New Orleanians will soon find a familiar word adorning the packaging of a newly renamed local beer brand.
The 113-year-old Dixie Beer will change its name to Faubourg Brewing Company in early 2021. Faubourg, which means “suburb” in French, is synonymous with “neighborhood” in New Orleans.
In June, Dixie Beer Company announced it would change its name amid nationwide protests for racial justice following the death of George Floyd. Dixie, which is colloquially used to refer to the South, has ties to both the Mason-Dixon line, which divided free states and slave states, and $10 notes issued by the Citizens’ Bank of New Orleans with “dix,” the French word for 10, printed on them.
“Faubourg” was mentioned both in internal brainstorms and in submissions from drinkers.
“It was nice to see in both settings,” general manager Jim Birch told Brewbound. “Once we started market testing as well, we got a lot of positive feedback from within the New Orleans DMA and then outside of New Orleans, when you give people a little bit of background, you tell them what it means as a French word, anyone that’s been to New Olreans or knows about the city knows the diversity of the neighborhood.”
Dixie sought input from consumers for its new name and received more than 5,400 submissions online. Faubourg packaging will roll out in early 2021.
“When the team embarked upon this journey in June, we understood that our new name must encompass the spirit and diversity of all of New Orleans unique neighborhoods,” owner Gayle Benson said in a press release. “The Faubourg Brewing Company is a celebration of our city, our people, and our commitment to New Orleans. Our investments in New Orleans East will continue, and bringing jobs and economic opportunity to our community will remain at the forefront.”
With the new name, the beers themselves will change along with their labels, Birch said. The company is not ready to share details of new products yet, but Birch noted that Dixie Lager’s recipe will receive slight tweaks.
“Someone that tries the Faubourg Lager vs. the Dixie Lager is going to recognize it instantaneously, but they’re probably going to say it tastes even cleaner, crisper and more refreshing,” he said.
Faubourg Lager will be around 4.8% ABV, an increase from 4.6% ABV, and the brewery will remove rice from the grain bill.
Beer with the new name and packaging will ship from the brewery to wholesalers in January 2021 and is expected to reach retail shelves in February 2021. Faubourg will be reusing UPCs to make the transition easier for wholesalers and retailers.
The company is poised for a clean switch early next year, and has ordered the last Dixie-branded packaging it will need. Existing Dixie-branded cans will be shrink sleeved if necessary.
“We want it to be seamless from an account perspective,” Birch said. “We want Dixie to be shipping one day, and then Faubourg to be coming in on schedule the next day.”
Preceding the new name’s announcement today, the company has been working to educate distribution partners about the Faubourg name. In addition to its home market of Louisiana, the company ships to seven states: Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Maine.
“It’s a new product so it’s going to require an awful lot of care and attention and attention to detail,” Birch said.
The company plans to honor the Dixie name in the newly rechristened New Orleans Beer Museum at its brewery.
“The retirement of the Dixie name is not a repudiation of the past, and we will not forget about Dixie,” Birch said. “We’re just going to tell the story in a way as far as how we cannot continue to put that name on our packaging, and it is offensive to a large and growing percentage of people that come into contact with it.”
The announcement of the name change in June drew the ire of some consumers who disagreed, but Birch said feedback has been more positive than negative.
“We’d like to engage with the folks that have questions around why we did it, but ultimately, we think there’s a much larger market of customers as well that are very supportive of it, and they have quietly also given us their support via email and social media,” he said.
“Ultimately, we made a decision that we think is the right thing to do,” Birch continued. “We can’t please everyone, but we believe in our heart of hearts that this is the right thing to do.”
New Orleans was hit hard early in the COVID-19 pandemic, after Mardi Gras celebrations proved to be superspreader events before the coronavirus’ presence was known in the state. Bars and restaurants were forced to close and tourism dried up. If that weren’t enough, the city has been affected by seven named storms during a hurricane season that shows no signs of letting up.
Still, Dixie’s sales are up 25% year-over-year so far in 2020, Birch said.
“I think we are the most successful brewery in the world that has dealt with seven named hurricanes, a rebranding and a restart to their production operations within nine months,” he said. “It’s been crazy for our customers and crazy for our wholesalers. A lot of people are struggling, and we’ve luckily managed to navigate the pandemic with a very strong package business in grocery stores.”
This summer, Dixie wasn’t the only brand shedding a name or imagery with ties to slavery and systemic racism. Musical acts the Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebellum changed their names to The Chicks and Lady A, respectively. “Antebellum” refers to the decades before the Civil War when Southern plantation owners accumulated wealth through the labor of enslaved people.
Other CPG companies shed brand mascots that evoked Black domestic servitude. Quaker Oats announced in June 2020 it would remove the illustration of Aunt Jemima from packages of pancake mix and syrup, but has not unveiled a new logo. Mars renamed Uncle Ben’s rice to Ben’s Original.