Hi, I’m David Bower, President & CEO of Upland Brewing Co. Upland was founded in 1998 in Bloomington, Indiana—and our name and logo refer to this uniquely hilly part of Southern Indiana. We have three breweries, our main 37bbl production brewery, a wood-aged sours specific brewery called the “Wood Shop” replete with foeders and barrels galore, and a small 7bbl pilot brewery at our Fountain Square location used for developing new recipes.

Two main areas of focus: Firstly, getting smarter about aligning with retailer and wholesaler needs & priorities by streamlining our approach to market down to a handful of critical releases and associated market support programs. We’re absorbing the burden of the trial and error of innovation within our own brewpubs and exercising the discipline to ensure our wholesale program is always ready for prime time. Secondly, is a refocus on the on-premise. As we all begin to spend more time and money at bars and restaurants, it’s important that Upland regains its share. We’re preparing for an even more competitive arena — as packaging costs rise, keg sales will become even more important for brewers.

Like a lot of breweries born from the 90s, the opening lineup was a broad representation of classic styles. Over time, we have honed our craft toward the nexus of what we do uniquely well, what we enjoy doing, and what our customers want. Enter the sours program in particular, and the overall influence of barrel aging on the entire portfolio and the playful-and-sometimes-iconoclastic approach to building flavor.

After much ideation and iteration, we decided that we wanted Naked Barrel to reside on Planet Upland via endorsement, but to be freed of some of the consumer expectations potentially associated with a line extension. This would allow both the flagship program and the naked barrel program to remain focused on their specific target demographics without diluting each other–force feeding a better-for-you blended hard seltzer into the Dragonfly IPA story or vice versa.

Everything seems easy when you don’t know the details! Brand building takes time, even in a “hot” space. Today’s seltzer headlines are mostly written about brands who got to market early and battled it out for years on their way to pole position. The consumer appetite for trial & constant variety can provide the short-term illusion of success. Going from zero-to-X is the easy part as retailers are quick to award temporary features to the new-and-exciting but cycling those numbers the following year will more accurately demonstrate brand health. It takes a whole lot of grit and humility.

Not at all. It’s more important to first identify what you do well as a company and do as much of that as possible. If that happens to include ingredient innovation and beyond beer-type products, then great! If not, it might be time to heed the immortal words of Dr. Ian Malcom, “[they] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

For many breweries, a variety pack is a critical offering—a standard package enormously accelerated by covid-era pantry loading and desire to satisfy the trial and sampling previously explored in the on-premise within one’s home bar. Our core variety pack has consistently been our #3 SKU by volume over the past few years, only surpassed by Dragonfly IPA 6 and 12pks. It’s a labor of love (and hate) as many breweries don’t have the automation resources needed to efficiently make variety packs, adding more cost every time a human sorts & stacks the boxes. Despite these challenges, we are invested in that package, and are releasing a second year-round hoppy variety this year called “Hop Mix” with a fun music theme (Turn up the Hops, Get it?)

Anyone in the hospitality business knows that it is, and always has been, very hard work that is subject to the insecurity of many shifting tides (both on the micro and macro level). We are still bullish, partly because we’re crazy enough to still enjoy it. That being said, we are extremely careful about pursuing new opportunities as timing is critical–as is maintaining harmony among all of our other strategies and business units. We started as a brewpub in 1998, and it’s still an important part of our brand identity and experience.

I still strongly believe that on-premise is an important channel. In 2021, consolidated Indiana on-prem volumes were purportedly about 85% of 2019 volumes, and I expect that figure to continue to rise incrementally. If anyone thinks on-premise is dead, they may just be looking at their own declining share as a result of covid retrenchment and shifting payroll dollars to off-premise key account managers and the like. Off-premise is still hugely important for us, and always will be a focus, but due to its inherent limitations regarding sampling, events, and breadth of stylistic representation, on-premise is needed for holistic brand building.

Great questions. We are very proud caretakers of the Champagne Velvet brand and have enjoyed its position within our core stable for a number of years. It is now our number #2 brand by volume and our most popular core beer in nearly all markets outside of Indiana (Chicago is a prime example of this). CV filled this interesting void in the portfolio as a brand that is nearly transcendent in terroir & time—a brand perpetuated by generational lore (so & so’s grandpa’s first beer) and antique store breweriana. In many ways, this provided a vehicle to lift the entire portfolio out of the hills of Southern Indiana and into some exciting new territories.

If using Champagne Velvet as a blueprint, a brand worthy of rebirth needs to be both timeless and of its time – something nostalgic without feeling dated. The beer style and recipe need to be classic enough to remain evergreen in the midst of changing trends. I also think it is critical for the brand to exemplify Good Design, and you can find this kind of aesthetic expression in furniture, sign making, architecture – there are certain elements that always work. Interestingly, Champagne Velvet design has changed many times throughout the years while remaining instantly recognizable, a testament to the strength of its core design principles. Finally, it needs a good story (even if slightly fabled).

Call me old school, but I still believe in the original craft ethos. After all, the fact that Blink 182 exists doesn’t make the Sex Pistols any less punk, right? Craft emerged as a means to serve an underserved community and regain some authenticity in our beer drinking rituals. Thousands of breweries later, everything is forced to change after that underserved community got a little over-served. Chasing differentiation can lead to some strange wardrobe changes. If we disabuse ourselves of the correlation between craft and overnight successes, infinite scalability, and instantly sparking cigar-igniting levels of shareholder value, then little has changed from a certain perspective, only matured. The old dogs are aging out of some of their trend setting ways and adopting the comfort of mainstream tactics, making room for a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

We actually spent a lot of time thinking about this. For us, the blend of wood-aged sour ale with the naturally fermented, real-fruited seltzer base created that designation of origin, our Wood Shop. Many aspiring seltzer magnates begin-and-end with the brand and neglect the 12 fluid ounces found within. We wanted to make something real. I think the seltzer consumer is divided on this topic. For some of today’s youths, I believe their seltzer choices are driven by CPG dada-ism, a complete and deliberate disregard to all the fussy bits that define the dad-beer they are running away from.

Everyone should read Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It only pertains to beer in the sense that it is about everything, but I find it endlessly inspiring and has shaped my thinking over the past few years. Friends and relatives have told me it ain’t exactly easy reading, but don’t let that stop you.

I try to maintain a balanced diet of data and anecdotes. Some unholy combination of IRI reports, bone dry white papers, and market analyses balanced with firsthand guest feedback and that guy at the end of the bar who wants to tell me about the amazing brown ale that we made 15 years ago that we should definitely make again because he’d drink it all the time and tell his friends. However you slice it, don’t forget that all data comes from the past.

I would absolutely invest in talent. All the shiny new widgets in the world are only as good as the operators. You can stockpile painted cans, buy automation, and hire influencers, but you’re only as good as the people who support your dream. Also, I’m tired and want to go on a vacation, and it would be real cool to have someone answer my emails while I’m gone.

Thank you! Always a pleasure!