If you follow us on social media you may have noticed a bunch of photos of our crew down south eating fried chicken, bbq, and drinking lots of beer. While we were having an awesome time on our road trip workcation…
we had ulterior motives.
We love collaboration at Upland and in 2014 we brought you several collaboration beers. In 2015, we’re excited to announce this tradition will continue in 2015!
We’re excited to announce that we will be creating several new collaboration beers in 2015. The first collaboration will be with Nashville’s Yazoo Brewing Company and the second will be with Great Raft Brewing Co. in Shreveport, Louisiana. With the breweries both being down South we decided to make a regular work trip into an epic road trip.
Stop 1: Yazoo Brewing Company in Nashville
Upland Brewing Company’s Sour Program Director Caleb Staton and Brandon Jones, lead brewer for Yazoo’s Embrace The Funk, met March 10th and are working together to create two unique blends of wild beer. The Yazoo brew will debut at Washington DC’s craftbeer and food event SAVOR this summer.
Details about the Upland Brew Company and Yazoo salon click here.
While our stay in Nashville was quick, we managed to squeeze in some hot chicken and cold beer.
Stop 2: Mayhaw Orchard in El Dorado, Arkansas
After Nashville we headed further south to El Dorado, Arkansas to scope out a Mayhaw orchard. Caleb has long been intrigued by this indigenous southern fruit so we met with Paul McLaughlin, a local mayhaw orchard owner and expert. After touring McLaughlin’s orchard, we sampled some of his mayhaw jelly and wine to determine what flavors the fruit would have on the beer. To our delight, mayhaws are delicious and they will be involved a future Upland brew.
So many roadside delicacies…
Stop 3: Great Raft Brewing Co. in Shreveport, Louisiana
After a thorough lesson on everything mayhaw, we ventured further South to Shreveport to brew with Great Raft Brewing Co.
Caleb and Harvey head brewer of Great Raft go way back to brewing school and were excited to work together again. The two brewed together at Great Raft March 12 and look forward to sharing some new funky beers with the craft beer community later this year. More details to come!
If you ever find yourself in Louisiana, make sure you visit Great Raft. They’ll show you a good time!
Stop 4: NOLA
To round out our Upland Spring Break Workcation we ended the week in New Orleans. There was lots of beer, lots of food, a couple of parades, and maybe a purple drank or two.
To see more of our trip look up #uplandspringbreak on social media. Cheers!
