Mississippi Brewing

For several years, I talked about learning how to home brew but never “found” the time to take it up, but when we made our move to Mississippi I was determined that now was the time to begin my fermented adventure.  Imagine my surprise that upon settling in our newfound home state in 2012 that I discovered that MS was one of only two states in our beloved union that brewing our own beer was outlawed.  Thankfully in 2013, freedom won the day in the MS legislature and home brewing was legal.  As elated as I was to have the shackles removed from my fermented creations, I realized that MS has had a storied past when it came to our chosen obsession.

We all have heard of Prohibition but I had no idea that it started much earlier in MS than the passage of the 18^th Amendment in 1920.  The manufacture and sale of alcohol was outlawed in 1907 in MS, 13 years before it became a nationwide ban.  In 1933 the 21st Amendment became the law of the land which repealed the 18^th Amendment.  It took another 33 years for MS to follow suit.  As you can see, it should have come as no surprise that we lagged behind the rest of the country regarding the archaic home brew laws as well.

The craft beer scene was generally non-existent until a few short years ago as well.  Lazy Magnolia is our beloved state’s oldest brewery at just 14 years old and up until 2012 the ABV was capped at around 6%.  Our cap is now around 10% and that alone has spurred the inception of several other breweries around the state from Chandeleur Brewing on the coast to Yalobusha Brewing in the northern hill country.  We may not have the plethora of breweries of our friends around the country but our love of craft beer is no less passionate. 

Mississippi may have come to late to the craft beer party but I believe we are making up for lost time.  In just the last 5 years alone we have seen some amazing craft beer released commercially around the state.  As crazy as it sounds, the MS legislature recently made it legal for us to buy a beer at our local brewery.  We still have plenty of ground to make up but I believe we will be there soon based on the progress we have made in a very short time.  My goal is to introduce you over the next few months to some of our great breweries and our own unique craft beer and home brew culture here in the Magnolia State.