Meet the Brewer

Hello there!

I’m Deja (“DAY-jah”, she/they pronouns), and I do literally everything here at Mutantis Cult Brewery!

Yes, that means all the brewing, canning, delivering, tending bar, label design, maintenance, cleaning, bookkeeping, marketing…I even designed this website!

I have been a professional gluten-free brewer since 2013. I started Mutantis after leaving my first brewery, because I wanted something smaller, quirkier, and less…capitalistic. Something community-focused, where I could let my wild creativity flourish, free of the yoke of a growth-focused corporate business model.

More than that, as a queer, nonbinary, transgender woman, I wanted to create a space for those of us alienated by the macho patriarchal culture that dominates craft beer. I look to the alewives of old for inspiration–the witchy brewmistresses whose modest pubs served as nuclei for town social life.

I have a Master’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture and herbology) and a deep affinity for herbal medicine and ethnobotany, so botanical brews and non-Western brewing traditions are dear to my heart–and regularly represented on my tap list!

As someone diagnosed with (and being treated for) ADHD, depression, anxiety, and who is on both the ASD and OCD spectra, I am also an advocate for changing our economy and cultural expectations to be more accommodating for neurodivergent people. I reject the rigid schedules and fake superficial positivity of modern corporate capitalism, and I am not shy about the struggles I face as a neurodivergent small business owner. I recognize that not everyone will appreciate my lack of a plastic smile or the fact that my “business hours” are approximate at best, but I am committed to shifting our culture to one that treats service workers with empathy and care, rather than expecting polished robotic perfection.

Outside of Mutantis, I enjoy making music, cooking cheap and healthy food, D&D, reading webcomics, making digital art, and playing an obscene amount of Baldur’s Gate 3.