On Tap: Home Brewing in Mississippi
by Tobie Baker
A spinning copper rod – suspended horizontally above a 10 gallon water cooler – squeaks in successive rotation. With drilled holes, the whirling pipe permits scorching hot water to trickle down into 25 pounds of cracked, roasted barley. It’s a monster mash of a sweet-scented soupy dough.
“This is the sparging process,” said a 30-year Mississippi resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. “You have to rinse the sugars off the grain.”
Much like any commercial operation, essential for fermentation, the sugars stimulate yeast generation for the yearned product: beer. And although illegal in the Magnolia state, the home brewer said he vows to continue hand-crafting his 10 gallon batches of crisp ales and clear lagers, even if he must remain shrouded by a screen on his front porch.
“I am an American,” he said. “If the country’s first president can do it, then so can I.”
U.S. President George Washington reportedly entered a beer recipe in his notebook in 1754, and his favorite style of liquid gold brewed at his Mount Vernon abode, porter. (More than 250 years later, one of the cherry tree chopper’s own formulas for sweet sparkling suds is at large for rediscovery in the Library of Congress).
Despite the founder’s fondness of froth, Mississippi bucked alcohol to become the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment. The state remained dry until 1966, when it became the last state in the nation to repeal prohibition. Yet today, the state’s home brewing sons and daughters seek to stay in the shadows.
“The neighbors don’t seem to mind,” said the home brewer, “but I don’t want any agents coming to my door.”
Intrigued to learn that homemade beer remains illicit, Ted Ownby, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, said the state’s long standing tradition of snubbing spirits and the common man’s alcohol, beer, is, in part, rooted in protecting Christian home life.
“Church leaders and others supported prohibition as a means to make the whole world home like,” Ownby said. “They believed that if they kept alcohol in check, then it would lend toward a more respectful and harmonious way of life.”
This year, the common man resists that rapport for a more raucous juncture as it revels the 30th anniversary of legalized home brewing in America. Under federal jurisdiction, home brewers are sure to create a stir, cooking up to 100 gallons annually free from taxation.
“If you have a roommate, you can legally increase production to 200 gallons,” said the home brewer. “That’s about 80 cases of beer.”
At more than 100,000 strong across the country, home brewers are a booming community. They have tailored newsletters and magazines, retail shops, podcasts and online forums, lobbyist, competitions and clubs, festivals as well as vacation packages and tours. And it’s not too expensive to initiate. A basic beginner kit, which typically produces five gallon batches, or two cases of beer, retails for approximately $75 from any number of online vendors.
But to have beer judicially recognized in Mississippi, the current home made wine statute, enacted in 1972, must be amended to include the term beer or malt beverage. Sounds easy enough, but Ronnie Lynch, State Tax Commission supervisor of beer and tobacco excise tax, offered some sobering insight. Several recent legislative attempts to update the Mississippi code to include homemade beer have failed, and according to Lynch, the Mississippi Malt Beverage Association, which represents Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors wholesalers, may be stymying those struggles.
“The wholesalers association fought for years to stop brew pubs, because they believed it would cut into their profits,” Lynch said. He chuckled, then added, “I doubt home brewing would be that big of a deal.”
The only lawful avenue to brew beer in Mississippi, according to Lynch, is to pay the annual $1,000 manufacturer’s license, so that’s precisely what Leslie Henderson has arranged as head brewer at Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company in Kiln. But prior to opening the commercial venture, Leslie and her husband, Mark, too were home brewers.
“We were first introduced to home brewing while taking gliding lessons,” she said. “Our tow-pilot, Joe McCardle, was a home brewer and we had a chance to try his creations on several occasions.”
After home brewing for a couple of years, their domicile was consumed with copious amounts of equipment, including boil kettles, mash tuns and fermentation vessels. Friends and family finally came to their rescue, convincing the couple to brew professionally. (The first four beers formulated for mass consumption at Lazy Magnolia – Southern Pecan, Amberjaque, Par-3 and Blue Heron – were each fathomed during the Henderson’s home brew sessions).
“Mark finally put his foot down and said we wouldn’t spend another dime,” Leslie said. “We were either going professional, or we were going to back off and do a couple of batches a month at home. The rest is history.”
In regard to history, the 1516 German beer purity law, or Reinheitsgebot, mandates that ales and lagers contain only four natural ingredients; water, hops, barley and yeast. But just like the Henderson’s Southern Pecan, home brewers are thrusting those limitations, experimenting with any and everything, including nuts, fruits and flowers.
“I’ve brewed plum wheat ales and cherry pale ales,” said the home brewer. “I’ve even used honeysuckle right out of my yard to make a blond ale. It’s all up to the cook.”
The basis for these unlawful purveyors to brew God’s gift to gab are kaleidoscopic. For some, it’s a craft that commissions them to booze individualized beers, while others relish jovial jamborees at social gatherings. Despite the justifications, possessing the rightful power to produce liquid courage in Mississippi lodgings appears to loom in the distance.
“It really doesn’t make much sense,” the home brewer said. “One could debate that prohibiting an American citizen from concocting his or her own brew is equivalent to banning one from cooking their own dinner. Brewing beer is simply boiling natural ingredients.”
The other requisite for home brewing is patience, which may be the most crucial component. The total brewing process demands as little as two weeks for an ale, or it can command up to several months, or even years, for a lager style beer. Patience is also key to Mississippi home brewers as they look to lawmakers to address their improper vocation. But in the mean time, there is positive encouragement from Charlie Papazian – master brewer, founder and former president of the American Homebrewer’s Association and best-selling author of the most trusted home brewing guide, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing – “Relax, have a home brew.”
