Thirsty Thursday | Upper Hand Brewing, UPA

I have to say I am really excited about this post! First, we haven't shot a beer in awhile... that doesn't mean we haven't had any in the mean time, just no time to photograph them, ha! Secondly, I have been waiting to try a beer from Upper Hand Brewing for awhile so there is that too. I read about Upper Hand when it was in the development stages a few years back as it is an extension of one of our favorite breweries, Bells Brewing, that would be entirely based in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan brewing their own beer with their own unique identity. 

Production began less than a year ago in 2014 out of Escanaba, MI. When I crossed over into the U.P. for work last week I was REALLY excited to find all three of the styles they are currently producing. We tried their Escanaba Black Beer last week and it was quite tasty, today we are featuring their UPA. 

The UPA surprised me a bit. Like many breweries do from time to time I was assuming (my bad) that Upper Hand was doing a play on a pale ale name but I was wrong yet pleasantly surprised. This very mellow beer was a bit maltier than I expected (not in a bad way) finishing with a nice balanced hop character. Overall we really enjoyed this beer and at very drinkable 5.5% abv many more could be enjoyed! Sadly, I only picked up one of each style in my mix n' match but I am excited for the next time I am in the U.P to get more!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photograph: Fornear Photo