ClarionLedger.com - June 11, 2012

Unlucky for Bill Horne, he has happened to live in the only two states where his favorite hobby is illegal.

The result of a quest for an activity that could be enjoyed while at home with his four young children, Horne began brewing his own beer 25 years ago while living in Birmingham, Ala.

Now a Canton resident, Horne, 66, is still brewing and tasting his own coffee stouts and Bourbon brown ales, which are not, contrary to the misconceptions of some, anything like moonshine.

Raise Your Pints, a group that convinced lawmakers to pass a state law this year raising the maximum alcohol content for beer that can be sold in Mississippi, is moving on to its second legislative priority - legalizing homebrewing.

"This should not be illegal," Raise Your Pints President Butch Bailey said. "It's a perfectly safe, wholesome hobby.

"It's something that the founding fathers of our country did," he said.

Legal on the federal level and in 48 states, homebrewing is a hobby many Mississippians already enjoy. Although advocates prefer to think of their pastime as stuck in a gray area of the law, Kathy Waterbury, spokesperson for the Department of Revenue, said there's no doubt it's illegal.

Enforcing the law, however, isn't high on the agency's list.

"We have 20 agents," Waterbury said, referring to officers with the department's Office of Alcohol Beverage Control. "And there are 3 million persons in this state.

"So we will focus on what we think are public safety issues," she said.

While she said she can't speak for local law enforcement agencies, Waterbury said ABC agents focus their time and energy mainly on battling underage drinking.

"We have not received any complaints about homebrewing causing any problems," she said. "Until we do, we are going to focus on those things that we think are problematic in the state."

A 1978 federal law allows two drinking-age adults in a household to brew up to 200 gallons of beer a year. One adult may brew up to 100 gallons. The beer may not be sold, but it may be removed from the home for personal or family use or for use in exhibitions such as a homebrewer's contest.

But the U.S. Constitution leaves most decisions about alcohol up to the states, so the federal statute allowing the hobby doesn't trump the state law prohibiting it.

Illegal is one way to describe homebrewing in Mississippi. But beer enthusiasts would call it by other names: liquid folk art, a science project, a cooking experiment, a community-builder, a lost opportunity for tax revenue.

Woods Drinkwater, 27, whose last name ironically means teetotaler, moved to Oxford from New Orleans, where he frequented a local brewing supply store.

"But now I order all my ingredients (online) from Minnesota," Drinkwater said. "Without having a local homebrew shop, Mississippi is missing out."

The state's beer enthusiasts say they face misconceptions about their intentions and try to educate others about why they brew at home.

"It's not so people can get drunk faster," Drinkwater said. "It's so they can enjoy better beer."

Ashlyn Harmon, 25, of Jackson, agreed that outsiders might make judgments about a brewer's lifestyle.

"In the South, especially, you catch a lot of flak for it. Everyone assumes you're a drunk," she said. "But it's not like I'm making meth or moonshine - it's beer."

Beer like a grapefruit "ryePA" - a name which plays on the common abbreviation IPA, for India Pale Ale - is Harmon's and her fiance's specialty brew.

Drinkwater and Harmon consider brewing beer - experimenting with flavors - to be similar to cooking.

"Making my own beer is the same as making my own pasta," he said. "It's another way to further enrich my life and the lives of people around me."

An art like cooking, it's also a science like engineering, said Brad Lovejoy, 35, of Brandon.

"It's kind of nerdy," he said.

Lovejoy, an engineer himself, will give a lecture on homebrewing for the second year at the Tops of the Hops festival coming to Jackson in late July.

Katherine Drinkwater, 26, wife and brewing partner of Woods Drinkwater, said another concern she's heard is that homebrewing might lead to more underage drinking.

She doesn't buy that claim. The cost of brewing supplies can be up to $100, she said. MR. BEER, a starter's kit sold at Bass Pro Shops, including the one in Pearl, costs $49.

Turnaround time is a deterrent, as well, she said. Homebrewers often wait months to sample their beer.

"I think anyone who is underage and wants to be drinking is going to find a way to do it in under an hour - not in two months," she said.

Concerned about his teenagers getting their hands on his product, Horne took a break from his hobby until the baby of the family turned 21.

Now, his son Henry, 26, who lives in Nashville, has become more engrossed in making beer than his dad.

Speaking about Mississippi's law, the younger Horne said: "I'm wishing they would kind of get with the times."
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TRENDHUNTER - Nov 22, 2012

For the beer connoisseur or the occasional drinker, the Molskine beer journal can help you keep tabs on your favorite brewed finds.

Each page is designed to encourage the drinker to write down some of their notes while trying a new libation. It’s the perfect way to help remember what you’re drinking and how you liked it before you get too tipsy to recall. The journal also features a glossary for quickly finding your notes, advice on how to perform the perfect pour, types of glasses to use and how to analyze a new brew. In addition, the Moleskine beer journal features handy tips for homebrewing your own beer with space to jot down recipes and addresses. When you’re using the Moleskine beer journal, be sure to write in your thoughts quickly before the brew begins to cloud your judgement.

Read more: TRENDHUNTER