The reason that you can't find any LHBS in Alabama is that it's
still illegal there.
During Prohibition, most states made laws banning all production of alcoholic beverages. After the repeal, most states specifically exempted homebrew, often with other minor stipulations (home distillation is still illegal, though often is ignored as long as it's only for personal use... YMMV greatly), some states and localities kept the ban on private production, even for personal use.
The feds allow homebrewers to produce up to 100 gallons of beer or wine, or up to 200 gallons in households with more than one adult, yearly.
Now, with that all said, there are many people who still practice the art beermaking in Alabama, and there are constant efforts to get the law repealed or modified. It's also apparently seldom enforced, and there is even question whether or not it's REALLY a ban, because the wording is somewhat vague. I'm sure if more people brewed, it'd show up on the state supreme court docket at some point.
I'd say that you're going to have better luck looking out of state, but I don't know of any. I would not recommend purchase of anything from Home Depot that's going to come into contact with your beer, as *most* of that won't be food grade, and won't protect your fermenting beverage from infection (and perhaps will even harbor bacteria that might spoil the brew)
LHBS or online sale will probably serve you better.
As with anything, you'll probably want to do more research to find out what works best for you, that's just my take on it.
Good luck!
