Upslope Brewing Company Q&A With Co-Founder Henry Wood by David Nickum
U
pslope Brewing Company has been a valued supporter and Colorado TU business partner for more than a decade. We are thrilled to highlight that longstanding collaboration with a Q and A featuring Upslope Co-Founder Henry Wood and Colorado TU Executive Director David Nickum. After all, what goes better together than fishing and beer?!
Henry, please tell us a little about yourself. How did you get into fly fishing? What led you into brewing, and the founding of Upslope? I began fly fishing in my mid to late twenties when I was working for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). I was teaching backpacking and mountaineering in the Wind River Range. We usually carried fly rods on course so I started to pick it up in the evenings at camp. Turns out, the Winds in the late 90’s was a hotspot for amazing fishing. I thought the sport was really easy. Boy, was I spoiled from the get go! My wife and I moved to Boulder in 2005. She is a teacher and I wanted to leave outdoor education and get involved with a start up company. In 2008, I met Matt Cutter and Dany Page. They were looking for someone to run sales and marketing for their new brewery so I joined up. Henry, how did your “1% for Rivers” partnership with Colorado TU come to be? I met Tom Reed, Northwest Regional Director for TU’s Angling Conservation Project, in the late 90’s while working at NOLS and we’ve been close friends ever since. Tom brought Sinjin Eberle, past Colorado TU Board President, into the brewery in 2010 to discuss partnering with TU in some way. Upslope
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High Country Angler • Summer 2021
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