Just in time for football season, Tin Roof Brewery plans to roll out its long-awaited Bayou Bengal beer: the first officially licensed beer of LSU. This may be the first official beer of the Fighting Tigers, but it’s not the first attempt to get there. The anticipation for such a partnership has been simmering since 2011, when the fledgling microbrewery first announced it was unveiling “Bandit Blonde” with LSU. Bandit Blonde, named for the famed backup defenders on the 1958 Tigers national championship team, was quickly rebranded to a more generic Tin Roof Blonde ale as disagreements arose among LSU leaders about whether to move forward with a licensed beer. All of this happened against the backdrop of some negative publicity about whether it was appropriate messaging to link the school’s name with an alcoholic beverage. Before the deal was stalled, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about the partnership titled “You can’t spell ‘Lush’ without L-S-U.”
William McGehee, co-founder of Tin Roof, recalled some tension surrounding the previous deal. “Unfortunately, I guess there was a lot of disagreement happening on a level above my pay grade,” McGehee said of the initial deal-killer. “They couldn’t really agree whether it was a good idea or not. It stalled out, and they finally decided it wasn’t right at that time.” Martin maintained that the contract was interpreted differently by the College Licensing Co., which he said would have permitted the arrangement.