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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Gnarly Barley cans their craft beer

    Cari Caramonta and her daughter Stevie Caramonta are part of the Gnarly Barley Brew Crew which recently expanded into canning their craft beer. 
    File Photo/The Lion's Roar

    Cari Caramonta and her husband, Zac Caramonta, are the Young Alumni of the Year and owners of the Gnarly Barley Brewing Co., and they recently expanded their brewing company past making only draft beer. Their craft beer company, which began as a hobby for Zac Caramonta, is now on its third year of brewing. 

    The couple held a release party for their canned beer at their brewery on Feb. 4, with food, company and beer. Their customer base came out to take part in the festivities enjoying southern food and music. 

    “The release party was awesome,” said Cari Caramonta. “It was somewhere near 800 people. The music was great, the crawfish was tasty and the beer was flowing.  We just wish the beer would have been flowing fast enough to keep the lines a bit shorter.”

    The Caramontas have a plan for their growing business which involved the canning release but ensured that there would be a receptive market for the beer first.

    “We’ve wanted to have our beer in small package since day one, it was just a matter of timing,” said Cari Caramonta. “We wanted to wait and introduce cans after having our beer on draft for a while. Having draft only for a while helped us build a customer base and a strong following and allowed us to hone in our recipes before putting them in cans.”

    A family and consumer sciences graduate, Cari Caramonta, described how the canned beer will help grow their business and why their market will now expand due to the beneficial beer cans.

    “Draft makes that 10 percent of the craft beer market where bottles and cans make up the other 90 percent,” said Cari Caramonta. “Cans preserve the liquid better than a bottle does because it keeps the oxygen and light out.” 

    The Gnarly Barley Brew Crew hopes to have sales outside their own circle of consumers and eventually nationwide. They are not frightened about the future market expansion and what it would mean for their brewery in Hammond, LA.

    “Yes, we do plan on expanding into other markets in Louisiana and even outside of Louisiana in the future,” said Cari Caramonta. “We have plenty of room in the warehouse to continue to add tanks in order to grow.”

    Cari Caramonta described her thoughts on what the brewery is anticipating.

    “We are looking forward to canning more of our beers and getting them out there for people to drink,” said Cari Caramonta.

    Gnarly Barley will have more events similar to their canning release party in an effort to promote their other craft beer flavors.

    “We have one more bottle release party for Peanut Butter Porter, before it goes into cans as well, which is scheduled on Mar. 4,” said Cari Caramonta. “Then Apr. 1 we will have our Brightside can release party. Then May 13 will be our three year anniversary where we will have a brand new beer. We are looking forward to all of those things.”

     
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