For Upslope’s beers, ‘being a Colorado brand is sexy’

Mike Cutter, founder of Upslope Brewing Co., only sells his beer in Colorado even though he’s been tempted to distribute it farther. “We always thought that if our identification isn’t established well in Colorado, we have no business going out of state. Besides, being a Colorado brand is sexy.” Jonathan Castner

Elizabeth Gold
BOULDER — Matt Cutter, founder of Upslope Brewing Co., sees success in business as the result of sticking to a simple formula. For him, that includes recipes for the kinds of beer people keep coming back for.

“You start out with what you consider a sound business concept, surround yourself with very passionate people who are very good at doing things you’re not, and then work really, really hard,” he said. “We’ve also been blessed with timing and being in the right place.”

Craft brewing is growing by 10 percent to 14 percent yearly, according to Cutter. And with it accounting for a mere 6.5 percent of all beer sold in the United States, the industry has plenty of room to grow.

To Cutter, being in the right place means calling the Rocky Mountain state home because Colorado has developed its own brand in craft beer. “People know that and seek it out.”

Founded in 2008, Upslope Brewing has increased annual revenue 187 percent from $729,157 in 2010 to $2.1 million in 2012, placing it No. 5 on the Boulder County Business Report’s Mercury 100 list of fastest-growing companies in Boulder and Broomfield counties for companies reporting more than $2 million in annual revenue.

“Another thing that has helped us is staying true to our values,” Cutter explained. “We always wanted to focus on brewing premium ales and lagers and packaging them exclusively in cans and kegs.”

And that’s what the company has stuck to.

Another value he’s stayed with is to go deep in a market before going wide.

“We only sell in Colorado even though we’ve been tempted to go farther,” Cutter said. “We always thought that if our identification isn’t established well in Colorado, we have no business going out of state.

“Besides, being a Colorado brand is sexy.”

Knowing how to manage growth and doing that well has been one of Cutter’s primary focuses over these past four years.

“Part of what has forced us to manage well is that all of our investment is in-house – between the bank, our employees and the second mortgage on my house.”

Not having what he calls “a big pot of money” makes paying close attention to cash flow a mandatory daily activity.

“You can grow yourself out of business,” Cutter said. “Eighty percent of all startups fail in the first three years because the variables that can do that are exponential.”

Some of those variables include not having the cash to cover daily expenses from salaries to rent and not having a stash to handle the unexpected.

He also stressed the need to keep product inventory in line with sales.