Upright's Ingenious, Creative Approach

In a market flooded with breweries that can't wait to get bigger so they can brew and sell more and more beer, Alex Ganum's little brewery in the basement of the Leftbank Project Building represents an alternative approach to beer and marketing.

The brewery graciously provided members of the media with one of those intimate excursions in tasting the other night. We worked our way through a couple of upcoming bottle releases while a relaxed Ganum talked about what they were doing with each beer. 

In case you don't know, Upright specializes in Farmhouse-style beers with a Northwest twist. Ganum and his staff are experts at creating barrel-aged brews that incorporate assorted regional fruit and other delights. The results are often mesmerizing. 

Of course, Farmhouse beers are not the only thing they do. Ganum also likes to embark on some fairly quirky projects. Several years ago, he brewed an interpretation of Bud Light. No joke. Unlike the original, Upright's version was rather tasty. Their Engelberg Pilsner was named Beer of the Year in the 2015 Willamette Week Beer Guide. They get pilsner.

Despite the fact that they make great beer, Upright is largely an undiscovered destination. I don't believe the place is underrated, as a recent blog poll suggested. Underrated and unknown are different issues. People just don't know much about Upright, the direct result Ganum's chosen path: limited production, limited distribution and limited taproom hours. You get what you play for.

If you look at OLCC stats, which are strictly a rough guide to what's selling (we've been through this before), Upright sold 924 barrels in Oregon during 2013. They then sold 874 barrels in 2014. Final numbers for 2015 aren't yet published, but when they are Upright will be about where it has been for the last two years. Production is more or less static.

That's a nice strategy if you can pull it off. Upright has done so by creating a premium product that is reasonably priced and sought after. Like boutique wineries, they sell a lot of bottles out of their tasting room. In the case of the upcoming releases, Ganum said he expects to sell more than 50 percent of the production direct to patrons. 

When you pursue this business model and you're comfortable with the work and satisfied with the money you're making, you don't need to mess around with expansion and debt. It also means you don't need to sell out to private equity or Anheuser-Bush. You're only concern is to continue making great beer that people want to buy and drink. Pretty sweet. 

Oh, I should mention the upcoming releases, Heart's Beat and Shades. Descriptions (with minor edits) from the press release: 

Hearts' Beat was brewed first using Chelan cherries from the Baird Family Orchards. These are dark and intense, so the plan was to showcase the fruit. To achieve that, we started with our usual process of using a very basic grist with aged hops for minimal bitterness, then ran the wort directly into eight casks that contained over 100 pounds of fruit in each. A blend of two different brettanomyces strains with some lactobacillus was added and the barrels sat for a year before blending and bottle conditioning, which began in July 2015. The high tannin level lends the beer a distinct edge that holds up well against the acidity, and the amount of fruit makes the beer drink much like a cherry wine, a character that is enhanced at cellar temp over typical beer serving temperature. The Hearts' Beat is not intended to mimic Belgian Kriek or any defined style, but rather to follow in the path of Fantasia as a beer combining elements of Belgian lambics, saisons and our own whims.

Shades also uses cherries from Baird, although in this case we're talking Rainiers, which don't alter the color of the beer. This is deceiving because it's loaded with fruit flavor, again employing more than 100 pounds per cask, although this blend only comprised six barrels. We used two different lots of cherries, one notably sweet and the other tart, and inoculated the casks with three different brettanomyces strains. The beer was aged and conditioned just like the Hearts' Beat, but we pushed the brett to produce a funkier aromatic profile with a bit more acidity. 

Both beers are named after a Charles Mingus composition from the album "The Black Saint and Sinner Lady." They are set to be released together as soon as we finish the labels, with most allocated to the brewery tasting room.

Upright also expects to release annual renditions of Fantasia, Fatali Four and Billy Mountain in the near future. Each will feature a new label for the first time since their initial release.

Things are good at Upright.

Open Nearly a Year, The Commons Cruises Along

The Commons Brewery in Southeast Portland opened nearly a year ago and will soon celebrate its first anniversary. I first visited early on and I stopped by several times since. My initial post on this brewery is here, if you're interested.

That's Rusticity on the left

The Commons has certainly built its brand presence around town. They conduct tastings all over the place and bottles are available at many finer stores and bottleshops. Their beers can also be found on draft in more and more places.

These are Belgian-influenced beers. As I said the first time around, they don't brew or pour your standard beers here. There's no IPA on tap. No PBR, either. You get the idea.

These guys continue to expand their line of beers. On my visit the other night, the only beer I remembered from earlier visits was the Urban Farmhouse Ale, likely their best-known beer. All of the beers on the board were low-octane. The very tart Berliner weisse came in at just 3.4% and ABV topped out at 6% for the list. It's quite amazing that beers with so much character can come in such a low alcohol form.

The board keeps getting more interesting

The beer that really grabbed me this time was Rusticity. This stuff is a collaboration between The Commons, Breakside Brewing and Upright Brewing, evidently brewed for the recent Killer Beerfest. Rusticity is fairly dark and mildly tart, with hints of cherries. It's a blend of two rye beers...a Belgian rye stout and Breakside's Six, both barrel-aged. This is a brilliant beer worth searching out if you haven't already tasted it. I suspect it's in short supply.

One of the things that's happened at The Commons as they've ratcheted up operations is there is less space available in the tasting room. Why? Because the complement of oak barrels has roughly doubled since they opened to the pubic a year ago. That's a guess. The additional barrels suggest things are going well.

Word is, they will soon be occupying some additional space in their building to store bottles, kegs, and related tools of the trade. Currently, this stuff sits out in the main hall when they're open for business and is schlepped back into the brewery/tasting room when they aren't. The additional space will surely be welcome.

More barrels...a sign of success

Given the success they've had, I was wondering when they would expand tasting room hours. Until recently, they were open Friday evening and Saturday afternoon/evening. That seemed a bit constrained to me, but I realize they were taking it slow. Now, they've expanded the hours to Thursday evening, 5-9 p.m. That ought to make it a little easier for folks to stop in and experience these well-crafted beers.

Finally, there's a possibility they will be putting together some sort of event to celebrate their first anniversary in early December. No word on when or what the event might look like. Watch for social media updates or check their website for information.

Is Craft Beer Leaving the Brewpub Model Behind?

A (seemingly) long time ago in a (beer) galaxy not far from home, the craft beer revolution was born. There are arguments over the specific place. Some would argue Fritz Maytag's Anchor Steam was the first craft brewery...the counter argument being that Maytag merely retooled an existing brewery to produce something better than what it made before. I don't want to get into a controversy about that and, anyway, the question of who was first isn't on my mind today.

In our galaxy, the brewpub started here

What I am thinking about is the brewpub...and how it was crucial to the development of the craft beer business here (and everywhere). Brewpubs are a big reason we have such a healthy beer culture in Portland today. More on why in a second. There isn't even an argument over who opened the first brewpub in Portland. McMenamin's Hillsdale Brewery and Public House was the first. It opened in 1985. Others soon followed.

Why was the brewpub a crucial cog in the spinning wheel of craft beer? I once held the view that the 21-34 demographic made craft beer a success here in the early days. My logic: They drink a lot of beer and they got interested in craft beer. Fine. Unfortunately, wrong. The craft beer movement did not grow into something formidable simply because young adults drink more beer than their parents. Nope.

Not in Portland, but there's no food here

The fact is, craft beer needed the brewpub to spread its wings. It would most certainly not be what it is today if it had been confined to taverns, bars and tasting rooms. No question about it. In that scenario, it never would have gotten the wide exposure it got through the brewpub. Craft became what it is because the brewpub opened its doors to all ages. That includes the young adult drinkers I mentioned, but it also includes adults of all ages, some who have kids.

From a business standpoint, the brewpub helped craft brewers build their business. It provided a place where people could go to eat a reasonable lunch or dinner and have a quality beer. Most owners will tell you their gross revenue leans in favor of food. The owner of my "home" pub recently told me his revenue is 60-40 food to beer. I suspect that's pretty standard. Of course, there's more profit in beer than in food, so you have to be careful about these numbers.

My point is this: A lot of people come to brewpubs because they are essentially restaurants where you can get good beer. The genius of the brewpub is that it dramatically expanded the available demographic of craft beer consumers. The founders of the craft beer industry in Oregon knew what they were doing when they lobbied to make brewpubs legal. People of all ages came in for the food. The beer flowed...making money for the business in the process. A perfect match.

A tasting flight at The Commons

If I sound like Captain Obvious, hang on. The reason I'm bringing up the brewpub concept is that a growing number of breweries are choosing a different path...a path that doesn't include food. Here's a quick list of nearby breweries that have no food: The Commons, Occidental, Gigantic, Mt. Tabor, Natian (no tasting room, to my knowledge), Upright, and Harvester. These are essentially production breweries that intend to make their money through distribution by keg and (especially) bottle (or can).

I can't help but wonder how this is going to work out. There's growing competition for shelf space in stores and tap space in pubs. Remember, these breweries typically have limited tasting room hours. If you want to try their their beers at the brewery, you better check the calendar and plan ahead. It's hard to imagine all of the players in this sandbox succeeding, even with the ongoing growth of craft beer as a sail.

Sprints (right) launched the specialty sales model

In the end, I suspect the ones that succeed will be the ones that are able to sell a unique product, likely barrel-aged or limited release beer, directly to customers. This model is already being used by Upright and The Commons. Alan Sprints (Hair of the Dog) is the godfather of this model in Portland, having perfected it over many years. He effectively sells limited edition beers directly to customers for high dollar.

The brewpub model is the foundation of craft beer revolution in Portland and beyond. Is it possible that we've moved on? Are these production/specialty breweries the next step in the evolution? Only time will tell. My guess is not everyone trying this is going to be able to pull it off. We shall see.