This unique jailhouse brewer, "Breeze" is the proud maker of a beverage he calls Buck. All the ingredients found in this brew are indigenous to the prisons of North Carolina: chunk pineapple and sugar. Since in jail, similar to ancient times, there is virtually no monetary system, "Breeze" used barter to garner the necessary items for his brew. He traded his lunch hot dog for sugar or pineapple so he could make his beverage.

To make Buck, "Breeze" would take these two locally-available items and put them into a 16 ounce soda bottle, also easily found in jail, and allow the concoction to ferment for 72 hours. At times, when he had the trappings of modern society (money) he would purchase Skittles candy from the roving canteen in the lockup and add them to the Buck. "Breeze" says this gives his brew an entirely different flavor.

No matter how simple the making of buck may sound, it is fraught with challenges. It seems that the North Carolina prison system frowns upon the making and drinking of alcoholic beverages while one is incarcerated. This became evident to "Breeze" when he had his first bottle of Buck seized by the guards. So like a moonshiner trying to steer clear of the revenuers he hid his beverage from the law.

This was often a perilous endeavor, according to "Breeze" due to the fact that his Buck bottle needed to opened on occasion to release the carbon dioxide associated with fermentation --this sent an unmistakable Buck odor through the cell block. Despite the challenges he persevered and perfected his craft.

To "Breeze" Buck was more than a pleasant libation to sip in his cell; it was a diversion from everyday life. His brew became a being that he had to care for and nurture to see it flourish and mature. In fact, "Breeze" said that " it (Buck) "kept my sanity, my touch with reality". Buck was not only a way to pass time for "Breeze" but also gave him a sense of pride. When this master brewer gave us a sip of his brew he beamed like a father showing off his kids.

Of course, the ultimate test for any beverage is its taste. It does not matter whether it was made in the most state-of-the-art brewery or the root cellar behind the house its value can only be determined by the nose and tongue. The Beer Slayer found Buck to be fairly sweet and lightly alcoholic --most of the alcohol was found in the fruit. It is a unique brew with a pleasant taste. The Sleuth thought that buck tasted like The Beer Slayer's worst mead, "but not that bad." After our Buck tasting, we felt proud that the North Carolina prison system had done such a good job with "Breeze". Rather than just giving him a drink they taught him how to make his own--now that's rehabilitation!