Pursuits
Making Craft Brew in Mississippi, the Land That Beer Forgot
Lazy Magnolia Brewing seeks success in America’s poorest state
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When Mark and Leslie Henderson opened Lazy Magnolia Brewing in 2004, their hometown of Kiln, Miss., was an unlikely place to make beer. Halfway between New Orleans and Biloxi on I-10, the town of 2,000 was known for being the place where Brett Favre played his high school football and not a whole lot else.
While the nation has become obsessed with local brews, Mississippi has resisted the trend. It may be the driest place in the country: The state enacted its own version of Prohibition in 1907, 13 years before the 18th Amendment took effect, and was the last state to rescind its ban on making alcohol—in 1966. Until recently, Lazy Magnolia was the lone dot on Mississippi’s beer map.