Entrepreneurial Superstars

Company: Snake River Brewing Co. Inc.

Location: Jackson Hole

Business Began: 1992

Start-Up Cost: $1.8 million

1996 Sales: $1.6 million

1997 Projections: $2.3 million

When former Anheuser-Busch wholesaler Albert Upsher, 57, had the chance to sell his distributorship a few years ago, he grabbed it. Having watched other microbrewers succeed through the years, he and his wife, Joni, 45, decided to move from Oregon to Jackson Hole and start their own microbrewery in the small community of about 5,000.

Today, Snake River Brewing is riding a wave of success in the tourist hot spot, brewing 3,500 barrels a year with a recent expansion that should double that capacity. But popularity with the locals and tourists hasn't inspired Upsher to take his beer nationwide, or even beyond the Rocky Mountain states, where it's distributed to grocery stores and bars.

"Our strategy is to create a brand unique to this region so when people come here, they'll be interested in trying our beer," explains Upsher. "It becomes part of the experience of [visiting] Jackson Hole."

Thirty percent of Snake River's award-winning lagers and ales are sold in the adjacent restaurant, which also serves wine, wood-fired pizzas and pastas, and features local bands playing jazz two nights a week. Upsher's only expansion plans will culminate with the construction of another microbrewery and pub in Sun Valley, Idaho, which he expects to open early next year. "We like to use the brewpubs to present our product to the consumer," he says. "It allows us to control the presentation."

This article was originally published in the April 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Entrepreneurial Superstars.