History and Mystique of Upland
Upland Brewing Company was founded in 1997. In 1998, after a year of planning and preparation, the Tap Room opened its doors and Upland distributed the first kegs of Pale, Porter, Amber, and Upland's signature Wheat to our first Bloomington customers and other select venues throughout Indiana. Nine months later, with the bottling line up and running, and our first distribution partner on board, full distribution of both kegs and bottles commenced. Thanks to a dedicated and top-flight
brewing crew who consistently brewed excellent beers, word-of-mouth "organic" advertising, and the early support of Big Red Liquors, sales of Upland products have expanded exponentially each year since. By 2004, Upland had partnered with three distributors who have extended our reach to all 92 counties in Indiana. Thanks to our loyal customers and the growing ranks of new patrons, and we are truly thankful, Upland today is proud to call itself Indiana's largest microbrewery.
With the growth of the brewery, the Tap Room has also evolved, adding an outdoor dining-and-music biergarten. Housed in the old Graphic Impressions printing plant that owner Marc Sattinger converted and refurbished, the Tap Room provides an airy, open environment where great food, great beer, and great friends come together in the context of a working brewery.
Upland? Bad Elmer?
So, we are often asked, "Why did you name yourselves 'Upland?'" This query is frequently followed, or preceded, with a corollary question, "Who is Elmer, and why is he 'Bad?'"
The Upland part is easy. It's also somewhat technical and has lot to do with geology. In a way, you can answer the question by asking a similar one: why is Indianapolis so flat? Everybody knows the answer to that one: glaciers. And it's true. Over several glacial periods, great sheets of ice covered Indiana (and all the Great Plains) crushing and flattening the landscape. But those enormous glacial bulldozers penetrated southwards only so far. Then they stopped. Where they stopped in Indiana is referred to as the "Norman and Crawford Uplands."
Because they were never flattened down, these "uplands" of Southern Indiana consist of rugged, heavily wooded and narrowly eroded "hills and hollers" several feet higher than the surrounding valleys and plains that so characterize Northern Indiana.
The upland terrain, fringing the edges of the retreating glaciers, became natural havens for innumerable forms of wildlife. And with the wildlife, America's earliest hunters. From Clovis to Mound Builders, to The Little Turtle and Tecumseh, the uplands were the favored hunting grounds of indigenous peoples for tens of thousands of years. After the defeat of Tecumseh, the Ohio River Valley opened to settlement by Europeans. These, too, were determined, hardy folk who wrested their livings out of an obdurate earth, and who were by habitude and necessity, independently-minded, possessing immense resolve, confidence and passion for life.
"Upland" thus reflects all of this sometimes tragic but always inspiring history, absorbing in its usage the rich heritage of Southern Indiana.
And Elmer? Well, Elmer is the embodiment of the "Uplander" mystique. Hardy, hard working, self sufficient, and more than that, self reliant, Elmer represents the values to which all of us at Upland Brewing Company aspire. Why is Elmer "bad?" Now, that is another story.
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