Uinta Brewing Supports POW with Special Brews

The Uinta Brewing Co. 'POW Pack' comes with 12 bottles, four of each beer. Photo: Photo courtesy of Phil Edelstein

Park City, Utah. — This winter Uinta Brewing, partnering with Powder Mountain, Brighton, and Deer Valley, created the ‘POW Pack,’ a seasonal variety of beers representing the participating Utah resorts and Protect Our Winters (POW). A portion of sales will be donated to POW’s mission to help passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change.

“We look for organizations such as POW to give back to as we’re a bunch of skiers and snowboarders here,” said Jeremy Worrell, director of marketing for Uinta Brewing. “So this is about as important an issue to us as anything.”

Last winter Uinta Brewing committed to raising money for POW on draft sales of their amber lager, called Yard Sale. When Covid-19 hit, Uinta Brewing saw draft sales plummet as bars and restaurants closed. The brewery decided to donate a flat rate of $5,000 rather than a percent of the proceeds.

“When we were looking at forecasts for this year, we recognized draft beer is not what it was,” Worrell said. “We were picking back up with the POW program, but I quickly saw that there was going to be a shortfall on what we were going to be able to do, just because there were fewer draft handles.”

Worrel’s idea for the POW Pack moved from concept to implementation quickly. Uinta started by getting ski resorts on board. Brighton was a natural fit as it was already a long-term partner with the brewery, and Uinta Brewing wanted to diversify the regions with Powder Mountain north of Salt Lake and Deer Valley on the backside of the Wasatch, Worrell said. Uinta produced the variety pack out in just two months, afar faster than the typical six to nine months.

“It was just a way for us to bridge the gap from our commitment that we had made last year to them and as a way to diversify and attack [sales] from the off-premise angle, as opposed to just tap handles,” said Worrell.

Torrey Udall, director of development and operations, said partnerships like this one are critical to raising funds for POW to do its work. Udall sees these partnerships as twofold, providing communication channels in addition to financial support.

“We’ve found over the years that brands and businesses, especially within the community, can be great levers and onramps for customers and outdoor enthusiasts to get involved with POW’s mission,” said Udall.

POW has other local partnerships, including SkullCandy, but none with Utah resorts. Udall is looking at strategies for future engagement with the mountain resorts.

“[Resorts] have been really critical for us in terms of awareness and having a climate message on the hill and providing customers, skiers and snowboarders an opportunity to take an action,” Udall said. “We’re reevaluating it and thinking, how can we make a resort model in a way that many can participate. I think there’s lots of opportunity coming down the line as we head into 2021 and beyond.”

Worrell said Uinta Brewing is looking forward to new beers and the return of live music and beer events in 2021. Being involved with community events is a big part of its presence in Utah, he said.

“We are on a clock of needing to curb global emissions in half in the next ten years as the scientists have been imploring us,” Udall said. “The United States as a leading country in the world, and mountain economies states throughout the country, have a great opportunity to push for legislation and policy shifts to help us get on path and get back into Paris climate Accords at the national level, and then continue to push federally for sweeping climate action. We don’t have time to waste, and tying it back to Uinta and this opportunity, you have to make progress. Sometimes that progress is steps and small signals, but if you continue to build those together, you can do big things.”

Uinta is selling 4,000 cases of the POW Pack, all within Utah. It plans to at least match the $5,000 it donated to POW last winter. For more information head to Uinta Brewing.