The first New Orleans brewery, 1726 The Brasserie, opens in what is now the Bywater section of New Orleans. Owned by Pierre Dreux and his brother Mathurin, it was essentially a plantation that made its money by supplying beer to Nouvelle Orleans.

The 1840s Lemp Brewing Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, begins shipping lager to New Orleans. Due to river transit, quite a large amount of beer is lost due to both freezing barrels in the winter and exploding barrels in the summer.

1869 Eagle Brewery opens at Tchoupitoulas (currently an electrical station). 

The first refrigeration equipment is installed in the Old 1869 Canal Brewery at Toulouseand Villere Streets. 

New Orleans is known as the “1880s Brewing Capital of the South,” with about fifty breweries listed in the city directory.

J.J. Weckerling opens a second branch of his Louisiana Brewing Company on Jackson Avenue at Tchoupitoulas. The main building is still standing and is now part of a marine repair works. The bottling plant (on the uptown corner of Tchoupitoulas and Jackson) was demolished; that lot remains empty to this day.

The 1890 New Orleans Brewing Association was founded, which forms in order to combat the practice of English brewing syndicates looking to buy American breweries to expand their market shares. The alliance of all the breweries in the city makes them too large to be purchased. 

In 1890 Jackson Brewery opened on Decatur St.  In addition to Jackson beer, it produced Fabacher, Bohemian Hof-Brau, Tex, 4-X and Sabena beer. 

1907 Dixie Brewery opens and becomes one of the well-known breweries in the South.  Its motto: “One Brewery, 45 Brands.”

Prohibition

1956 Jackson Brewery acquires the copyright to the “Jax” name from the Jax Brewing Company of Jacksonville, FL, after it goes out of business. Within a decade, the renamed Jax Brewery grows to become the tenth-highest-producing brewery in the United States.

After having been sold to a different operator, in 1974 Jax goes out of business, selling the Jax name to the Pearl Brewing Company of San Antonio, Texas. Pearl continues to produce Jax until 1985, when it is purchased by Pabst Brewing Company. 

​Abita Brewing Company is founded on the North Shore as the first craft brewer in Louisiana.

In 2008 NOLA Brewing Company opens. 

Courtyard Brewery opened in 2014.

2016 Urban South Brewery opens, and on the very same day, New Orleans’ Original Brewery Tour runs its first tour!

2016 Urban South Brewery opens, and on the very same day, New Orleans’ Original Brewery Tour runs its first tour!