Posted on 09/28/2005 7:42:52 PM PDT by HAL9000
AVERY ISLAND, La. (AP) — On a salt dome that rises from the Cajun flatlands like an island from the sea, the plant which makes Tabasco sauce was safe from floods caused by Hurricane Rita. And it had enough stock on hand to ship out until the factory regained power.
Many of its workers weren't as lucky.
"We've got a lot of employees that live in Delcambre and Erath and Lydia and low-lying areas around Avery Island," Paul McIlhenny, chief executive of McIlhenny Co., said Wednesday.
[snip]
Power had been out since Friday night, when the storm was still offshore.
"I don't think the flow of Tabasco sauce will be interrupted because we had a good supply on hand," McIlhenny said.
It was the company's second hit by a hurricane. "We had a kind of double whammy," McIlhenny said.
Hurricane Katrina did wind damage to the company's office and museum in a part of New Orleans still under evacuation orders. The bricks had recently been re-mortared, and appeared to have held up under the storm. People apparently broke in to take shelter, but there was little other damage, McIlhenny said.
Eight or nine New Orleans workers and their spouses were working and living at Avery Island when Rita hit.
Salt domes are the tips of underground mountains of salt. In south Louisiana, they're usually surrounded by land rather than water. But for a while, Avery Island was surrounded by water.
"Ninety-five percent or more was above water," McIlhenny said. "We're the highest point on the Gulf Coast between Brownsville, Texas, and Key Largo, Florida, because of the salt dome."
The storm surge sent about 8 feet of water past the toll gate into the company's property, flooding some houses, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
You were wondering how the Tabasco folks fared in Louisiana.
Tabasco is now selling at $100/bbl on the New York Merc exchange. :)
On a salt dome that rises from the Cajun flatlands like an island from the sea, the plant which makes Tabasco sauce was safe from floods
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Could it be the sign we've been waiting for?
The Tabasco Habanero Sauce is hot enough.
I'VE BEEN TO AVERY ISLAND AND IT STINKS LIKE TOBASCO!!
I'm probably the closest Freeper, 7 miles. ;-)
The Jungle Gardens are really nice. Did you visit there?
The McIlhennys have a special relationship with the Marine Corps- if anybody is interested.
http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/archives/Marines/marine-mcilhenny.htm
I once read that Old man Mac shipped Tabasco to Marines in Vietnam gratis for a time, to make the c-rats a bit more palatable,
Don't know about overtaxed, but the first question I asked when the hurricanes hit was "How's Avery Island?"
I can live without N.O, but not Tabasco
Jack
I'm glad Tabasco survived, but their sauce is pretty lame. I like Sontavo. It's habanero based, but has as much flavor as heat. Can't say the same about McIhenny's brew.
Stinks?! My olfactory hope for heaven is that gentle wafts of Tobasco can be smelled in the halls.
We do that too. The crushed peppers are great on pizza.
I have used Dave's Insanity Sauce in the past, but didn't really like the flavor.
Yeah, that stuff is useless.
You meant to say, I'm certain, that Avery Island ''has the wonderful aroma of a well-made and carefully aged pepper sauce.''
Tabasco - the one good thing that comes from "America's Toilet."
If you'd like some thoughts on exactly how to do this -- AND, if you like the natural flavour of peppers, even the hottest ones on the Scoville scale -- you've only to ask.
I'd be pleased to offer some very easy and practical suggestions.
Then again, you may be just a complainer, and not really be interested in finding an answer to your complaint. Who knows? (shrug)
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