Tap the Craft Podcast - Craft Beer Education · Denny Luce - Kris McKenzie - John Ream

Episode 285 - [LIVE] Southern Prohibition Brewing

·1 hr 40 min·5 clips

A hibiscus-pineapple-lime sour ale surprises the hosts with its balanced tartness and beach-ready refreshment.

This episode features hosts Denny Lewis and Chris McKenzie interviewing Bill Childress, production manager at Southern Prohibition Brewing in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The hosts taste and discuss three of the brewery's beers while exploring Bill's personal craft beer journey and the brewery's history. They sample the Susie B Blond Ale, a 5% ABV beer with wheat and citrus notes that has been brewed since the brewery opened in 2013. The second beer is Dogs Manipulating Thyme, a 5.4% ABV kettle sour ale brewed with hibiscus, pineapple, and lime. The hosts also receive Crowd Control, the brewery's flagship double IPA, though they do not taste it on air. Bill shares that his gateway into craft beer began around 2011 after moving to Louisiana, where he tried Abita Brewing's Amber and raspberry lager. His personal taste has shifted from IPAs to lagers, which he now prefers for their easy, refreshing quality after working in a hot climate. He recalls early IPA favorites like Stone, Harpoon, and Rogue's Yellow Snow. Bill mentions that Belgian beer styles, particularly doubles and saisons, are underappreciated in his view. He also expresses a fondness for White IPAs, a style he wishes would make a comeback. An interesting insight is that Crowd Control, the double IPA, constitutes close to half of the brewery's monthly production volume. The brewery operates a 20-barrel brew system and uses an 80-barrel fermenter primarily for this beer. Bill explains that Mississippi had restrictive alcohol laws, with a 5% ABV cap until around 2011-2012, which was raised to 10.1%. Until 2016, breweries could not sell beer on-site for direct consumption; customers had to pay for a tour and receive tokens for samples. The grassroots organization "Raise Your Pints" helped change the legislation to allow taproom sales. The conversation covers the practical challenges of brewing, such as the cost and difficulty of maintaining multiple yeast strains for styles like Belgian ales. Southern Prohibition uses a versatile house yeast for most beers and batches lagers sequentially to maximize a single yeast pitch. Bill's role as production manager involves everything from brewing and packaging to lab work for microbiological quality control and even facility maintenance. The episode has a conversational and educational tone, blending beer tasting with industry insights and personal anecdotes. Listeners interested in regional craft beer history, brewery operations, and accessible beer reviews would enjoy this episode. Those seeking highly technical brewing science or debates on industry trends might find it less engaging.

As heard by us

A relaxed Mississippi brewery stop with solid process detail and a light legal frame.

This episode gives Southern Prohibition Brewing a clean introduction as a first Mississippi beer stop. Denny and Chris keep Bill Childress at the center of his first podcast appearance, and the conversation stays grounded in the practical side of the brewery: the state change…

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Want a live brewery chat that teaches while it pours?

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