JULY/AUGUST 2013 SLEMCOPOWER ACADIANA’S BREWERS Their recipe for great beer: mix art and passion with hops and grain PAGE 4 ANNUAL MEETING WRAP-UP PAGE 2 PAYING FOR COLLEGE PAGE 7 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS PAGE 12 PSLEMCO OWER TakeNote Volume 62 No. 4 July/August 2013 The Official Publication of the Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corporation 3420 NE Evangeline Thruway P.O. Box 90866 Lafayette, Louisiana 70509 Phone 337-896-5384 www.slemco.com BOARD OF DIRECTORS ACADIA PARISH Bryan G. Leonards, Sr., Secretary-Treasurer Merlin Young NOT YOUR TYPICAL ST. MARTIN PARISH William Huval, First Vice President Adelle Kennison SATURDAY MORNING! LAFAYETTE PARISH Photos by P.C. Piazza Jerry Meaux, President Carl Comeaux t SLEMCO’s June 1 annual meeting, ST. LANDRY PARISH Edna Roger was seated five rows up Leopold Frilot, Sr. from the floor near the stage with Gary G. Soileau A her son Scott Roger, her daughter Connie VERMILION PARISH Hanks and Connie’s husband Tony. Joseph David Simon, Jr., Second Vice President She remembered Scott repeating, Charles Sonnier “We’re not going to win. We’re not going ATTORNEY to win,” to which she kept replying, James J. Davidson, III “You’ve got to have faith!” As the winning card was about to be EXECUTIVE STAFF pulled she stood up. But she quickly sat J.U. Gajan Chief Executive Officer & General Manager back down on hearing the name Edna. As Glenn Tamporello she heard Roger and her street address, Director of Operations she jumped up from her chair and began Jim Laque Director of Engineering waving to the crowd. Katherine Domingue Edna Roger is 71 years old, and was Chief Financial Officer married at age 16 to Steven Roger. The SLEMCO POWER STAFF couple faithfully attended almost every Mary Laurent, CCC, CKAE, MIP SLEMCO annual meeting since the days Editor it was held at Blackham Coliseum, always making it a family event by bringing their SLEMCO POWER (USPS 498-720, ISSN 0274-7685) is published bimonthly by Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corporation, 3420 NE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette, LA 70509-0866. Periodicals postage paid at Lafayette, LA 70507. POSTMASTER: send address changes to SLEMCO, P.O. Box 90866, Lafayette, LA 70509-0866. Cover photo (beer): istockphoto © Yvan Dubé Inset (grain and hops): © Curtis Darrah 2013 Photos by P.C. PiazzaPhotos by P.C. Page 2 ❘ SLEMCO Power Grand prize winner Edna Roger quickly selected the new GMC Sierra Crew Cab. Smiles were easy to find, as always, Saturday morning at SLEMCO’s annual meeting. four children. After her husband passed away 27 years ago, Mrs. Roger continued attending the annual meeting. She esti- Gipson said that Mrs. Roger has a heart mates attending from 50 to 55 SLEMCO of gold and deserved winning the grand meetings in all—and never winning a prize. She and another neighbor, Doug single prize before this year! Johnson, explained how Mrs. Roger takes After providing her copy of the winning care of her neighbors and cooks for them. ticket stub and identification, Mrs. Roger As realization of her good fortune wasted no time is choosing the vehicle began sinking in, Mrs. Roger joked that she wanted—a red GMC Sierra Crew Cab she needed to go home, take her heart pickup truck from Courtesy Automotive medication and calm down before she could go to the Courtesy dealership to complete the paperwork. Earlier during the meeting, SLEMCO also awarded $40,000 in college scholar- ships to 20 students who will be attending ENERGY SAVING IDEAS college this fall (photo and list of winners, RECYCLE ELECTRONICS page 12). TO SAVE SOME CASH J.U. Gajan, CEO and general manager (left), and In other business, Bryan Leonards of Jerry Meaux, board president, address the crowd. Acadia Parish, Carl Comeaux of Lafayette If you’re the type of person Parish, Leopold Frilot of St. Landry Parish always upgrading to the latest smart (Lucky Account Number 2130191000). and Adelle Kennison of St. Martin Parish phone or other electronic gadget, As she and her family members were were re-elected without opposition to you can turn that electronic orphan into cash or a gift certificate to help escorted from the stage, numerous friends three-year terms on the SLEMCO board of buy its replacement. and acquaintances greeted her with hugs directors. Many stores offer cash or credit and congratulations in both English and Board President Jerry Meaux of for used smartphones, MP3 players, Cajun French. Mrs. Roger wondered aloud Lafayette spoke to the crowd, explaining laptops and tablets. People who if her husband might be looking down on the company’s continuing emphasis on don’t want to sell devices on Ebay her from heaven, telling her take the truck! upgrading and strengthening SLEMCO’s or Craiglist have easier and more Mrs. Roger’s friend and neighbor, infrastructure. convenient options. Online buyers Bonnie Gipson, was also on hand. Ms. J.U. Gajan, SLEMCO’s chief executive such as Gazelle, BuyBackWorld, officer and general manager, detailed com- NextWorth and BuyMyTronics offer Troy Landry greets a young fan pany financials and reviewed key accom- quick online estimates—some even of SWAMP PEOPLETM. plishments during 2012’s 75th anniversary provide boxes with prepaid post- year. Looking forward, he discussed plans age. to accommodate electric load growth in Apple, Best Buy and Target also several areas of SLEMCO’s service terri- make upgrading easy by offering tory. merchandise credit. Consumers can United Blood Services held its annual walk in with their old iPhone and blood drive at the meeting, collecting a walk out with a gift card. record number of units of blood products Such recycling puts some “green” to boost the Acadiana area blood supply in your pocket and one less electron- for this summer. • ic item in our landfills (Lucky Account Number 1438120000). • SLEMCO Power ❘ Page 3 HOME BREWED PASSION FOR HANDCRAFTED BEERS FUELS GROWTH FOR TWO ACADIANA BREWERIES STORY & PHOTOS BY CURTIS DARRAH CORY KNOTT FILLS KEGS AT BAYOU TECHE BREWING BORN ON THE BAYOU make,” he laughed. At first, the brothers thought they’d just On St. Patrick’s Day in 2009, produce kegs for Acadiana’s Cajun restaurants. “But within our Arnaudville’s Knott brothers— first year we had signed distributors all the way to Florida, and now Karlos, Byron and Dorsey— we’re in Atlanta and New York City,” he said. converted a discarded railroad The brewery’s mission is creating craft beers that complement car on their old family farm into the culture and cuisine of South Louisiana. Louisiana’s agrarian a farmhouse brewery. culture, Knott explains, is home to a very elegant cuisine—bisque, The brothers added on a etouffée, gumbo and other flavorful dishes. After sampling the garçoniere, both as a cultural pairings of distinctive local beers and cuisines while stationed homage and to make the tiny with the military in Europe, Knott and his wife Stephanie, now building housing their new Bayou the brewery’s chief financial officer, realized that beer was the Teche Brewing a little more perfect foil for Louisiana food. After returning home, Karlos and KARLOS KNOTT presentable to their neighbors. BAYOU TECHE BREWING his brothers experimented further with homebrews. “We outgrew that facility within Bayou Teche’s products include LA-31 Bière Pâle, a Belgian- a few months: we couldn’t keep up,” Karlos Knott recalled. They style pale ale; LA 31 Passionné, a fruit wheat beer; LA 31 Boucanèe were working nine one-barrel fermenters in double shifts in smoked wheat ale; LA 31 Bière Noire, a Schwarzbier German- temperatures as high as 120 degrees, producing a single barrel style ale; Cocodrie, a Triple IPA (India Pale Ale); Acadie Bière de of beer a day. Garde (“beer for keeping”), a farmhouse style French ale; Saison Now their new brewery next door offers 15 times the space, plus D’Écrevisses (Crawfish Season Ale) during crawfish season, and more comfortable conditions for nine employees producing the Bière Joi, featuring cacao nibs, vanilla beans, Mello Joy coffee and company’s four flagship LA 31 beers, plus numerous specialty and Primo’s peppers and aged in whiskey barrels. Other seasonal offer- seasonal brews (Lucky Account Number 1439568001). ings are always in the works. In 2012, production reached 3,500 barrels a year, and Knott “Our packaging (designed by Knott’s brother Byron and his son estimates a 10 percent increase on tap for this year. It’s a far cry Cory) is designed to help preserve and promote Cajun language, from their start, struggling to produce 12 barrels a month with bot- heritage, culture and environmental programs. All our packaging tling farmed out to a brewer in Mississippi. This June, Bayou Teche is named in Cajun French: we put as much French on the labels pulled shrinkwrap from a brand-new packaging line for 12-ounce and the boxes as the government will allow,” Knott said. bottles, which will bring the last of their bottling in-house. “We call ourselves a cultural brewery, kind of tying the whole “We’re a tiny brewery: most breweries spill more beer than we Cajun experience together,” he explained. “All of our beers tend Page 4 ❘ SLEMCO Power towards European —Belgian, French, German—styles but with an he knew he would find a wide array of interesting local beers from American twist. It’s so hot here you don’t want to drink something small breweries, and suddenly realized an opportunity to craft just that’s really heavy or overly complex. such a local beer for the local market. “The craft beer industry here in Louisiana is consumer driven,” “We’re going to produce about 5,000 barrels of beer this year: he said.