MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Ways and Means

By: Representative Ford

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 67-3-11 AND 97-31-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW THE HOME BREWING OF BEER; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.  

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 67-3-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

67-3-11. Every person shall have the right to make homemade wine or beer for domestic or household uses only, free of all restraint by this chapter or otherwise. The making or brewing of beer under this section shall be limited to two hundred (200) gallons of beer per person aged twenty-one (21) years or more in each household per year. No such election as provided for in Sections 67-3-7, 67-3-9 and 67-3-13 shall deprive any person of the right to make homemade wine or beer for domestic or household uses only.

SECTION 2. Section 97-31-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

97-31-21. (1) Except as otherwise provided herein, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to manufacture, or distill any vinous, malt, spirituous, or intoxicating liquor or drink which if drunk to excess will produce intoxication. * * * This statute shall not prohibit citizens of this state from making wine from grapes or berries grown in this state or from brewing beer, at their respective homes and using and consuming the same in the home where made, by the family residing therein and dispensing same to guests within said home. The making or brewing of beer under this section shall be limited to two hundred (200) gallons of beer per person, aged twenty-one (21 years or more, in each household per year. Any person convicted of violating this section shall be guilty of a felony and on conviction thereof shall serve a term in the State Penitentiary of not less than one (1) year, nor more than three (3) years for the first offense under this section, and for the second or any subsequent conviction under this section such person shall serve a term of not less than five (5) years, nor more than ten (10) years in the State Penitentiary.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.