*Note: I apologize for the delayed nature of this posting but Crooked Letter had some pretty exciting news to share and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Due to the recent ice storms, the official launch event was delayed by a couple weeks. Read more below.*
After our short deviation from I-10 visiting Southern Prohibition in Hattiesburg, we jumped back on the road and headed down south towards the Gulf Coast. Ocean Springs, MS is just a couple miles east of Biloxi and has served as home to Crooked Letter Brewing Company (get it? M-I-crooked letter-crook…oh nevermind, apparently some people didn’t get taught to spell that way) since it was opened in November 2012 by Paul and Wanda Blacksmith, who were turned onto homebrewing by their longtime friend, John Meyers. John and Paul have been best friends since they met as kids skateboarding the MS coast and the brewery’s name pays homage a band name, Krookid Ledder Youth, which John came up with about 18 years ago. When Wanda entered the fold, the three played in bands together over the years including most recently as Winterset. After much time away in college and graduate school, John returned to south MS and became their head brewer. Following a couple expansions during their first year, Wanda’s brother, Scott Mitchell was also hired onto the brewing team. Wanda serves as the company’s CEO, co-owner, brewer, and also as Treasurer for the Mississippi Brewers Guild while Paul is co-owner, brewer and handles day to day operations as the General Manager.
