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The History of Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company
Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company is the brain-child of Mark and
Leslie Henderson. Born and raised in Mississippi, the couple met in
college and moved to the Gulf Coast in 2000 to pursue careers in
engineering. The first steps toward the founding of Lazy Magnolia
happened one Christmas when Leslie bought mark a homebrew kit
because she couldn't think of anything else to get him! Mark reflects
that this was very similar to the time his little sister bought him a
Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas—she really didn't buy it for him.
Mark only got to brew one batch of beer before Leslie took over the
brewing operations leaving Mark to design new equipment, tools,
and gadgets to make the brewing process go smoother. It didn’t take
long for this hobby to take over the house and all of their free time.
“We were brewing twice every weekend, and we were giving away
almost everything that we brewed to friends,” laments Leslie. The
house was completely taken over with 5-gallon glass jugs, copper
heat exchangers, and bubbling buckets of beer as they explored
dozens of variations on their own special recipes.
Friends and family were so impressed with the homemade creations
that they encouraged the couple to go pro. Many even offered to
invest in such a venture. At this point Mark and Leslie started doing
some serious research to answer some basic questions about the
legal status of breweries in Mississippi and the potential market for
specialty beer in the state. Much to their surprise, all answers came
back positive. The time seemed to be ripe for Mississippi to join the
rest of the nation in the craft beer revolution.
Leslie entered the American Brewers Guild Brewing School in July
2003 and followed this up with an apprenticeship at Crescent City
Brewhouse in the spring of 2004. During this time, Mark was hard
at work developing a business plan, performing market research,
designing logos, securing financing, and searching for just the right
location for the company. Leslie worked on recipe development and
searched the nation for high quality brewing equipment to scale up
the recipes from 5-gallons to 500-gallons per batch.
The schedule progressed rapidly after Leslie’s internship. A building
was secured in September 2004; the brewing equipment was
delivered in October and fully set-up by December. The dream
became a reality in January 2005, when the first batch of beer was
brewed on the Lazy Magnolia system. The first kegs of beer hit the
market on the Gulf Coast in March 2005. Hurricane Katrina briefly
shut down operations and destroyed the couple’s home, but beer
was flowing again by October.
As of June 2006, Lazy Magnolia was distributing beers throughout
Mississippi.
Leslie Henderson. Born and raised in Mississippi, the couple met in
college and moved to the Gulf Coast in 2000 to pursue careers in
engineering. The first steps toward the founding of Lazy Magnolia
happened one Christmas when Leslie bought mark a homebrew kit
because she couldn't think of anything else to get him! Mark reflects
that this was very similar to the time his little sister bought him a
Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas—she really didn't buy it for him.
Mark only got to brew one batch of beer before Leslie took over the
brewing operations leaving Mark to design new equipment, tools,
and gadgets to make the brewing process go smoother. It didn’t take
long for this hobby to take over the house and all of their free time.
“We were brewing twice every weekend, and we were giving away
almost everything that we brewed to friends,” laments Leslie. The
house was completely taken over with 5-gallon glass jugs, copper
heat exchangers, and bubbling buckets of beer as they explored
dozens of variations on their own special recipes.
Friends and family were so impressed with the homemade creations
that they encouraged the couple to go pro. Many even offered to
invest in such a venture. At this point Mark and Leslie started doing
some serious research to answer some basic questions about the
legal status of breweries in Mississippi and the potential market for
specialty beer in the state. Much to their surprise, all answers came
back positive. The time seemed to be ripe for Mississippi to join the
rest of the nation in the craft beer revolution.
Leslie entered the American Brewers Guild Brewing School in July
2003 and followed this up with an apprenticeship at Crescent City
Brewhouse in the spring of 2004. During this time, Mark was hard
at work developing a business plan, performing market research,
designing logos, securing financing, and searching for just the right
location for the company. Leslie worked on recipe development and
searched the nation for high quality brewing equipment to scale up
the recipes from 5-gallons to 500-gallons per batch.
The schedule progressed rapidly after Leslie’s internship. A building
was secured in September 2004; the brewing equipment was
delivered in October and fully set-up by December. The dream
became a reality in January 2005, when the first batch of beer was
brewed on the Lazy Magnolia system. The first kegs of beer hit the
market on the Gulf Coast in March 2005. Hurricane Katrina briefly
shut down operations and destroyed the couple’s home, but beer
was flowing again by October.
As of June 2006, Lazy Magnolia was distributing beers throughout
Mississippi.
| We don't tell people what to like, we just give them great choices! |
