Couples clutching mugs of beer huddle around a fire pit or at one of the weathered picnic tables sampling some of the most unusual beer in the world. The owners of Scratch Brewing Company, Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon, make their beer almost entirely from plants growing wild across the 80 acres owned by Kleidon’s family.
“Every beer is an adventure,” says Kleidon, who is a member of Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association. He tends bar, serves food and chats with customers who have driven a hundred miles after hearing about Scratch from a friend, centering their day trip around a tasty beer.
A sample flight might yield beers made with wild carrot and nettle, barrel-aged blackberry lavender, saison with sassafras or beers made from any number of wild ingredients: lemongrass, elderflower, fig leaves, shagbark hickory or chanterelle mushrooms.
Although there are dozens of foraged-based breweries across the U.S., Outside magazine has named Scratch one of the top four, adding that few breweries experiment as zealously as Scratch.
“March will be our 13th anniversary,” says Josephson, “and we still brew beers we’ve never done before.”
Along with quality, Scratch excels in ambience. All About Beer magazine named it one of the most beautiful places in the world to drink beer. Alongside the main building, which the founders built by hand, lie a couple of patio-porches with picnic tables and a log cabin donated by a friend, which Kleidon moved log by log, reassembling it on their property.
Three goats nibble at clover and dried leaves, originally bought so Scratch could make its own cheese. That didn’t work out, so, Josephson says with a grin, “they’re now our mascots.” Farm machinery sits alongside the greenhouse where carrots, ginger, arugula, peppers and tomatoes are grown for Scratch’s pizzas.
Just inside, at the bar, handmade wood levers, also made by Kleidon, release whatever beer is on tap. If you want to head upstairs, you’ll pass a rack full of herbs — sweet clover, lemon balm, marigold, lemon basil and sweet basil. A dehydrator holds oyster mushrooms.
The large, open upper area, named the Serpent Room, was designed in collaboration with local artist Brett Douglas Hunter, and is filled with unique art, a bar and additional seating for group gatherings.
The owners met at a local restaurant/bar, which has since closed. There, patrons could share a bottle of craft beer with a table full of new acquaintances. That’s where Kleidon, Josephson and Ryan Tockstein (the third Scratch Brewing Company founder, who eventually left the business) bonded over their love of home brewing. They began swapping ideas and fusing their individually created flavors. Together, they decided to start a business.
Josephson was excited. She’d moved to the area so her husband at the time could attend Southern Illinois University, and she fell in love with rural living, quiet walks in the forest and fresh food in season. With a doctoral degree in philosophy and a career in publishing in New York City, she relished the idea of opening a brewery with foraged ingredients (a few items are outsourced, but all are local) for both food and drink.
Kleidon came up with the perfect spot. His parents had purchased 80 acres of forested land when he was a teenager, where he grew up exploring the woods and learning about its native plants. His parents supported their idea for a brewery and sold the three young adults 5 acres of land. Scratch Brewing was incorporated in 2011, began building in 2012, and opened the following year for business.
As the business grew, they were able to hire a full-time brewer and seven part-time employees to help in the kitchen and bar, as well as in the garden. Although Josephson estimates that they made between 350 and 400 varieties of beers by the end of their third year, the growing business now demands that they cut back on experimenting and increase the quantity of their most popular beers.
Still, each beer is uniquely and artfully crafted. The newest one is a pale ale with lemon balm, juniper, lemon basil and marigolds.
Scratch has received recognition and awards as they’ve expanded. They’ve been nominated for three James Beard awards, a foundation established in 1990 recognizing the top chefs and restaurants in America. In summer 2024, the New York Times named Scratch one of the 22 best pizza places in the U.S. In addition, “The Homebrewer’s Almanac,” co-authored by the three founders of Scratch Brewing, has been featured in several periodicals.
Scratch offers specials at certain times of the year, usually during Oktoberfest and Scratch’s March-April anniversary. During these events, patrons can sign up for walks through the woods, with guided foraging followed by personal tea-making.
Freshly baked sourdough bread, bottled beer, steins and growlers, and “The Homebrewer’s Almanac” are available for purchase. Scratch also offers natural sodas, such as their tulsi basil, as well as a variety of pizzas and cheese plates. Whether surrounding yourself with art in the Serpent Room or engulfed by natural beauty outdoors, each season offers something different with food, drink and ambience at Scratch Brewing Company.
Scratch Brewing Company
