Raise Your Pints (RYP) is a grassroots, non-profit organization whose mission is to help bring the highest quality beers in the world to Mississippi. We are motivated by a desire to have the same variety of choice when purchasing beer that Mississippi citizens already enjoy when purchasing wine.
Our vision is a Mississippi with a world class beer culture. Our mission; to promote and enhance craft beer culture in Mississippi by working to lift the ban on high gravity beer; clarify the status of homebrewing as a legal, fun, and wholesome hobby; promote Mississippi’s beer, brewpub, and brewing industries and small businesses; and work to broaden the appreciation of craft beer for all Mississippians.
Help us lift the cap!
Mississippi is one of only three states in the country that limits alcohol by weight (ABW) for beer to only 5%.
As statewide Prohibition came to an end in Mississippi, the only politically viable avenue open to those who wanted the sale of alcohol to once again be legal in the state was to place heavy restrictions on that sale. What, when, where, and how alcohol could be sold were all strictly controlled by the legislation which legalized alcohol sales in Mississippi — 33 years after National Prohibition was repealed.
Many states placed similar restrictions on alcohol immediately after Prohibition was repealed. Yet while the rest of the country has progressed beyond the attitude of Prohibition, Mississippi retains artificial and antiquated limits on the sale of beer. This limits consumer choice, stifles the state's beer, retail and restaurant businesses, and limits state tax revenue as thousands of Mississippians purchase their specialty beer in neighboring states.
Let's join the rest of the country and lift the ABW cap.
The ABW Limit
The 5% ABW limit excludes approximately 1/3 of the world's beer styles, some of them the finest, highest quality beverages on earth. Entire styles of specialty beers fall above this limitation, such as barleywine, a strong ale with a typical ABW between 8-13%. Barleywines are elegant and expensive, sometimes cellared and aged for years like a fine Cabernet. Another elite group of beers, those brewed by Trappist Monks in Belgium (considered by many to be the greatest beer in the world) is comprised almost entirely of beers above 5% ABW. These “Dubbels” and “Trippels” are currently illegal in Mississippi.
