ABITA SPRINGS, La. — The Abita Brewing Company started in downtown Abita Springs in 1986, but by 1994 they outgrew their original site and moved up the road to Covington. The original location is now a 100-seat brewpub and the new state of the art facility consists of 11 acres of production and about a dozen more acres to grow into.
Abita Springs dates back to the 1800s and was first inhabited by the Choctaw tribe. The town honors its start with the Abita princess statue in the pavilion at the town's Tammany Trace Trailhead. The statue depicts the lore of the dying Choctaw princess who was healed after drinking water from a town spring.
It is believed the tribe used the area's spring waters for medicinal purposes for centuries.
Abita's beer is brewed with that pure water of the artesian wells. So while other breweries must filter and chemically treat their water for the brewing process, the Abita Brewing Company takes it right from the source.
David Blossman is the company president and has been running the Abita Brewing Company since 1996. He was one of the original shareholders as a 17-year-old kid, investing $2,500 he had in a mutual fund.
"I had been a home brewer for a while and I heard about two guys opening a brewery in Abita Springs," Blossman said. "I lived in Covington, it was pretty close. "I am like 'Wow i got to be a part of that.' I figured access to market: everyone in Louisiana loves everything in Louisiana, right? We hold true and love what's ours. So, I figured the combination of being in the right place at the right time, with the right water, was an unbelievable combo. And it turns out I was right."
He did need a little help, so he persuaded his family.
"Within the first year, I got my brothers and I to buy out the largest shareholder and really raise a new stock issuance. Because, we were capital constraint and we weren't going to make it," Blossman said. "I'm five of six boys, so at that point, I already had brothers that were bankers and attorneys that knew the real business. I'm just an idea guy and a brewer."
The idea-part is just as important.
"I would listen to my grandfather talk about prohibition. His family grew strawberries in Ponchatoula and so they'd make strawberry wine," Blossom said.
So he decided to try it with beer, and Abita's new Strawberry Lager was born. It has been a huge success. Made with Louisiana strawberries, the company uses local ingredients when they can - like Louisiana cane sugar for their soft drinks. There are three sodas on tap in the brewery's tap room and about 30 beers on tap.
Abita Brewing Company brewed about 1,500 barrels of beer in their first year of production. Now, 33 years later, they brew around 150,000 barrels per year.
"Really blessed because of my passion is beer, and I love everything about it. I get to come to work and do what I love," Blossman said.