By Todd Parkman

Since the repeal of the 18th amendment, the federal government has allowed each individual state to construct their own alcohol laws. This was the easy way out for politicians and created an esoteric, irrational precedent that has given this country the biggest patchwork quagmire of alcohol laws in the world.

Yet, forty-nine other states in this country have modernized their laws to an extent that allows a free market and gives you, as an adult, the option to have whatever beer you might want. As you might have guessed, Mississippi is the last state to undertake such a proposition.

Whether you know it or not, Mississippi considers any beer containing more than five percent alcohol by weight to be illegal. This prohibits entire styles of beer. Barleywines, Belgian dubbels and triples, Double IPA’s, and Imperial stouts to name a few, are all illegal in Mississippi.

As of 2009, Mississippi, along with Alabama and West Virginia, were the last three states to still have this prohibition era law on the books. Alabama and West Virginia changed their laws in 2009 to allow for craft and gourmet beer above the ridiculous five percent by weight cap. One might think that if Alabama and West Virginia, those stalwarts of progressive thinking, could get their law changed, Mississippi would surely follow suit.

We did not.

Raise Your Pints, (www.raiseyourpints.com) a non-profit, grass-roots organization, has for the last three years, attempted to get this law changed in Mississippi. Along the way, the group has garnered the support of nearly three thousand Mississippians, local business owners, the Mississippi Malt Beverage Association, distributors, and breweries, including our own Lazy Magnolia. What they have not been able to do is convince certain members of our legislature that this is simply one more piece in the puzzle to bring Mississippi into the 21st century.

It’s always been a mystery as to why beer is unfairly singled out in our state. You can’t buy a beer brewed by a Belgian monk that happens to be eight percent alcohol by weight, but there’s no limit to the amount of 190 proof, pure grain alcohol that you can buy.

Mississippi is missing out on an entirely new revenue stream for no other reason than certain legislators still think and act as if it’s 1950. The beers that would be allowed if this law was changed, are expensive, gourmet products. Joe Sixpack isn’t your demographic for these beers.

Craft brewing has exploded in this country over the last twenty-five years. And while the big boys (Miller/Coors/Anheuser Busch-Inbev) have all seen their market share stagnate, craft beer market share grows every year. According to the Brewers Association, as of July 31, 2009, there were 1,525 breweries in the United States, the highest number in more than 100 years. Simply put, we’re missing out. Beer Advocate, recognized by beer geeks everywhere as the authority on all things beer, has a Top 100 beers list. At last count, 86 of the 100 were illegal in Mississippi. Some of these beers sell for as much as $18 per 750ml bottle. In these times of economic shortfall, shouldn’t we be exploring every available revenue option? Shouldn’t the beer drinkers in Mississippi be able to spend their money in Mississippi instead of driving to Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee to buy these beers? And make no mistake; they do drive out of state to buy them.

This argument is about more than beer and revenue, however. This is about choice. Why are you, as a Mississippian, denied the same products that every other person in this country has access to? Even if you’re not a beer drinker, surely you can understand the dilemma here. Our local government is telling us that we’re not responsible enough to make our own decisions. The state of Mississippi is telling you what beer you can drink. While that probably won’t elicit any real response from the folks that never venture outside of the mass produced, light lager category, we want you to see the bigger picture here: Your local government is telling you that you can’t have it. They don’t want you to have the facts. They will tell you their constituents won’t stand for it. They will tell you they have moral reservations about changing the law. They will tell you the beer we have now is good enough. But, the facts are, every possible argument your legislator makes as to why they’re against this law change has been addressed in forty-nine other states and they’ve not seen any decline in the quality of life in their community.

I have no qualms with anyone who truly opposes alcohol on a moral basis. I’m not asking anyone to drink a craft beer, or any beer for that matter. However, I would like for you to afford me the same courtesy and allow me to make that decision for myself. What you need to tell your legislator is that as a Mississippian and an American citizen, you should have the right to decide for yourself. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.” Sadly, as American citizens, we’ve become accustomed to our politicians not giving us the facts. And as Mississippians, we can’t even get the beer.

About the Author
Todd Parkman is 41 years old, born and raised in Jackson and currently lives in Fondren with his wife, Katie. He is a 1992 graduate of Mississippi College with a degree in Mass Communication and a minor in English and currently works for the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. Parkman is a founding member of the grass-roots, non-profit group Raise Your Pints Mississippi. His hobbies generally consist of traveling the world with his wife enjoying the beer culture that so many places actually offer and appreciate. To date, some of the major cities the couple has visited are Dublin, Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, Budapest, Seattle, and Portland. When not traveling, Parkman can usually be found at the end of the bar with Hal White solving the problems of the world.