In my 2025 round-up of GABF medals heading back to Bend, I extol the brew crew at Bend’s brand new UPP Liquids and their historic haul of five GABF medals plus being named Brewery of the Year!

In my 2024 round-up of GABF precious medals returning from Denver to Bend last year, I prognosticated, “While 10 Barrel earned six medals overall, I don’t imagine this feat will be replicated in the future. That’s because the award-winning beers were created by 10 Barrel’s innovation team, all of whom were terminated by new owner Tilray.”

While no other upstart brewery has won five medals (in this case, two gold, two silver, one bronze for four intriguing sour beers and an imperial stout), no other new brewery has quite the same pedigree. That’s because UPP is the merger of Immersion Brewing’s ownership of husband-and-wife team Sean Lampe and Amanda Plattner along with most of 10 Barrel Brewing’s innovation team (Tonya Cornett, Ian Larkin, Jose Ruiz, and Ben Shirley), all of them unceremoniously laid off last year by new owner Tilray Brands immediately preceding 10 Barrel’s record-tying haul of six medals at the 2024 GABF.