Drink a bit of Hoodoo at Jackson's Cathead

The South is often a dichotomy, or as Jimmy Buffett once said, there's "a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning."

Take Mississippi and alcohol. Mississippi has long been known as a state not quick to legalize its spirits. It was the last state to repeal prohibition — in 1966! But now, there are plenty of craft breweries popping up all over the Magnolia State, and its first distillery, Cathead, produces a chicory liqueur called Hoodoo.

"The name Hoodoo pays homage the black magic and mysticism brought to the Southern United States by immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean," the distillery claims on its website. "Elements of the Hoodoo tradition are deeply embedded in Southern culture, especially blues music."

Original Hoodoo bottle

Makes sense for a distillery named for the Mississippi compliment given by blues musicians to artists they respected. At least that's what the owners claim. (We always thought of catheads as biscuits, but what do we know?)

"Mississippi artists and musicians went on to use 'Catheads' in many forms of folk art, as a way to pay the rent and share their legacies," the website reports.

Visit Cathead Distillery in Jackson and learn more about the company's vodka, including its flavored varieties: honeysuckle and pecan. Cathead also produces a moonshine and two types of gin. Most of the ingredients used in their spirits are acquired locally, including the pecans that are left to seep into the vodka and then tossed to very lucky Mississippi pigs. 

But back to that delicious Hoodoo. The original bottle was long and sleep with original artwork as its label, including a very cool red gris gris bad above the musician's head (see photo left, above). The bottle was too cumbersome for bartenders, our tour guide informed us, so they moved the spirit to a more pourable container. 

Tours are offered at the top of the hour 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. The cost is $10 but that includes four tastings at the Cathead Bar and a take-home shot glass, not to mention the popular Cathead sticker ("Cathead Vodka, Support Live Music") that are seen on cars across the Deep South. The enormous space is also open as a bar with lots of fun games to enjoy, plus the distillery hosts private events and public ones, such as the Sept. 16, 2017, Cathead Oktoberfest.

Chere Coen is a food and travel writer who loves a good bottle of Southern spirits.