by Bob Ostrander

Sept 18, 2006

Indiana's largest brewery has had some major changes in the last couple of years. Ed Hermann, Matt Hill, Ken Price, Andrew St. Lawrence, Kari Gjerdingen, Chuck Watts and now owner Marc Sttinger have gone walkabout. Caleb Staton, Shaun Byrnes, Aleleen Martin, Russel Wyatt, Penn Jensen have arrived. And this week, new cellerman Mike Lahti and new a clutch of new owners are settling in.

Doug Dayhoff leads the new ownership team with Adam Estes, Warren Cutshall, and Gene Jones making up the rest of the backfield. Doug is the hands-on guy who will use Penn's extensive industry experience to guide Upland in some new expansion plans. All was explained at a Mug Club party last Saturday. The brewery was packed with devotees to celebrate the Oktoberfest release, have a pitch-in, and to enjoy a good band, Double E.

Below are the three latest additions

• "Ale"een Martin came from Browning's Brewery in Nashville last May where she had been a Brewster for 4 years.
• Mike Lahti came to Bloomington just in time for the party and started as Cellerman on Monday. He was at the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont.
• Doug Dayhoff has been around Bloomington all his life. Well, call it near Bloomington since he and his family have been dairy and hay farmers for a couple of generations. He also has had other interests in Bloomington including a greeting card company that actually bought Marc Sattinger's previous business, Graphic Impressions, before Marc started Upland. Wow. Deja Vu.

Expansion plans? Yep. A 25ft extension to the back. Another floor above the brewery. An underground parking garage. Well, maybe not that much expansion, but the other two are probable. Buying the bar next store seems to be out of the picture right now and land space is tight so the first two will be necessary.

Oh, one more possible addition. Ed Hermann is back in Bloomington and may take on a part-time consulting role. He won't be getting the Head Brewer job back though as Caleb Staton is happy there.