Soon, Alabamians may not be able to say "Thank God for Mississippi" in the context of beer homebrewing legalization.

Mississippi's legislature approved a bill on Wednesday that will allow homebrewing of beer. If Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signs the bill, it could make Alabama the only state in the union in which homebrewing is still illegal.

The Mississippi House approved a Senate bill that makes it legal for 21-and-older Mississippians in wet counties to brew up to 200 gallons of beer a year in a household.

Craig Hendry is the president of an organization, Raise Your Pints, that has pushed for homebrewing legalization in Mississippi for the past five years.

"It's been a long road," Hendry told AL.com Wednesday afternoon. "We're excited we're at this point."

Asked whether he thinks Bryant will sign the bill, Hendry was confident he would.

"He showed us last year that he's not anti-beer and not anti-alcohol." In 2012, Bryant approved a law that raised the cap on alcohol-by-weight limit on beer in Mississippi from 5 percent to 8 percent.

"It's a great thing for the state."

Rich Edmondson, a spokesperson for a group of homebrewing supporters in Alabama called Right to Brew congratulated his counterparts in Mississippi today.

"Those guys obviously had their ducks in a row this year, and it showed," Edmondson told AL.com Wednesday. "They had never had a bill make it out of committee previously, and have navigated the waters of the entire legislative process this year with minimal resistance. Here's hoping Alabama will be next."

In Alabama, there's a similar law in the works, but the bill has been the victim of rough seas in the two most recent attempts to pass the law through the Legislature.

In the 2011 session, the Alabama homebrewing bill won the Shroud award, which is given each year to the "deadest" bill of the session. In 2012, the bill passed out the House but was not brought up for a vote in the Senate.

The House version of the 2013 Alabama homebrew bill, designated as House Bill 9, or HB9, made it out of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee in February and could come to the floor for a vote at any time. The Alabama Senate version of the bill, SB171, has also made it out of the Senate Job Creation & Economic Development Committee. If one of those two bills is approved by both houses, it will go to Gov. Robert Bentley's desk.

In the Alabama Legislature, the determination as to whether a bill makes it to the floor is at the whim of the Rules Committee of either house. If the Rules Committee puts the bill on the special order calendar for discussion on any given legislative day, it could come to the floor that day.

But even if a bill makes it onto the calendar, it doesn't always mean it will come up for a vote. Case in point: HB9 was on the House special order calendar last week, but the House ran out of time while dealing with other legislation and adjourned without dealing with it.

"As you know, all bills are at the mercy of the legislative process in Alabama, which doesn't always have a rhyme or reason," Edmondson said, adding that the process for getting legislation considered in Alabama can be frustrating. "We feel like we're in as good a position as you can be in because we have the House Rules Committee chairman (Rep. Mac McCutcheon, R-Capshaw) as our sponsor." Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison, is sponsoring the bill in the Alabama Senate -- Edmondson described him as "a Marine standing by our bill in the Senate."

Both bills would allow adult Alabama residents who are not convicted felons to brew limited amounts of beer, wine, mead and cider for personal use. Like the Mississippi bill, the Alabama bill does not apply to dry counties or allow for the distillation of liquor.

Hendry is pulling for Alabama. He said he grew up in Gilbertown, Ala., and graduated from the University of South Alabama before moving to Mississippi, so he wants Alabama to have homebrewing.

"It's been important to me to see Alabama get it done too," Hendry said. "The main thing is don't give up."

If the Alabama bill is approved by the Legislature this session, it could take effect immediately, meaning Alabama could still beat Mississippi to the punch – the Magnolia State's brew bill, assuming it is signed by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, will not take effect until July 1.

Updated at 3:10 p.m. with comments from Raise Your Pints president Craig Hendry