Kenny Mann is taking a hop of faith. Well make that hops of faith.
Mann, his wife Carrie and Josh “Hurricane” Ishee, who will oversee research and development, are opening what is believed to be the city’s first “legal” brewery with the creation of Slowboat Brewing Co. The brewery will be located at the corner of 5th and N. Magnolia streets in what was once WAML radio station.
Opening a brewery has been a dream, Mann said.
“Looking from the outside in, most would think a brewery would never work in Laurel. I know that, but I disagree,” Mann said. “First off, a brewery can work anywhere, and they should be everywhere. Breweries have proven time and time again to be outstanding stimulants to small-town culture, landscape and economy. I honestly believe that Laurel is going to really surprise a lot of people, though.
“I’ve seen it in the multiple Laurel Craft Beer Club events and charity fundraisers I’ve hosted in town over the last couple of years. The craft beer community here comprises some of the most passionate, caring and driven people you could ever hope to meet. We are thrilled to have the chance to operate a brewery here. For Slowboat, Laurel was the only choice.”
The company’s logo pays homage to another of the Manns’ passions — music. The back of the logo is shaped like a vinyl record. The company slogan is “Rock the Boat” and Mann hopes that the spirit of adventure will grip the local drinking community. “We hope to encourage the people of Mississippi to be adventurous, to take risks, to make a change, to ‘rock the boat’ (especially when it comes to their beer choices),” Mann said.
Slowboat will produce beer on a five-barrel system to start and hopes to brew no less than 700 barrels in its first year. One barrel of beer is equal to about 31 gallons. Most commercial kegs are commonly known as “half-barrels” and hold 15.5 gallons. Mann also unveiled a few of the selections he plans to bring to the City Beautiful. All of Slowboat’s beers will be unfiltered and unpasteurized. Mann said he plans to produce year-round the 33 1/3 series for keg service, he said. Those include:
• Dairy of a Madman – Milk stout, brewed with cocoa and vanilla bean (5.6%)
• Black Aria – Cascadian Dark Ale, dry hopped (6.7%)
• Into the Mystic – Belgian Witbier, brewed with hibiscus, orange peel, honey, and spices (5.7%)
A second offering will be known as the 45 series in limited releases. Those are:
• Houseboat in Heaven – Saison/Farmhouse Ale brewed with fresh peaches, honey, and spices (9.2%)
• Berry of a Madman – Milk Stout, brewed with fresh strawberry, cocoa, and vanilla bean (neapolitan milk stout) (5.6%)
Slowboat plans to distribute to local bars and restaurants, at first, then, depending on a push for a law change, could sell the beer straight from the brewery.
Commercial breweries, as current law state law stands, can offer samples to accompany tours, but cannot sell beer from their brewery. Brewers argue that they could make more money selling specialty, small-batch beers.
When Slowboat opens, which Mann will not predict and said they are taking their time and doing it right, it will become the state’s 11th brewery — all of them coming since the turn of the century. Lazy Magnolia from Kiln became the state’s first commercial brewery in 2003. The latest, Chandeleur Brewing Co. from the Gulf Coast, had its launch party earlier this month.
Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee said he and the City Council welcomed the new business to downtown. One of Magee’s focuses was to revitalize and return people to downtown Laurel, and this brewery — plus a proposed butcher shop — will help that.
“It’s business for Laurel and we welcome it,” Magee said. “People drink beer, whether they like to admit it or not. But I think it’s going to be good for the city. It’s going to be a great addition to the city.
“A Laurel-brewed beer? What could be better than that?”
Mann said he will begin a Kickstarter campaign soon to help defray costs for equipment and building upgrades. Currently, the building needs repairs, but Mann doesn’t see dust and broken windows, he sees opportunity.
“I feel like Slowboat was meant to be housed here,” Mann said. “I’ve had a bit of an obsession with this location my entire life. As my mother would visit the post office, I would think about how unique and beautiful this building was. Even as a very young child, I dreamed of opening a business there one day. I’ve often wondered why no one else ever did.”
Mann’s partner Carrie’s grandfather was Herb Knotts, a well-known radio personality known as Mel Morris on the WAML AM station in its heyday.
Mann and local barber Jeremy Williams were the driving force in 2013 in the creation of the Laurel Craft Beer Club. As beer laws began changing around Mississippi, Mann saw that Laurel was lagging. The club, and an offshoot homebrew club known as the Free State Brewers League, will be instrumental in the future of Slowboat, Mann said.
But the idea of a brewery in Laurel was a slow time coming.
In 1918, a Constitutional amendment that would ban the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States and its possessions was waiting for states to ratify that amendment. Mississippi became first to sign on, voting Jan. 8, 1918 to pass Prohibition.
States followed suit in 1920 and for the next 12 years and a few days, the country went legally dry when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, the only amendment to be repealed. It did allow states to make their own laws regarding alcohol.
As revelers rang in the end of Prohibition, Mississippi did not join in the party. No, not for 33 years, when, in 1966, the state ended its prohibition on alcohol. However, many counties remained dry. More than 20 counties in Mississippi remain dry, but in many of those, cities have declared themselves wet. In Jones County, for instance, beer is available in Laurel and Ellisville, but anywhere in the county it is illegal to possess.
After the law’s change, the state still found itself far from a beer mecca. Into the late 1990s and 2000s, if a patron wanted a craft beer in Mississippi, it took a long, hard look to find
it. A few of the craft brews that survived the first national revolution in the 1980s, such as Sierra Nevada and Samuel Adams, could be procured in this state, but not much else other than a handful of European beers.
The biggest change, though, came in 2012 with the passage of a craft beer bill that upped the allowable alcohol by volume from 6.2 percent to 10.8 percent. With many speciality beers exceeding the 6.2 percent limit, Mississippi began realizing the craft beer revolution.
The next year, a home brewing bill passed the state Legislature, making it legal to brew up to 100 gallons a year for personal consumption, but not for sale. Homebrewers who had mastered their craft in driveways and garages gravitated to brewing professionally.
“When the signature hit the paper on both laws it was a sense of relief and accomplishment and great feeling of anticipation for what we knew was about to come to Mississippi,” said Craig Hendry, president of Raise Your Pints Mississippi, the group most responsible for getting the beer laws changed in the state.”
Currently there are more than 3,000 breweries in the United States, by far the most in the history of the country. More than 4,500 brewers licenses have been applied for. In 2010, there were 2,403 breweries, according to the Brewers Association. That was the highest number since be- fore 1890 when there were 2,000 breweries.
In the years after Prohibition, the brewery count topped out at 703 before falling to fewer than 100 in the mid-1970s, according to the Brewers Association.
Only one brewery, Lazy Magnolia, was brewing commercially before the law changes in Mississippi. Lucky Town, which recently opened its brewery in downtown Jackson, was a fixture at homebrew competitions and festivals. Those two are joined by Hattiesburg’s Southern Prohibition, which began as the brew pub beer at Keg and Barrel restaurant. On the Coast, Crooked Letter, Mississippi Brewing Co., Chandeleur and Biloxi Brewing are all in operation. Other breweries in the state are in Natchez, Water Valley and Oxford.
Mann has been brewing for about two years and has already bought much of the equipment he will use to get rolling.
Slowboat has a Facebook page and its beer will be featured for the first time at the March 28 Ales for Tails fundraiser at Jitters Coffeehouse. There is a Facebook page for that event as well.
“The sky is the limit,” Mann said. “I think Laurel has a lot to offer the Mississippi beer culture, and I think Mississippi has a lot to offer the beer culture of the country. Great strides have been made thanks to organizations such as Raise your Pints, but we are just now scratching the surface for what’s possible.
“We have a very unique opportunity to grow our beer culture from the ground up. I can tell you for certain that there are some very amazing people working toward some very amazing things right now. The stove is hot and Mississippi is hungry.”