Batch156: UpCountry Brewing Founder John Cochran

Cheers to the Asheville beer lovers! John Cochran, founder and owner of UpCountry Brewing in Asheville, NC, joins the show to talk about his legendary career in the craft beer industry. From washing kegs in Atlanta in 1995 to founding a brewery putting out over 80,00 barrels to starting all over again in Asheville.UpCountry Brewing opened in 2016 and has been making waves in the Asheville beer scene ever since. We find out the history of UpCountry, what sets them apart, and why he wanted to start all over with a new brewery. We get a guided tasting of some of their great beers: UpCo Lager, Black Currant Gose, Oat Pale Ale, Scamper IPA, and Isoprene IPA.John talks about his early days of coming up in the Atlanta beer scene, getting deep into craft beer while living in Seattle, drinking every beer he saw in college, making awful home-brew, and how that all translated into a job as a brewer.We dive into his time as co-founder of Terrapin Beer Company; meeting his partner Spike Buckowski on the job, running a successful brewery, and what led to selling to Miller Coors. He talks about his side of the transaction, what it meant to sell, and why he ultimately sold. John shares some of the behind-the-scenes fun and secret projects that were going on at Miller around that time.John turns the tables and starts interviewing Greg; they discuss the state of the craft beer industry, the difficulty of distribution and packaging, why he changed the name of the brewery to UpCountry, and much more.The episode gets wrapped up with a round of rapid-fire questions.A huge thank you to John Cochran for sharing his time and some of his great beer, and thanks to his staff for helping us to get set up and settled. If you'd like to find out more about UpCountry Brewing, head over to www.upcountrybrewing.com, www.facebook.com/upcountrybrew, www.instagram.com/upcountrybrew, or www.twitter.com/upcountrybrew. And if you're in Asheville, NC, head over to 1042 Haywood Road or in Brevard 212 King St Suite B for their second location. Don't forget to check us out at www.theunfilteredgentlemen.com and to follow us on our social medias for some great beer shots: www.facebook.com/theunfilteredgentlemen, @unfilteredgents on twitter, and TheUnfilteredGentlemen on Instagram! We want you to drunk dial (805) 538-BEER (2337), we'd love to hear from you!