Faubourg Brewing Company is a brewery founded in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 31, 1907 and originally named Dixie Brewing Company. An old Dixie Dixie beer new name outdoor advertisement, revealed during renovation in New Orleans’ Faubourg Marigny neighborhood.
Faubourg Brewing Company was founded as Dixie Brewing by Valentine Merz, and began production in 1907. The original brick Dixie Brewery building at 2401 Tulane Avenue at the corner of Tulane Avenue and Tonti Street was designed by the German architect Louis Lehle and completed in 1907 with a wooden extension added in 1919. In 1983, Dixie was sold to a New Orleans based corporation, Coy International. In November 1985, it was purchased by Joseph and Kendra Elliott Bruno and in 1989 its owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In 2005, the Dixie Brewery was severely damaged when Mid-City New Orleans flooded from the levee failure disaster during Hurricane Katrina. When the brewery didn’t reopen on Tulane Avenue, the closed brewery building was incorporated into the footprint of the new Department of Veterans Affairs hospital built in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood. During restoration, the focus was on stabilizing the structure. Liz Failla, project coordinator for the VA said, “Right now, what we’re doing is stabilizing the structure that we’re going to maintain, which is that iconic tower with the Dixie Brewery on there. Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans, bought a majority stake in the Dixie brand in 2017 from Joe and Kendra Bruno, with plans of returning the brewing operation to New Orleans within two years. On August 7, 2018, it was announced a new Dixie Brewery would be built in Eastern New Orleans featuring a replica of the brick tower at Dixie’s original brewery and metal letters that were removed from the exterior of the original brewery. In June 2019, Dixie Beer’s production was moved from Monroe, Wisconsin to the Blues City Brewery in Memphis, Tennessee before its return to New Orleans.
On November 25, 2019, the Dixie Brewing Company began brewing at their new brewery in New Orleans, marking the first time Dixie was brewed in New Orleans since 2005. On January 25, 2020, the brewery had its official groundbreaking and the facility opened to the public. In November 2020 the company announced that it was changing its name from Dixie Brewing Company to Faubourg Brewing Company, with the beer to be branded as Faubourg beer. French word that New Orleaneans often use interchangeably with “neighborhood”.
Dixie Brewery rebirth update: See timeline, plans for New Orleans East beer garden, new brews”. Dixie Brewery faces uncertain future as former owners sue the federal government”. Dixie out of Chapter 11 proceedings”. Archived from the original on 2004-06-29. Dixie debuts new Jazz Amber Light”.