“Elmer’s has been our top non-chain retail account in the state, so we wanted to celebrate our strong partnership by creating a beer co-branded with one of our best customers,” said Dakota Soule, general manager of Upper Hand Brewery.

Beginning in summer 2025, the two parties began discussing possible plans. They finally coordinated schedules and got together at Upper Hand, located near the Delta County Airport, on April 17, 2026.

“We adjusted our production schedule so our entire team can fully focus on the day’s camaraderie,” Soule wrote ahead of time.

At 8 a.m. that Friday morning, Elmer’s County Market’s Pat Dagenais (owner), Kurt Strasler (store director), Alex Lindstrom (beer manager) and Jared Dagenais (liquor manager) met Upper Hand’s Soule, Jesse Herman (director of brewing operations), Hunter Price and Kirk Kaurala (brewers), Jason Davis (director of facilities and maintenance) and Levi Adickes (marketing and events coordinator) to make their first collaborative batch.

Brewer Kirk Kaurala (right) explains how yeast affects beer while Jared Dagenais, Kurt Strasler and Dakota Soule listen. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

The concoction the group of them assisted in making is a light liger, 4.5% ABV, made to be easy-drinking, tasty but simple.

Intended to be the first in a series of collaborative beers between Elmer’s and Upper Hand, the lager will be named “Elmer’s Made U.P. Light.”

While the recipe was mostly Herman’s doing, the Elmer’s crew came up with the name, Soule said.

‘Made You Pee’ subtly plays on how drinking a lot of beer causes us Yoopers to need to relieve ourselves in nature, whether behind a bush, a treeline, or in an outhouse,” he said light-heartedly. “Elmer and some of his forest friends will portray that imagery and narrative through various graphic elements on the can label.”

The 10-barrel-batch will yield slightly less that 310 gallons of beer.

Jared Dagenais scoops out spent grain from a previous batch of beer. This leftover organic material from Upper Hand Brewery will find new life as livestock feed for a local farmer. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Fermentation should only tale a total of 11 to 14 days, meaning that process should be finished later this week, but in order to allow time for samples to be sent for testing, the beer will cold-condition for slightly over a month.

“Any time you add ‘Light’ or ‘Lite’ to a product, the FDA requires a nutritional analysis of that product,” Soule explained. “Most of our beers don’t say ‘light’ and therefore don’t require it, and so we can get them from brew to package much faster, but because this one is a Light beer, we have to perform the necessary extra due diligence required by the FDA.”

Most of the finished product will go to the Elmer’s, but as Pike Distibutors isn’t allowed to keep a carrying exclusive, technically, anyone who buys from Pike could also order Elmer’s Made U.P. Light, if and when it’s available.

“The beer will be available in 6-pack cans at Elmer’s. Draft will also be available at the taproom here at Upper Hand Brewery,” Soule said.

The brewery aims to pack about 60 to 75 cases and put the rest into kegs. One objective is to have the six-packs ready for purchase at Elmer’s County Market before the Fourth of July.

Photo by Levi Adickes

“This will actually be the first in a ‘Made U.P.’ series for Elmer’s, with the styles rotating throughout the year,” Soule said. “Proposed future series names include “Made U.P. Dark” for the winter months and then “Made U.P. Hazy” for the spring. They will include a dark beer style and a hazy beer style, respectively. The exact recipes and release timings are yet to be determined.”

Upper Hand has teamed up with Rapid River pub owners Tom and Sugey Szocinski to brew two seasonal beers for their bar — a classic lemon shandy called “Rapid Shandy” for the warmer months and “Rapid Stout,” a peanut butter stout, for when something heartier is needed in the winter.

“They’ve been great to work with and made us realize that we can and should pursue more partnerships like these,” Soule said.

“WE also have two other collabs on the schedule for 2026 with other local organizations for some big specialty events. One this summer and another closer to the holidays,” Soule hinted. “That’s the only teaser I’ll share right now, but stay tuned for more details about those projects.”

For now, the brewers are monitoring the fermentation of the first Elmer’s beer with daily quality assurance testing and sensory studies — and carrying on with regular production, of course.