JACKSON, Wyo. — Mikey Agricola, a lauded veteran of the Jackson craft beer world, started as StillWest Brewery & Grill’s head brewer in April of this year.
At 36 years old, Agricola has been brewing beer for half his life, having started home brewing in college. He earned a degree in environmental engineering in his home state of Pennsylvania before moving to Salt Lake City, where he got a job as the beverage manager and sommelier at Canyons Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah.
In 2016, he moved to Jackson to work as a wine consultant with the Fine Dining Group. At the same time, he started helping out head brewer Kyle Fleming at Roadhouse a few days a week. After a few years of doing both, he felt pulled toward focusing solely on craft beer. The creativity allowed in creating a beer himself and selling it, versus selling someone else’s wine, was what won him over.
He started full-time for Roadhouse as the innovation brewer, creating experimental beers and trying to figure out what was going to be the next new fun beverage. After a few years in that position, StillWest hired him as the head brewer in April. Buckrail spoke to Agricola about his new venture at StillWest.
How would you describe your brewing style?
I like to dabble in everything from big IPAs to crisp, clean German-style pilsners. I really found a love for sour beers when I was at Roadhouse. My wine knowledge helps with barrel selection, and my engineering background helps me understand microbes. I do have a great love for those styles of beers, and what we’ll be doing at StillWest is a little bit of everything, from what sells a lot to what people get really excited about.
How does your environmental engineering degree factor into your experience as a brewer?
For me it’s a huge advantage because I’m constantly dealing with pumps and mechanical equipment. We’re not always brewers by trade. We’re more stainless janitors or mechanics or plumbers. With this kind of equipment, there’s always maintenance and upkeep, which keeps me very mechanically inclined. With the environmental aspect, I took a lot of organic chemistry, so I understand yeast and bacteria, which is extremely helpful. Everything [with my degree] gave me a great foundation to understand the chemistry and fermentation aspects of brewing.
What makes StillWest stand out as a brewery?
Absolutely the location. The pure beauty of this building and how it’s laid out, being able to sit on the patio on a sunny day and look across to Snow King is pretty spectacular. It’s a brewpub, so people have to come here to enjoy the beers. To be situated in a place like Jackson, it draws people into the beauty.
Where do you get your inspiration for new beers?
You get inspiration by drinking a lot of beers, finding out what you like, trying new things and thinking about food components. What food flavors or herbs and spices go well together—the same holds true for beer. It’s always about season and activities too, depending on what’s going on. You’re not drinking a heavy 10% stout in the peak of summer.
What’s your plan for the beer lineup at StillWest this summer?
Anything that was a beer at StillWest prior to me coming in is scrapped. I started with a fresh, clean slate. All 10 current drafts are my beers and my recipes. Some are staples that will last all summer long, and then we also have rotating seasonals: a fun coffee blonde with Alpine Air roasters in Teton Valley, a pale ale, a session IPA, another hazy IPA. We’ve got a lot of fun things coming down the pipeline too: a new pilsner we just released, a kettle sour, a double IPA, a dark lager, honey-basil Kölsch, and plenty of collaborations with local Jackson brewers .
