Homebrewing Becomes Legal in All 50 US States

On July 1, 2013, a Mississippi law permitting adults to make beer at home for personal, family, domestic, or household use took effect. Mississippi was the final state in which a statewide prohibition still prevented legal homebrewing. Its change followed Alabama, where a homebrewing law had taken effect on May 9, 2013. The milestone completed a state-by-state process that had continued long after the federal homebrewing exemption took effect in 1979. Federal law removed the federal excise-tax barrier within specified production limits, but individual states retained authority over alcohol regulation. By July 2013, every state had enacted some form of legal homebrewing, although production limits, transportation rules, local restrictions, and permitted uses continued to vary between jurisdictions.