Gameday Beers of the Week: Ole Miss
Alright, I was wrong. You can’t skip a beer column just because you think a game isn’t worth drinking over. I really thought last week was a great opportunity for doing physical activities during the game — bike riding, hiking, gardening — and just catching the Kenyon Drake & Derrick Henry highlights later. I figured the most difficult part of last week for the Tide was going to be Scott Cochran trying to yell-pronounce Murfreesboro correctly while suggesting to the Tide during warmups the location in which they were to send the Blue Raiders packing.
Instead there was much cause for stress drinking (I should have heeded the signs; after all, Murfreesboro is one of the most “I’m drunj” sounding city names in the South) and I failed to provide you with adequate beer recommendations for such an event.
No such errors of overconfidence or aspirations of outdoor activities will happen this week. This is SEC play, and this is an Ole Miss team which has scored far more than double the alcohol by volume of a bottle of Fireball in each of its first two games. 70 points ain’t being put up on the Tide this week, but Jake Coker getting brutalized by Bob Nkemidiche stands a far more reasonable chance. For that, we need beer.
Six-pack beer of the week: Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan
Mississippi is a beer wasteland. It has arguably the most hostile state legislature towards the brewing industry in the nation. Things have slowly gotten better in recent years, but the number of breweries is unequivocally tiny, even compared to late-to-the-game Alabama (which, if you’re reading this then you know, had its own successful battle against its state legislature re: beer restrictions). Because of this, my recommendations this week will be weighed heavily in favor of Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company, because they are the one MS brewery that anyone has actually heard of.
Southern Pecan is their take on a light, sessionable brown ale, brewed with whole roasted pecans. It’s got a Maris Otter malt base (in proper English fashion) so it holds up as a toasty, kinda sweet guzzler. But the pecans give a faintly bitter, earthy, and yes, nutty flavor that keeps things interesting. It’s maybe more “interesting” than “good” (I find the pecan flavor to come across more like nut shells than nut meat), but its light & crushable & compliments bar food and/or grill grub, and Bear serves it on-tap at The Downtown Pub and everything at the Pub is drinkable in mass quantities. Let this be your go-to this weekend.
Celebration beer of the week: Lazy Magnolia Song of the South
Because of course you’d celebrate a victory over those “Dixie” singing tailgate fiends from Oxford with a beer named after the most racist Disney film. Song of the South is in the Berliner Weisse style: think tart wheat beer with crackling carbonation. Not a puckering sort of tart; more like a gentler, lemonade or even Greek yogurt tang. Napoleon was understood to have been a big fan of Berliner Weissebier, dubbing it “the Champagne of the North” after conquering the German city for which the beer is named. So forget the Brut & save the bourbon for a more solemn contemplation of Alabama’s revenge against the Rebel Black Bear Fighting Faulkners. Pop this Champagnish beer instead.
Grandpa beer of the week: Old Grand Dad
This is not a cheap lager. Like most Southern states, Mississippi has always been content to drink the cheap lagers brewed by the rust belt cities from the colonizing Yankees up yonder. The state is awash with Bud Light and Budweiser cans/bottles/Nalgenes/flasks/buffalo skins/cups/faucets. So let’s turn to that most grandpa of bourbons, so grandpa that its name is a grandpa: Old Grand Dad. This bourbon isn’t distilled in Mississippi, but Ole Miss fans rely on out-of-state whiskey like the town of Oxford relies on out-of-state talent to teach in its university. You don’t get one without the other. Old Grand Dad is purchasable by the bathtub & is A Good Bourbon, as most bourbons are.
Mississippi beer to avoid at all costs: Mississippi Mud Black & Tan
This is the “Rammer Jammer” lager (which is brewed in Wisconsin, not Alabama. Stop buying that beer. I didn’t mention it during Wisconsin week for a reason) of the Magnolia State. It’s brewed in Ithaca, NY & tries to sell you on some idea of southern authenticity by packaging the beer in what looks like a moonshine jug you can find on etsy. What’s inside the dumb bottle is a typical black & tan blend of shit porter & shit pilsner. If you want a black & tan this week just drink Yuengling’s version. Have you ever been to central PA? I have, and I’ve seen parts of Mississippi that are more liberal.
