batch of beer for commercial consumption in November 2010.

Today, Tin Roof produces flagship, seasonal and sometimes experimental, single-batch beers, with everything from lagers and blondes to IPAs and stouts. Be sure to try the Voodoo — a heavily dry-hopped American Pale Ale, which relies on flaked wheat and oats to enhance the tropical and fruit flavors provided by the hops. The flavor profile includes melon, passion fruit, tangelo and pine.

In addition to beer, Tin Roof also offers Yoga on Tap (on the large outdoor lawn) and daily happy hours (except Saturdays). The tap room, outdoor area, private room and brewery also are available to rent for events like parties, wedding receptions and work meetings.

Top Sud

Voodoo is their featured brew. This juicy, hazy APA is heavily dry-hopped, using oats and wheat. It has melon, passion fruit, tangelo and pine flavors and aromas that come from Citra and Simcoe hops.

1624 Wyoming St., Baton Rouge
225-377-7022
tinroofbeer.com