Key City Brewing Co.

THE BREWERY

Head Brewer Zack Erickson and his wife, Kaitlin. Inspired by the Belgian brewing tradition they witnessed on their honeymoon in Belgium, they began brewing small, 5-gallon batches on their stovetop. Armed with a passion for Old World beers and a newfound drive, Zack began to ponder leaving his current career in the Video Game Industry. Before too long, Kaitlin encouraged Zack to pursue his passion full-time, which lead to starting his career in the illustrious San Diego beer community, working for two award-winning breweries, (Council Brewing Co. & Groundswell Brewing Co.) while attending UC San Diego’s Brewing program. The perfect weather, incredible burritos, and mega rad beer community in San Diego were almost enough to keep him there forever, but eventually, he started yearning to brew his own recipes.

Armed with practical experience and brewing theory, he decided it was time to reach for his dream. Family and the perfect building lured him to Historic Downtown Vicksburg with the dream of creating a warm and inviting brewpub where craft beer could flourish. Luckily the pairing of Parmegiani and Erickson instantly bonded, just like their food and beer, inspiring each other towards a shared creative vision that would become Vicksburg’s first brewpub.

Using a 3-barrel brewhouse, Key City put its first beer on tap, Mississippi Queen, in March of 2018. Selling out of the first batch in just 6 days, the small brewhouse in the window began churning out classic and experimental styles left and right. Crushablely crispy lagers, hop-bomb IPAs, robust stouts, and out-of-this-world sours line the tap walls and fill the glasses of friends and family in Downtown Vicksburg.

The wild success of Key City’s blend of both Old & New world brewing tendencies led to the purchase of the building next to the current Brewery & Eatery, where a production scale 15-barrel brewhouse & canning line is scheduled to arrive Summer of 2022. Zack and his rag-tag brewery team are excited to be bringing Key City’s beers to distribution later in 2022, so they can share their craft with the rest of Mississippi and beyond.