UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY Q&A

Upslope Brewing Company

Q&A With Co-Founder Henry Wood

by David Nickum

Upslope 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

was preparing to release Craft Lager, our fourth yearround beer, and donating a percentage of sales of that high volume beer seemed like a natural fit. It is highly session-able and perfect for a long day on the river.

David, how has Upslope’s “1% for Rivers” served as a model for creating mutually beneficial partnerships with other businesses?

Our partnership with Upslope really led us to thinking more broadly about the potential for corporate partnerships. Area fly shops and outfitters have always been great partners and supporters, but Upslope really pioneered collaboration with other businesses who also care about healthy rivers. It was important for us to start thinking more broadly – that clean, healthy streams not only support better fishing but brew better beer, make stronger communities, and enhance all the things we love about Colorado.

David, since its first gift of $186 back in 2010, Upslope has contributed nearly $90,000 to CTU and coldwater conservation over the years. What are some of the key projects/campaigns that this generosity has made possible?

Upslope has been incredibly generous in providing unrestricted funds that can be used where they are most needed, which has allowed us to tackle some important long-term campaigns that couldn’t be ‘solved’ in just a single year’s grant cycle. TU’s work in the Colorado headwaters is a great example. By sticking with our efforts to conserve and restore the Colorado and Fraser rivers over many years, we’ve been able to negotiate stronger protections for the river and help secure partnerships for major restoration efforts that are now bearing fruit – whether from habitat improvements in areas like the Fraser Flats or upcoming collaboration on restoring a mile of the Colorado River’s channel to reconnect it around the current Windy Gap dam. Knowing we have long-term committed partners like Upslope lets us think bigger and tackle issues that need multi-year effort to address.

Henry, apart from your generous financial contributions, how else has Upslope brought an ethic of stewardship into your operations?

Upslope became a B-Corp in 2018. We wanted to bring a 360-degree approach to our sustainability efforts. It is an all encompassing program that scrutinizes our environmental footprint, company governance, where we source our raw ingredients, employee sustainability, etc. I am very proud that Upslope has earned this status.

Looking forward, what do you think the most pressing issues surrounding healthy rivers and wild trout are? How can Upslope and Colorado TU combine forces to tackle these issues?

healthy rivers. I think that resource extraction is probably one of my greatest concern. We helped TU fight to protect the Smith River in Montana from the copper mine that is proposed to happen at the river’s headwaters. If we are logging and mining at the source of these rivers they don’t have a chance. We’ve got a lot of examples in CO where mining has damaged or threatens to damage rivers- like the Animas River for example. I’d like to see more clean up happen from the mining in CO.

David - Our fisheries are facing two huge crosscutting challenges – Colorado’s growing population putting more and more pressure on our rivers, and a changing climate that is increasing threats from drought, wildfire, and elevated water temperatures. The challenges are daunting, but the good news is that some of the most important work we can do to counter them is the very thing TU has done very well for years: working to improve stream and riparian habitat to create more resilient rivers that can hold up in the face of these pressures. Business partners like Upslope provide important financial support for those habitat conservation efforts, but just as important they help promote a culture that values our natural resources and sustainability. Speaking out for rivers and leading by example with their own sustainable business practices, Upslope is helping us broaden the community of support for conservation. It is only by working together that we can secure our rivers and trout for future generations.

Henry, since most folks won’t tell us their favorite fishing spot, how about your second favorite spot?

Ha! My wife and I are raising three kids and we both work…a lot! These days I am just happy to on the water. So I’m not that picky. BUT if pushed, I love fishing in the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem. That’s where it all started for me!

David, those of us who’ve been a part of the Colorado TU family for a while know that Upslope has generously donated untold cases of craft beer for various special events around the state (too many to count!). If you had to choose, what’s your favorite Upslope beverage to take with you for a day on Colorado’s beautiful rivers?

I’m of course partial to Craft Lager – not only is it a refreshing cold beer to enjoy through our warm Colorado summer, but Upslope gives 1% of sales to river conservation. But when I want to mix things up, I also really like their newer Spiked Snow Melt seltzers – the juniper & lime is excellent!