Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike DeLancett.
Hi Mike, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Mythk started as a concept for me and a couple of close friends back in our early days of homebrewing. We were enamored with the ethos of the craft beer movement, and all artists and story tellers in our own various ways. Making beer on the porch was a source of camaraderie for us, a little mutual sweat, musing on creative twists to a beer, and catching up / discussing the times / chatting all things film / music / art / etc. it really set us on a reflective path of the role of beer in a.community, be it as a gathering place, a social lubricant, or an excuse to commiserate with a buddy. The combination of the power of storytelling and a social focal point set us down the path of exploring our own deep interests in mythology and diving deep into the beer as a conversation starter, and it really all spiraled from there.
I entered the brewing community professionally after a few years and got my hands dirty working my way from volunteer to head brewer overseeing multiple facilities, developing hundreds of recipes, and working closely trying to tie together brand concepts and taproom experiences, working events, etc … just really wearing a lot of hats but never having full ownership of the ideas and investment that I was making on behalf of someone else, and still keeping up with the dream on the porch of doing something more personal with our own vision. It became more and more of a challenge to keep up with all the directions life was pulling our original circle, but we still kept going on conceptualizing as both an outlet and a plan to break away when the right moment struck. When it eventually did, I had accrued a lot of experiences, 40 was closing in fast, and Covid was turning the world upside down. It was a bit of a now or never scenario, and my now business partner reached out providing the right opportunity to pull the trigger. Of course with the world in the chaos it was of the time, we pulled a modest trigger, with a focus on retaining our creative control, and compromising the vision as little as possible along the way while still remaining flexible enough to adapt to the times. Our large brewery fantasy concept became a nomadic one, inspiring our “phantom fermentations” tag line, and while my original crew had all developed career paths that they couldn’t depart from at the time, they gave their blessings to move forward and have been critical supporters and shapers of the brand to this day.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The old JFK quote come to mind “we do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard”. Mythk has been our noble struggle, starting from the modest means of trying to reclaim our ownership over the things we create despite most of our compensation along the way being experience rather than fiscal. From communicating the concept that we are a brewery but we don’t have a taproom ad infinitum, to the slow growth of constant reinvestment. I used to wear a lot of hats, now I wear all of them. There is a cliche that rings very true among brewery founders and small businesses, Owner / brewer / janitor and that rings ever true. As a concept birthed in the immediate shadow of the peak of Covid, we were very fortunate to find our path forward, but every step was a struggle from sourcing material, defining our permitting process, finding adequate production spaces that met everyone along the ways needs… and defining a brand with only the presence of the internet and the can in your hand. We have had to adapt and re adapt to each wrench that comes our way, and find new an innovative ways to carve a path forward. But I will always be very grateful to the folks that gave us the hands up, guidance, and support to make this a reality.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have a very strange professional background to start from that is ultimately a source of strength in that I’ve had to become a jack of all trades. From being an audio engineer and touring musician, work in manual labor fields that got pretty wild, professional spaces, writing and journalism, it’s given me a very broad skill set to draw from for Mythk. Perhaps my best skill is just a natural curiousity and desire to learn about whatever I’m doing / eating / drinking / where I’m currently standing etc. The craft beer movement in its early days drew me in with that focus on considering what was in your glass and educating your customer on why that mattered. It’s been a huge focus of ours at Mythk to give our beer a sense of place, and a story in every glass. Each beer and coffee we release on a surface level draws inspiration in this phase from Norse mythology, depicting animals, gods, weapons and tools from the sagas. And on the technical side we want to draw from unique origins, utilizing craft ingredients, working with our friends at Riverbend malt and the craft malt community to create unique profiles and committing to supporting small farms and regenerative farming, ethically sourced unique coffees with a fermentation influence, working with other small businesses / artisans / and craftsmen for everything from our labels / merch/ and tap handles…all of that provides not only a pride we take in our product being, but has created a niche for our brand that reaches into places other people aren’t always going and helps set us apart in the market.
What’s next?
Our plans for the future are moving into a phase three physical plant. Finding the right place to call home and materializing a space for our consumers to visit and bring even more of the concept to life in a tangible way.
Pricing:
- $16.99 suggested retail 4 pack
- Distribution through Progressive Distribution
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.mythkbrewing.com
- Instagram: @mythkbrew
