Scratch Brewing Company

Exciting news!  Next year will see the *opening of Scratch Brewing Company in Ava, IL.  Below is the brewery description off their website, scratchbeer.com. It is really exciting to see a brewery opening like this in the area that is focused on making their beer and food "a distinct product of the Southern Illinois region".  Make sure and visit their website and Facebook page often to stay up-to-date on 2012's opening and to see all the cool happenings at Scratch.  By the way did you see that pizza coming out of the earth oven....Cheers!

*For those of you who saw my first post (which I mistakenly deleted and is gone forever), the brewery is opening in in 2012 not open now.

The Brewery

Hand made pizza out of our prototype earth oven on the land

Scratch Brewing Company is a farmhouse brewery and restaurant located 5 miles from the beautiful Shawnee National Forest in Ava, Illinois. Started by three award-winning southern Illinois home brewers, Scratch Brewing Company focuses on farmhouse beers and other styles brewed with home grown and locally farmed and foraged ingredients. The brewery will have an ever rotating selection of traditional styles, enhanced by the innovative addition of local ingredients, including nettle, elderberry, ginger, dandelion, maple sap, and a variety of wood additions, among others.

Food will be cooked in an earth oven and will feature produce from our garden and cheeses by area cheese makers. See a sample menu on the Menu page.

Scratch Brewing Company aims for a Fall 2012 grand opening. Follow us here or on Facebook to stay up to date on our progress!

The Founders

Marika Josephson is a beer blogger (She Brews Good Ale) and writer whose pieces on travel, food, beer and beer pairing, have appeared regionally and nationally in the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cook Book, USA Today, the Southern Illinoisan, Creative Loafing, and others.

Born and raised in Ava, Aaron Kleidon is a photographer whose work is represented by galleries in Chicago and St. Louis and in numerous private collections throughout the US and Europe. A specialist in local flora and fauna, Kleidon has sold foraged plants to chefs in Chicago and Colorado.


Ryan Tockstein teaches chemistry and is president of the Southern Illinois Brewers, a home brew club he founded for area home brewers which has over 80 members. Tockstein has served his own and other southern Illinois home brewed beers at festivals in St. Louis and Murphysboro.