Mississippi Culture Artisan Ale Projects will be opening a brewery and eventually tap room in Staunton, Illinois, in early 2021. Owner and head brewer Tracy Hutton has just closed on purchasing a 5,000 square foot building at 201 S. Union Street to house the brewery, and the city of Staunton granted a liquor license for the project in late January.
Mississippi Culture is a family venture between Hutton and his father, Bruce. The brewing is Tracy’s field of expertise – he’s currently head brewer at Recess Brewing in Edwardsville. He also tended bar at Old Bakery Beer Company in Alton and Craft Beer Cellar. Bruce has run a home inspections business for the past 15 years, and Tracy said said his insight from that has been invaluable in these early stages of Mississippi Culture’s development. “When it came to buying a building and the construction that’s required, he has the know-how,” Hutton said.
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Hutton said Mississippi Culture’s beers will focus on wild ales, fermented and aged exclusively in oak barrels. “Most beers are fermented in stainless steel tanks,” Hutton said. “We are going to skip the stainless steel tanks altogether. Everything that we brew will be fermented and aged in some sort of oak barrel, whether it’s from wine, bourbon, or an unused barrel, we’ll be using all of them.”
Hutton wants his beers to be highly local, allowing flora from the Mississippi valley to shine. The “culture” part of the name refers to the yeast and bacteria used in the fermentation of wild ales. “We’re going to use natural yeast and bacteria that’s found up and down the Mississippi off fruit and vegetables,” Hutton said.
Some of the local products Hutton intends to work into recipes include pecans and mulberries, but he says the sky’s the limit. “Just really anything that we can find, anything that we can forage for, or that small farmers in the area have,” he said. “I’m a big fan of fruit beers myself, and there’s a lot of locally grown peaches and strawberries nearby. We’re going to do a lot of beers made from the fruits that small farmers grow in the area.”
For the brewery’s purposes, “Mississippi” refers primarily to the Illinois and Missouri areas, but Hutton said he might draw on crops grown slightly further afield. Hutton said he’s also looking into the history of farming in the area for inspiration. “We’re looking at using corn, really any sort of crop or fruit or vegetables that historically has been grown throughout the Midwest, but mostly in this area. But if it was a little north of us or south, we’re open to that just for new ideas,” he said.
Mississippi Culture’s approach to brewing is certain to invite comparisons with Side Project in Maplewood and Scratch Brewing in Ava, IL (a worthy day or weekend trip for beer lovers). Hutton believes the brewery will fill a gap. “There’s a lack of those more experimental sour beers on the Illinois side of the river,” he said. “You have Scratch, a couple of hours south. You have a few in St. Louis and some breweries in central Illinois, but from Springfield, to the St. Louis area there’s not really anyone doing sour beer.”
Hutton said he hopes Mississippi Culture beer will be available by the end of 2020, roughly starting in October to December. The brewery will start brewing with around 10 to 15 oak barrels, but Hutton said that will grow over time. Construction on the brewery, which will occupy the back half of the building, is expected to take around six to eight months. By spring or summer 2021, a small taproom and bar will be added in the space at the front of the building. The space also has a large patio which will be used for additional seating and games.
Once the brewery is completed and production is underway, Hutton said Mississippi Culture will start distributing to a few select locations – “places like iTap or [Saint Louis] Hop Shop,” he said. He’ll also be using Recess’ facilities to make the wort for Mississippi Culture’s beer, and said that he’s talked to Recess about the possibility of them having a Mississippi Culture beer on tap there.
Hutton will continue in his role at Recess for the foreseeable future. “Mississippi Culture is going to start very slow. Just kind of take it as it comes while I’m still at Recess,” he said. “And when I’m too busy with Mississippi Culture to continue at Recess, I’ll slowly phase out.”
Although it will be some time before the brewery is putting out product regularly, you can get a taste of what Mississippi Culture is all about on February 8, when Hutton releases the label’s first beer in collaboration with Recess. The beer, called Ring Around The Rosé, is a saison aged in a cabernet barrel with hibiscus, rose hips and tart cherries. The keg will be tapped February 8 at 12 pm in the Recess taproom, so make your way to Edwardsville for a taste of what the future holds for brewing across the river.
