Flying Tiger Brewery focuses on local, local, local

The art of making beer is a growing trend across the country.

In Monroe, Flying Tiger Brewery is not only making a homemade brew but using northeast Louisiana products in the mix.

You don’t have to be a beer drinker to appreciate their effort to highlight local resources.

James Simpson was once a corporate sales guy. Making beer for fun. At home. For family and friends.

“I was a total kind of beer geek,” said James Simpson. Simpson has turned his passion for brewing into a business. “It’s a hobby gone wild, I would say.”

Simpson is the head brewer at Flying Tiger in downtown Monroe. It was his knowledge of making the beer and Robert Brewer’s business sense that birthed the brewery.

“While I recognize the craft to it, Rob recognized there was a business to be built around it. There was a voice in northeast Louisiana at the time we felt it was the right time and Monroe was definitely the place.

Specifically downtown and what better way to pay homage to Monroe than to brand after the Flying Tigers,” said Simpson.

It’s important to Simpson, Brewer and the other founders to keep the business ultra-local. They often use the bounty of this region, like Ruston peaches, locally grown blueberries, or coffee beans from RoeLa Roaster to infuse their brew.

“These are community based businesses so to involve as much of the community as possible is part of what we do,” said Simpson.

“We have a lot of great things in this state and why not highlight those? If we can source it locally, we will do it,” said Robert Brewer, co-founder of Flying Tiger Brewery.

Once the brewing process is done, the community connection continues. The spent grain is donated to a local pig farm or Kingsland Ranch in west Ouachita parish. David King says this a fabulous form of recycling and their beef cattle get the benefit.

Meanwhile, back at the brewery, Simpson is taste-testing his latest batch that’s been aged in an old whiskey barrel. Just a perk of the job he says, now that his hobby is his job.

“I’ve never worked more, made less money, and been happier,” said Simpson.