Upland Brewing Debuts Oak & Rosé Sour

Upland Brewing Co. in Bloomington, Indiana has released its newest summer seasonal. Oak & Rosé is a collaboration sour beer with Oliver Winery that features Chambourcin grapes, commonly used in the making of Rosé wines.

“We are eager to get Oak & Rosé out to all of our distribution partners. This sour ale will stand out amongst the crowd of other rosé grape inspired beers,” said Dusty Howe, Upland's Director of National Sales.

The full release from Upland is below.

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA—Upland Brewing Co. is celebrating their 20th Anniversary with several new beer releases and tap takeovers across their distribution markets. Summer sours are on the way with the release of Oak & Rosé on draught and 500 ml bottles and Hopsynth and Boysenberry on draught.

"It’s exciting that our sour program brought home a gold medal at this year’s World Beer Cup as we celebrate our 20th Anniversary as a brewery. We’ve learned a lot in the past two decades and the proof of that is in the excellent lineup of beers our brewers are creating,” said Dusty Howe, Director of National Sales

Oak & Rosé is a new sour ale in collaboration with neighbors, Oliver Winery, who Upland traded a few cases of beer for oak barrels back in 2006 when they began experimenting with sours. Upland releases a Oak & Red and Oak & White blend, using select red and grape varietals, but this is the first year using Chambourcin grapes, commonly used in rosé wines. “We are eager to get Oak & Rosé out to all of our distribution partners. This sour ale will stand out amongst the crowd of other rosé grape inspired beers,” said Howe. Nuanced grape aromas infuse with pear and citrus notes of the base blonde beer. Moderate red grape flavor is balanced by tartness and complexity from the blended beer selection.

Upland has been innovating with unique ingredient combinations and uncommon fruit selections, like pawpaws, plums and cardamom, guava and now boysenberry. Boysenberry was a single barrel experiment at their Wood Shop Sour Brewery resulting in floral, funky notes and intense boysenberry character deserving of being scaled up, bottled and shared.  

Hopsynth returns this summer with an award in tow. Hopsynth’s label, produced by Young & Laramore Advertising and inspired by the artwork of Michael Cina, was recently recognized by USA Today as one of the Top 10 Best Beer Labels in a public vote. This dry-hopped ale uses the freshest hops available for a tailored range of hop aromas. For hop-forward devotees wanting to dabble in sours, Hopsynth is the ideal introduction.

Upland also set the date for the 9th annual Sour Wild Funk Fest on March 23, 2018, where sour fans can experience rare and unique beers from the best sour breweries across the country. Beer festivals are always a great spark for creativity and especially for brewery collaborations. As a result of previous opportunities to create brewery connections, Upland has upcoming Cigar City Brewing and Mikkeller brews, set to release later this year. 

Check out more upcoming releases here.