Mississippi Beer Tour

A couple months ago I went to Mississippi for a beer tasting. Up to that point, Mississippi was just a part of the Waffle House corridor on the way to Biloxi. I had never hung out with real Mississippi people before so I was a little apprehensive. Turns out, my as fears were baseless. People in Louisiana are much worse than Mississipians.

The first stop was Lazy Magnolia Brewery in Kiln, Mississippi, which may be the only brewery in Mississippi. Not seeing any hicks lurking in the bushes with shotguns, I ducked into the brewery unscathed. Their main beer is called Southern Pecan. It's a brown ale brewed with pecans. I'm still waiting on their crayfish spiced ale. Lazy Magnolia also sells something called Party Pigs. The only bummer about the tour was that it's against the law for breweries in Mississippi to serve or sell alcohol, so there were no samples. Mississippi has a grocery list of regulations regarding alcohol. One example is that it's illegal to sell beer with an abv higher than something like 5.5% [It's actually only 5%]. You can still buy whiskey though. We rolled on to my boy Beer Buddha's [copyright used by permission] friend's house for the tasting. This dude had a cellar the likes of which I've never seen. Two closets full of beer. He gets around the medieval beers laws in Mississippi via the internet. He finds people from all over the country online and trades beer. He even had something that could chill a warm beer in under five minutes.

The first beer we tried was Mt. Carmel Stout from Cincinnati. It had a nice brown head with tiny bubbles. There were a nice subtle roasted flavor, like roasted vanilla. The body was thin and creamy but the mouthfeel had weight.

The next beer we sampled was Alesimith's IPA from Cali. It came equipped with a large hoppy bouquet in the nose followed by a lemon citrus flavor, high acidity, and a bitter kick.

Next up was Hvedegood from Three Floyd's, a favorite brewery of mine. This was a wheat wine, or a barley wine brewed with some portion of wheat. It smelled like a barley wine, with a sweet, deep aroma that wasn't boozy or pungent. It's lighter in body and mouthfeel than other barleys with a strong flavor of orange rind. The flavor also had hints of toasted bread and cookies with a bitter dose of hops in the finish. It's well hopped like most Three Floyd's brews, but this isn't overwhelming apparent in the nose and flavor.

Then came Alesmith's Old Numbskull with it's pleasantly sharp bitterness. It had a beautiful deep red coloring. There was a hint of curry in the aroma. The flavor was creamy and layered with complexity containing hints of chocolate and pine needles that stuck to my mouth.

Last up was Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout. Goose Island is out of Chicago, and this beer is a stout aged in Bourbon Casks. The was a strong, spicey note of Bourbon in the aroma with a rich vanilla flavor in addition to roasted malt. It was very oily and rich.