Scratch Brewing

southern illinois microbrewery & farm

Scratch Brewing Company is a farmhouse brewery located five miles from the Shawnee National Forest in Ava, Illinois. Named one of the top four breweries for foraged beer by Outside Magazine, and one of the most beautiful places to drink beer in the world by All About Beer Magazine, Scratch Brewing Company focuses on farmhouse beers and other styles brewed with home grown and locally farmed and foraged ingredients. The brewery has an ever rotating selection of styles enhanced by the innovative addition of local ingredients, such as nettle, elderberry, ginger, dandelion, maple sap, hickory, lavender, juniper, and chanterelle mushrooms.

Owners Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon create beer with a diverse array of farmed and foraged ingredients that showcase the “terroir” of Southern Illinois. Kris Pirmann and Adriane Koontz, founders of River to River Farms in Ozark, Illinois, are the brewery's farmers, produce processors, and baker, monitoring the extensive gardens, and helping to plants for the beer and kitchen.

Scratch Brewing Basil IPA...$18.99 / 750ml
One of our all-time classics! This beer’s aroma comes from basil rather than hops, but plays with the chemical compounds present in both to make a beer that tastes intriguingly familiar. Brewed with lemon basil, sweet basil, and tulsi basil from our garden; honey from our friends at Royal Bee in Steeleville; grain from Sugar Creek Malt; and fermented with our house culture. Bright basil and hop-like aroma that tastes fresh now but stands up well to aging. 6.7% abv

Scratch Brewing Dandelion Ginger Tonic...$15.99 / 500ml
Bottle-conditioned sour beer brewed without hops. Bittered and flavored with southern Illinois-grown dandelion, ginger, carrot tops, and clover, and fermented with our wild house mixed culture. 4.4% abv

Scratch Brewing Barrel-Aged Mumm...$18.99 / 500ml 
Sour dark ale brewed without hops. Bittered and flavored with herbs from our garden: basil, sage, rosemary, lavender, lemon thyme; and fermented with our wild house mixed culture, then aged in a red wine puncheon for a year. Tart with notes of chocolate and baking spices and a red wine-like finish. 4.2% abv

Scratch Brewing Barrel-Aged Apple Ale...$18.99 / 500ml
Bottle-conditioned sour ale brewed without hops. Made with grain from our friends at Sugar Creek Malt, fermented with our house culture, and co-fermented with pressed juice from Southern Illinois-grown apples. Aged for two years in puncheons that previously held red wine, and finished in a fresh oak foeder from Foeder Crafters to enhance the oak character. Beautiful cider-like flavor and acidity with a modest vanillin finish from the oak. 5.7% abv

Scratch Brewing Barrel-Aged Cedar Oak...$21.99 / 750ml
Bottle-conditioned farmhouse ale mashed in an oak puncheon through a bed of eastern red cedar branches, brewed with oak bark from the woods surrounding the brewery, boiled over a wood fire in our copper kettle, and fermented with our wild house mixed culture. After primary fermentation the beer was then aged for two years in an oak puncheon with a native wild yeast, making for a dry and effervescent beer with a light oak finish. 6.6% abv