Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company

Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company is Mississippi's oldest packaging brewery since Prohibition. Mark and Leslie Henderson founded it in 2003 in the small town of Kiln, and the name tells you exactly where the beer comes from—the first batches were brewed in the backyard, under the shade of magnolia trees. By 2004 they had a proper facility, and by March 2005, kegs were hitting bars across the Gulf Coast.

Leslie Henderson went through the American Brewers Guild Brewing School and apprenticed at Crescent City Brewhouse in New Orleans before bringing those skills home to Mississippi, a state that at the time had virtually no craft beer culture to speak of. The Hendersons didn't just build a brewery—they built an entire market. Then Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home in September 2005, just months after those first kegs shipped. The brewery was back running by October. That kind of stubbornness tells you everything you need to know.

Their flagship Southern Pecan Brown Ale put the brewery on the national map—a beer that's distinctly Southern and genuinely interesting. Roasted pecan flavor woven through a rich malt base, and it never tips into novelty territory. Since then, they've developed more than 90 beer styles: traditional ales and lagers, experimental small batches, things that keep taproom regulars coming back to see what's new.

Today the brewery operates under co-owners Ryan Bowen and Jason Anderson, with the same commitment to independent, locally-rooted brewing that the Hendersons established. The taproom in Kiln serves as both a gathering place and a testament to what a small-town brewery can accomplish when the people behind it refuse to give up—even when a category-five hurricane tries to shut them down.

Products

• Southern Pecan Brown Ale (flagship)
• Rotating seasonal and limited releases
• Taproom-exclusive small batch beers
• Over 90 beer styles developed since founding

Why We List Them

• Independently owned, no corporate parent
• Mississippi's first packaging brewery since Prohibition
• Survived Hurricane Katrina within months of opening
• Founders built Mississippi's craft beer culture from scratch
• Over 90 beer styles, driven by creativity and experimentation
• Local community gathering place in Kiln, MS