Scratch Brewing Company was founded by Marika Josephson, Aaron Kleidon, and Ryan Tockstein. Marika and Aaron are Scratch's brewmasters, creating beer with a diverse array of farmed and foraged ingredients that showcase the "terroir" of Southern Illinois. As of January, 2016, Ryan Tockstein has left Scratch and now brews with Bohemian Brewery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Also as of January, 2016, Scratch welcomes Kris Pirmann and Adriane Koontz, founders of River to River Farms in Ozark, Illinois. Kris and Adriane join us this year to enhance our garden, experiment with grain production, increase Scratch's hop harvest, and to plant about two acres of produce to be used on the brewery's food menu and in its beer. Kris and Adriane plan to grow test crops of barley, wheat, rye, and corn with the goal of integrating some if it into portions of Scratch's hearth bread and pizza dough recipes, and other new baked goods. In addition, the brewery plans use the test crops to do some small batches of malted grain to create specialty malts for beer. If successful, this would be some of the first Southern Illinois-grown grain used in beer here since Prohibition.
Kris and Adriane have specialized in growing diversified vegetables since founding River to River Farms in 2011 (now run by Kris's parents John and Tam Pirmann). They joined the Carbondale Farmer's Market in 2013 and farmer's markets in Tower Grove, Creve Coeur, and Maplewood in 2014, before taking a year-long sabbatical to manage Henry's Farm in Congerville, Illinois, a sustainable, pesticide-free, three-generations old farm with a 250-member CSA. They are thrilled to be back home in Southern Illinois and joining Scratch for this long-term collective experiment in sustainable farming for brewing and food.
