Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Yes, it’s true. LA through MS to AL just because. And a car full of clowns, are we. Davo, who by the way is going by ‘David LeBoud’ (drawl and all) while we’re here in the south for fairly obvious reasons if you know the little Cuban, is painfully alt-Creedence singing ‘down on the bayou’ even though I keep telling him 'those aren’t the words'. And Phil is bitching because I want to play nothing but Beatles all day (as today is the 55th anniversary of their first Ed Sullivan appearance) and he wants to hear exactly no Beatles as he feels they’re over rated. You read me right. He feels the Beatles are over rated. The Beatles. Over rated. The Beatles. THE Beatles. The day is young yet, but our arrival couldn’t have come soon enough. Looking for our first stop along the way and what surprises will be; a standalone brewery treading a school zone out near an airport…

Enter in through the seating space, a big open room with nearly a dozen mix & match tables of all sizes, shapes, materials, & heights. Some spool tables, some steel, some wood, and they’re decorated with jars holding flowers, Mardi Gras beads, & feathery things. Concrete floorings and a corrugated ceiling with strung white lighting along the rafters. Partial wall of windows up front and a Magnolia mural’d wall alongside, and tall folding windows to the rear offering brew room views. My notes read ‘Barrel staves along the perimeter’ but I’m wondering now what I meant by that. Light décor, large wreaths here, double pallet fence piece there, framed windows to nowhere, a mounted flat screen, prints, paintings, pics, & press pieces.

And step in to the next room and grab a beer(s). Long wheeled ‘logo’ bar piece on the far wall. The barback wall holds 14 logo’d handles on stainless, plus 6 more alongside, and 5 more unlabeled. Flatscreen above lists tap selections; ABV, IBU, serving size, & cost. Ceramic mug club mugs racked alongside, framed panel window pieces, medals displayed, & event posters. A magnolia painting, a logo tin, a bottle pricing board, and a framed brewery pic. Swag wall up front; shirts, the very cool 6oz ‘moonshine jar’ glasses we’re sampling from, plus ceramic pottery & slab branch coasters. And bottled beer & can shelving in the rear corner; 6 packs, 12/19 cans, & 750’s of honey wine (most dengerous!)

A dozen beers up just now, the list broken out into 3 categories. ‘Front porch brews’; easy drinking lower ABV beers (Southern Pecan, Nut Brown Ale, 4.5%; Sweet Potato Stout, Milk Stout, 4.5%; Southern Hops’pitality IPA, Session IPA, 5.5%; Reb Ale, American Pale Wheat Ale, 5.2%; Lazy Margarita, Margarita malt beverage, 5%; Cherry Pickin, Cherry Limeade malt beverage, 5%), ‘Back porch brews’; unique & flavorful higher ABV beers (Timber Beast, Rye Double IPA, 9%; Me & the Dev-Ale, American Strong Ale, 8%; Belgian IPA, 6%; Jeez Louise, Hatch Chili IPA, 5.5%), and ‘Debutante brews’; special & rare offerings (10, Belgian Quad, 10%; Extra Haze On, New England IPA, 6.8%).

Did a sampler and a few more. Southern Pecan, their flagship, a lovely nut brown; Sweet Potato Stout, smooth & roasty, I did dig; Cherry Pickin, just a pleasant easy sweety; Extra Haze On, a solid New England IPA; 10, just all Belgian candy sugar (in a good way), and Lazy Margarita, it’s just that. Southern Pecan, Sweet Potato Stout, Cherry Pickin, & Extra Haze On were my faves.

That corner staircase there (me, pointing) leads to an upstairs space overlooking the brewery with a pool table, stage for live music, and a small bar. And a visit to the bathroom includes a brewery tour (‘cause that’s where the bathrooms be) and a lesson in aviation (there is a large model plane hanging from the ceiling). Fun fact: Brett Favre went to high school here. Not here at the brewery, but at Hancock High School over yonder. It’s chill and comfortable here. Beers are pleasant, the folks are friendly, and the tunes are a good mix of 60’s & 70’s. Lazy Magnolia is the oldest brewery in Mississippi, I did not know that. It was a good first stop along the way to Alabama. And remember, what happens on the porch, stays on the porch.

 

Out of the way industrial location by an airport. Enter it and you are in a well appointed tasting room that just feels comfortable. Knowledgeable staff. Nice quantity of drafts.

Very nice southern feel to the place. We were welcomed by one of the owner's parents picking wild flowers outside to put in vases on the tables in the brewery. The place felt like family. We arrived before noon on a weekday, and we were welcomed and appreciated as guests.
Beers were decent. Service was solid. A place I would enjoy to visit if I was a local.

The vibe definitely has a southern feel to it. We were greeted by the owners parents when we got there. Incredibly nice people! The service at the bar was solid. The selection was good but the beers them self weren't super impressive. I probably don't need to rush back to Lazy Magnolia but if I lived in the area I would probably be there pretty often.