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148th YearNo. 228IN

SIDE 2 events on tap for upcoming weekend / 13 I A look back at this year’s Players of the Week / 6

Accent / 13 I Nation / 3 I Obituaries / 5 I Opinion / 9 I Sports / 6 I TV listings / 21 I Weather / 22

Something’sbrewing inGreenvilleMighty Miss. settles

into downtown home / 2

2 /Sunday, May 28, 2017 DELTA DEMOCRAT-TIMESX

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Washington County welcomes Delta’s 1st craft brewerySARAH OZBUNsozbun@ddtonline.com

Jon Alverson hasbrewed a simple cre-ation, or four, that hebelieves could drive

traffic to downtownGreenville — or at leastput the Delta on the mapwhen it comes to craftbeer.

s s s

A familiar face in the com-munity as the publisher of theDelta Democrat-Times,Alverson also is the brainchildbehind Mighty Miss. BrewingCo., which poured severalpints of its Mississippi-brewedbeer Saturday as it celebratedits grand opening, officiallybecoming the Delta’s firstcraft brewery.And, though he admits “it’s

scary,” the 6-foot, 3-inch redhead who rarely leaves hishouse without a bow-tie isconfident in his business, hisproduct and its location.“There are three big factors.

First, the market; second,(there’s) no competition lo-cally; and, it’s a product thatpeople from outside the areacan purchase,” he said earlierthis week. “We are not carvingup a pie that already exists;we’re making our own pie.”The 3,500-square-foot mi-

crobrewery is housed insideThe Lofts at 517 on Washing-ton Avenue in downtownGreenville. It’s one compo-nent of Bill Boykin’s $9.1 mil-lion redevelopment project ofthe historic Sears building,

which has, on many occa-sions, been referred to as a cat-alyst for downtownrevitalization. Along with Mighty Miss.,

the project is opening doors totwo retail spaces, a boutique

hotel, condominiums and theDowntown Grille.“I want to give back. I am

trying to do something fordowntown Greenville becauseI truly believe that we havesomething special. ... If we

don’t help ourselves, it’s notgoing to take place,” Boykinpreviously said. “It’s a matterof all of us pulling togetherand working together and wehave got to support each other.We have to come together as

a community.”To Alverson, a brewery fits

in to that equation perfectly. “We can see opportunity

here because of the success ofDelta Brewing Supply,” hesaid, referring to the state’sfirst home-brewing supplystore, which opened in 2013,just a couple of blocks downthe street from his new estab-lishment. “Delta BrewingSupply has shown that craftbeer can be successful, too.”And, thus, Alverson is let-

ting it flow. On tap at Mighty Miss.

Brewing Co. will be four basebeers, but Alverson said theyhave room for 10, which morethan likely will be special in-house or seasonal flavors.For $4 a pint, folks can sip

on Mighty Miss. AmericanPale Ale, which Alverson saysis their flagship beer, PacePorter, Sledge Saison and On-ward Amber.“These are simple beers,

well made. They are bal-anced,” he said, adding hisbeers will appeal to both thenovice craft beer drinker andsomeone who can appreciatea simple beer. A fun marketing strategy, all

of the beers are named afterDelta towns.“I wish I could claim it; I

love it,” Alverson said, addingit was his marketing team whocame up with the idea. “Lots

BILL JOHNSON/BILLJOHNSON@DDTONLINE.COMA familiar face in the community as the publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times, Jon Alverson, above, also is the brain-child behind Mighty Miss. Brewing Co., which poured several pints of its Mississippi-brewed beer Saturday as it cele-brated its grand opening, officially becoming the Delta’s first craft brewery. Front: Mighty Miss. brewmaster Scott Hettigposes by the brewing equipment as its unloaded earlier this week. The brewery, which is housed inside The Lofts at517 on Washington Avenue, features four beers — all named after Mississippi Delta towns — on tap.

See MIGHTY MISS. on 3

XDELTA DEMOCRAT-TIMES Sunday, May 28, 2017 / 3X

of things in the Delta arenamed ‘Delta’ and we didn’twant to be that. … We have ahistory and a story that peopleare drawn to in the Delta, sowe can never turn our back onthat at all; we want to feast onthat. So, we decided to nameall of our beers almost alliter-ative names with cities in theDelta. Pace … Sledge … On-ward … and APA is forGreenville.”Melia Christensen, the ex-

ecutive director of the LelandChamber of Commerce whoalso is working with the brew-ery to develop and market itsbrand, said the beer labels re-ally played into the theme ofthe business as a whole.“You can’t tell the story of

this brewery and this beerwithout it being a story aboutthe Delta as well,” she said.The logo for Mighty Miss.

is Imported from the Delta,which Christensen said pairedwell with naming the beersafter area towns.“The fact all the beers are

named after small towns car-ries with it this authenticity ofplace and that is really impor-tant to us and to the productwe are putting out there,” shesaid. Keeping with the theme,

each of the beer cans —Mighty Miss. manufactures itsbeer in cans rather than bottles— has a section on the labelwith basic information aboutthe town the beer is namedafter and fun facts, includingcoordinates and elevation. “We have a product that

stands out on the shelf. There’sa flood of craft beer on themarket right now,” Chris-tensen said, noting when itcame to developing a brand,they made an effort to create alogo and design that were aes-thetically pleasing and differ-ent from what’s already outthere. “Craft beer labeling isgoing into this complex,graphic artistry. Can illustra-tions are complicated muralsand pictorials. … We wantedclean, white space. … Wewanted to say something with-out saying anything.”What makes Mighty Miss.

differ from existing beer storesis that they manufacture andsell their own beer. And,Mighty Miss. brews are al-ready being poured through-out the Delta as well as inStarkville and Meridian. Eventually, Mighty Miss.

beers will be available for pur-chase, however, prices haveyet to be set, Alverson said.

Sip, see and stay awhile Originally, Alverson envi-

sioned solely manufacturingbeer at Mighty Miss. How-ever, during Mississippi’smost recently legislative ses-sion, a law passed allowingsmall breweries to sell beeronsite. Come July 1, breweriesacross the Magnolia State thatproduce less than 60,000 bar-rels of light beer or wine peryear can sell up to two casesof their product per day per

customer.“The law passed and our

focus changed,” Alversonsaid.Until the first of July, folks

will be able to come in and sipon a beer or go on a tour of thebrewery, Alverson said. After,Mighty Miss. will transforminto a tap room, he said.“We can sell to-go beer,

growlers, six-packs, cases, allthese kinds of things,” he said,adding they also will be look-ing to partner with localrestauranteurs to offer a minorfood service to give customerssomething to snack on whilethey pull up a seat and relax— or watch some SEC foot-ball. Although it could be con-

fusing differentiating betweenDelta Brewing Supply andMighty Miss., Alverson clari-fied saying, “Delta BrewingSupply can sell everybody’sbeer and they don’t make theirown.”It’s not a competition with

Delta Brewing either, he said.Actually, he hopes the two

compliment each other: “Peo-ple might come see us for abeer or two and then walkdown to Delta Brewing Sup-ply. Or, they might get a beeror two at Delta Brewing andcome see us. ... I imagine therewill be foot traffic between thetwo.”And that is the vision

Boykin had for downtownGreenville when he doveheadfirst into this project in

2012.“Bill’s building by itself

won’t do it. But, it is the firststep that had to happen,”Alverson said. “Someone hadto make that first step andmaking that first step will bethe catalyst for the wholething. Bill can’t do it by him-self and that building can’t doit by itself. … Others aregoing to have to jump into thefray with us. We’ve all put ourhearts on the line, and we areready for other people to jointhe group.”

Quitting their day jobs?When asked if Alverson and

Christensen are giving up theirjobs as publisher of the news-paper and director of Leland’sChamber of Commerce, bothwere adamant they are stayingput.“The newspaper is my

number one focus,” Alversonsaid while sitting at his desk atthe DDT.Both he and Christensen

said what they hope to havebeen their longest days are be-hind them now that they havea brewmaster in place and thebrewery is officially open forbusiness.“We hired a great brewmas-

ter; he’s been a professionalfor almost 10 years. I don’tthink I’d have the same confi-dence if it weren’t for thathire,” Alverson said, referringto Scott Hettig, Mighty Miss.Brewing Co.’s brewmaster.

“Hiring the brewmaster theway we did takes great deal ofwork off all of us.”Christensen agreed, saying

the majority of her work as amarketing professional wentinto building the brand andlaunching the company.“There’s a lot of work in-

volved in building a brand andlaunching a company thattakes time and talent that does-n’t need to be there oncethings are rolling,” she said.“I’ve been driving this shipfrom a worker-bee perspectivethe past couple of months, butit’s not going to take as muchas a brand manager to keepthis ship going after the grandopening.”Also helping them on a day-

to-day basis is Joe Paul DeAn-gelo, the salesman, andseveral behind-the-scenesfolks, including a book keeperand marketing personnel.

Meet the brewmaster Hettig comes to the Delta

with nine years of brewing ex-perience at the St. FrancisBrewery in Milwaukee, Wis-consin. Although he has been a pro-

fessional brewer for the lastnine years, he got his start inhomebrewing almost 30 yearsago. He admits those beers hefirst started brewing weren’tthe greatest in the world. However, they improved as

he moved to the ranks of pro-fessional brewing as an assis-tant brewer at Rock Bottombrewing in Cleveland, Ohio. Itwas there Hettig discoveredhis love and passion for craftbrewing. He then moved to St.Francis Brewery, where he fo-cused on German-style brewswith an eye to the palate of hiscustomers. “Brews on the coasts tend to

the over-the-top hoppy beers,while the beer drinkers in themiddle of the country aren’tquite there yet,” Hettig said ina press release. “I prefer thetraditional German-Stylebeers that are balanced.” Hettig’s addition to the

Mighty Miss. Brewing Co.team was an easy decision tomake, Alverson said. “Scott comes with a lot of

operational knowledge whichwill be invaluable to a start-upbrewery like our operation,”Alverson said. “Our ideasabout beer and brewing alsomesh well.” Hettig and his wife, Kelley,

together have four grown chil-dren. The youngest, Michael,is a student at the Universityof Wisconsin – Oshkosh. Kel-ley is a Medical Records Au-ditor and will be joining Hettigin the Delta soon. Their otherthree children are Joshua, 36;Joel, 33; and David, 30. Making the move across the

country to be a part of a start-up brewery in the deep Southwasn’t a decision Hettig madelightly. “The sense of civic pride in

Greenville impressed me,” hesaid after his first visit. “Thepeople here are just so kind.”

MIGHTY MISS. / From 2

“The fact all the beers are named after small towns carries with it this authenticity of place and that is really important to us.”

Melia ChristensenMighty Miss. Brewing Co., marketing director

Did you know?t

The brewery’s name isMighty Miss., not Mighty

Mississippit

Mighty Miss. manufactures its beersin cans, not bottles

t

Mighty Miss. is on tap in Starkville

and Meridian already

On tapt

Mighty Miss.American Pale Ale

t

Sledge Saisont

Onward Ambert

Pace Portert

Pints will cost $4 each

GPSD to offer free breakfast,

lunch this summerTYRIE WHITESIDEtwhiteside@ddtonline.com

Although school has dis-missed for the summer, theGreenville Public SchoolDistrict is still offering freemeals four days a week.The district’s summer

feeding program beginsTuesday and runs throughJune 29 at Armstrong, Boydand Weddington elementaryschools, McBride Pre-Kindergarten Academy andLucy Webb KindergartenPreparatory School. It willcontinue at T.L. Weston Mid-dle School through July 13. “This program is helping

ensure that all children, re-gardless of what school dis-trict they attend will receivehealthy and nutritious mealsthroughout the summermonths,” said Everett Chinn,the district’s public relationsspecialist. “The main thingwe’re asking for is for theparticipation. We understandthat there is a need in ourcommunity and we wantedto work together to curbsidehunger in our communityand the lack of nutritiousmeals at times in our com-munity for our school agechildren.” Students ages 4-18 can re-

ceive a free breakfast from7:15-8:30 a.m. Mondaythrough Thursday at each ofthe district’s designated sites.Lunch will be served from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. at only Arm-strong and Boyd elementaryschools, Chinn said. The summer feeding pro-

gram is overseen by thestate’s Department of Educa-tion and is funded throughthe United States Depart-ment of Agriculture’s Foodand Nutrition Service, whichensures that low-income

children continue to receivemeals when school is not insession.The Department of Agri-

culture plans to serve morethan 200 million free mealsto children at approved SFSPsites. At GPSD alone, theyexpect to serve about 5,000meals, Chinn said. Patricia Allen, the district’s

food service director, saidstudents will have about fiveitems to choose from daily,including fruit, vegetables, ameat, a grain and milk.“The purpose of the pro-

gram is to provide nutritiousmeals to children whileschool is out and bringawareness about good nutri-tion. The only thing I want isfor our children to be aware,come out and enjoy ourmeals. That’s really the pur-pose of it, feeding the kids ofour community,” Allen said.For more information, call

Allen at 662-334-2850, 662-334-7191 or 662-334-7017.

Summer feeding program begins

Tuesday.

Breakfast will beserved from 7:15-8:30

a.m. at Armstrong,Boyd, Lucy Webb,

McBride, Weddingtonand T.L. Weston.

Lunch will be servedfrom 11 a.m. to

1 p.m. at Armstrongand Boyd elementary

schools.

If FBI wants to talkto Kushner, lawyer

says he’s readyWASHINGTON— If the

FBI wants to talk to JaredKushner about his Russiancontacts, they won’t have totrack down the president’sson-in-law.Amid reports the FBI is

scrutinizing Kushner’s en-counters, his lawyer says hestands ready to talk to federalinvestigators as well as Con-gress about his contacts andhis role in Donald Trump’s2016 campaign.Federal investigators and

several congressional com-mittees are looking into Rus-sia-Trump campaignconnections, including alle-gations that there may havebeen collaboration to helpTrump and harm his Demo-cratic opponent, Hillary Clin-ton.“The FBI tries to be thor-

ough in their investigations,”said defense lawyer Edward

MacMahon, who is not in-volved in the case. “If it’s been publicly re-

ported that he met with Rus-sians, and the investigationhas to do with administrationofficials meeting with Rus-sians, well, then, they’llprobably want to talk toeverybody.”Kushner was a trusted

Trump adviser last year,overseeing the campaign’sdigital strategy, and remainsan influential confidantwithin the White House.One likely area of interest

for investigators would beKushner’s own meetingswith Russians, given thatsuch encounters with a vari-ety of Trump associates are atthe root of the sprawlingprobe, now overseen by for-mer FBI director RobertMueller.

Associated Press