SmashMouth

Saints-Pelicans owner Tom Benson is bringing Dixie Beer back to New Orleans with plans to build a local brewery after buying the 110-year-old iconic brand.

Tom and his wife Gayle Benson said Wednesday (July 26) that they purchased a majority of Dixie Brewing Co. LLC for an undisclosed price. Longtime owners Joseph and Kendra Bruno will keep a minority interest. As part of the agreement, a brewery will be built in Orleans Parish within the next two years, possibly in New Orleans East.


"Here's something that represents New Orleans for me," Tom Benson said Wednesday. "I think this is a good thing for New Orleans. This is why I wanted to get involved. I believe we need a little stimulus here in our city. We need something that's made here."

Starting Thursday, the first batch of Dixie Beer brewed under Benson's ownership will be rolled out to 250 bars and stores around New Orleans with expansion planned throughout Louisiana and into Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Dixie, founded in 1907, was displaced after Hurricane Katrina and struggled to stay alive while being brewed under contract in Wisconsin. Dixie's towering historic Tulane Avenue brewery never reopened after the flood. The beer strayed from its original recipe over the decades, and production dropped to less than 20,000 cases a year.

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