4 Mississippi Breweries And More To Go
On a recent trip to Mississippi Gulf Coast breweries, we saw several craft breweries and enjoyed some fantastic brews and food.
And we also enjoyed finding beautiful murals and exploring the area, and we spent some time at one of the many casinos gambling away while waiting for breweries to open.
It was a great trip that extended to other parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.
But we’ll talk about that in another post.
Craft Advisory
1314 Government Street / Ocean Springs, MS
We went to Craft Advisory Brewing in Ocean Springs on a busy Saturday morning.
It’s busy in this section of town. Golf cart and pedestrian traffic were heavy as families moved through town. And after a search for parking, it was soon clear why everyone was walking, riding motorcycles or golf carts.
The bright shrimp-colored building was easy to spot, and we considered sitting on the patio, but temperatures were unseasonably hot for this time of year, so a seat at the bar was the best option.
Like many craft breweries across the U.S., this husband and wife team started as homebrewers and expanded their operations.
Beers on Tap
Their flagship beers include Hoppy McHop Face, a New England-style IPA known for its tropical fruit and citrus flavors.
Other beers include a Pelagic Sour Series of ales mixed with a choice of fruit puree. That’s the traditional way German brewers offer Berliner Weisse beers to create a sweet-tart flavor.
The East Beach Light Lager is an easy-drinking beer perfect on a hot summer day.
Other beers include Ocean Springs-Ling, a Vienna lager made with toasted malts for an amber color. And finally, Yep! Irish Stout is the first beer they created and is still brewing today.
Then we sampled a pineapple habanero IPA (6.7% ABV) with a delicious flavor, but the heat was too much for our delicate palette.
We selected Amber Alert (5.2% ABV), an easy-drinking ale that paired well with the steaming hot beignets we’d ordered off the menu from Parrain’s Jambalaya Kitchen – the food option at the brewery.
Beers and Beignets
The beer fridge was stocked, so we picked up a four-pack with an Ocean Springs Ling, Ambert Alert, and two Creamsicle cream ales.
We had excellent service, a knowledgeable bartender, great food and beer, and an invitation to tour the brewery process the next time we’re in town.
Lost Spring Brewing
700 Bellande Ave. / Ocean Springs, MS
Our next stop was to nearby Lost Spring Brewing Company.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Ocean Springs is a busy place to be on a Saturday. Traffic was heavy and the downtown was full of pedestrians, more golf carts, more motorcycles, and more cars like ours with people leisurely getting to where they were going.
Music played from several local dining spots and outdoor bars.
Even though we knew the brewery was nearby, it took a few minutes of circling the block to realize the brewery was off the main road in a somewhat hidden section from non-locals like us.
A tea party or bridal shower was taking place at the nearby church. Chris Stapleton sound-alike performers played to a crowded courtyard, and the smell of freshly boiled crawfish filled the air.
A large, colorful mural on an ivy-covered wall caught our attention, and then we found our destination. Lost Spring shares its space with Neon Moon, a club that opens to a more lively crowd later in the day.
Small Batch
Lost Spring Brewing creates small batches of beer. We sampled a Chantilly Lace Lemon Meringue (ABV 5.5%) sour, and a pint of 1699 (ABV 5.5%) pale ale. The lemon meringue was tart and not too sweet.
Other beers on tap included Hippie Flip (ABV 6.7%) white IPA, Rye or Dye (ABV 7.1%) rye IPA, and Porter Porter (ABV 5.5%). Also, they brew Ginga (5.25%), Your Dad’s (4.75%) Brown Ale, and Not Your Dad’s (4.75%) nitro brown ale.
Lost Spring’s extensive cocktail menu seemed popular with the crowd sitting at the bar indoors. The beer drinkers headed to the deck’s high tops and comfy lounge seats to watch college basketball and listen to the music from another bar nearby.
All in all, Lost Spring is an excellent place to spend time. The bartender was friendly. The location was in the heart of all the downtown action. And even though they don’t offer many beers, the beers we tried were good.
Fort Bayou Brewing
6616 Rose Farm Road / Ocean Springs, MS
After a few turns around the area, we found The Cypress Taphouse and saw the sign for Fort Bayou Brewing at the exact location.
Diners filled the tables, so we sat at the bar. With only three Fort Bayou beers on the menu, we ordered a Blueberry Wisenheimer Hefeweizen (ABV 5.1%). We quickly learned that the beer had unfortunately lost its carbonation and had been pulled off the tap.
A Vienna lager (5.8%) was the second choice, and we happily tasted blueberry on the first sip. The bartender said the lager was on the tap where the blueberry had been. Next time in Ocean Springs, Blueberry Wisenheimer is what we’re heading for.
Other Beers on Tap
Fort Bayou also offers a Rock ‘n Roll Graveyard, an ABV 5.5% stout.
Beyond the three For Bayou brews on the menu, Chandeleur Island Brewing, Parish Brewing Company, Southern Prohibition, and beers from Louisiana, Colorado, California, and Pennsylvania are available.
It was time to eat, so we ordered a shrimp basket with fries. The food was delicious, and others at the bar raved about the pasta, fish dishes, and specials.
Fly Llama Brewing
186 Bohn Street / Biloxi, MS
When we arrived at Fly Llama Brewing, it was late evening, and the parking lot and taproom were overflowing with people.
A food truck was selling food, and the crowd was getting progressively louder as the party atmosphere grew.
The brewery is near the water in what appeared to be an otherwise quiet residential area. Some people were packing up tents and goods. Others were moving street barricades and garbage. A street festival or other event may have occurred earlier in the day.
We wonder if the brewery is always this busy on a Saturday night and then learn that this popular location is open later than the many other entertainment spots in the area.
Fly Llama is a fun place to spend time. It’s the newest craft brewery on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but it has quickly made a name and attracted a following of loyal Llama followers.
The brewer makes craft beers and hard seltzers from locally-sourced ingredients, and it celebrates traditional techniques and southern flavors.
“When glasses raise, llamas fly,” or so the Fly Llama’s motto goes. And fly llamas are all over the taproom, from llama portraits to llamas with flying scarves on the beer can labels.
The beer menu includes crushable lagers, tropical India pale ales, a seltzer series, along with English porters, a black and red, a black lager, a Belgian Wit, and some barrel-aged brews, in addition to many others.
On the way out, we picked up a mixed four-pack of cheesecake fruited sours that feature a cartoon label of the four TV series Golden Girls sitting with a llama eating cheesecake. This mix pack of beers is called Thank You For Being A Friend (TYFBAF).
Around the Coast
While visiting the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we did more than brewery visits. We spent time in the quaint downtown areas, walked along the waterfront, explored surrounding areas, and spent a few hours at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino playing slots and watching college basketball.
Our trip included additional brewery visits in other parts of Mississippi and Louisiana, including New Orleans.
Stay tuned, and cheers!
Are you interested in coastal Alabama breweries? We’ve got you covered.