Scratch Botanical Bottle Series

We are delighted to present four experimental beers brewed with parts of trees and plants that surround the brewery available in bottles beginning Friday, November 24th at noon. These beers fall roughly into the category of “farmhouse” ales, brewed with our wild house mixed culture of yeast and bacteria, all with moderate to low gravities and wild spice and funkiness from the botanicals harvested on site. We poured these four beers on the floor of this year's Great American Beer Festival and have cellared this series in 500ml bottles over the past few months in anticipation of this release. The four beers will be available together as a Scratch 4-pack that will cost $50 and include a custom Scratch goblet, a glass offered specifically with these beers in mind. There will be no reservations for the 4-pack and individual bottles will be available at the brewery in limited quantities for $12 each. Individual goblet glasses will also be available for $8 each.

Each of these unique expressions captures the essence of each part of the plant or tree, from the roots all the way to the flowers. They speak of our place in the woods and of the unique flavoring and aromatic potential of parts of plants that are often overlooked. The series is the closest we have come to creating beer that fully encapsulates our region with yeast and bacteria from our kitchen, malt from our friends at Sugar Creek Malt, and botanical additions from our farm and field.

Leaves

Farmhouse ale fermented with our wild house mixed culture and brewed with leaves from 33 different plants and trees: oak, hickory, sage, hyssop, bee balm, lemon balm, thyme, filé spice, laurel, mint, thistle, blackberry, raspberry, oregano, sweet cicely, goldenseal, geranium, rose, grape, dandelion, sweet woodruff, lettuce, horseradish, clover, plantain, violet, chickweed, chamomile, ginger, carrot, bergamot, shiso, and juniper.

Roots Farmhouse ale fermented with our wild house mixed culture and brewed with Southern Illinois-grown ginger, turmeric, carrot, clover, and burdock roots. ​

​​ Bark Sour beer without hops made with cherry, hickory, and oak bark and fermented with our wild house mixed culture.

​​ Flowers Farmhouse ale fermented with our wild house mixed culture and brewed with borage, marigold, hyssop, rose, and bee balm flowers then aged in a wine barrel.