Portland, Oregon based Alebriated Distribution has been acquired by fellow Portland based company Upstanding Distribution in another sign of strategic partnerships forming in the wholesale craft beer industry. But this deal is much different then recent acquisitions like Browar Polska and Kendall’s Beverage in Washington, or General Distributors sale to Columbia, this one is one up and coming small wholesaler merging with another similar company both giving a leg up to tiny, mostly single location taproom breweries that cannot handle distribution of their own beers.

“We at Upstanding Distribution look forward to offering additional specialty liquids from some very talented suppliers that are transitioning over to our catalog in the very near future,” says Upstanding Distribution managing partner Mike Neely. “I believe this will enhance our current catalog with the addition of more local Oregon and Washington state producers. This acquisition also allows us to bring in additional suppliers that range throughout the states as well that previously supplied Alebriated.”

Alebriated was founded in 2012 by Christoper “Bake” Baker, and initially established themselves bringing in small but buzzworthy breweries like 3 Magnets Brewing, Matchless Brewing, and Urban Family Brewing. Over the years, Alebriated has added some of the best specialty niche breweries around, such as The Ale Apothecary and Machine House, and hot newer brands like Varietal Beer and Bearded Iris.

The Alebriated portfolio of brands is heavily reliant on Washington breweries, which makes sense for Upstanding Distribution which is just recently launching their services in the evergreen state. Upstanding also just activated a second warehouse in Bend, Oregon to increase their footprint in central and southern parts of the state. Upstanding brings in hard to find but sought after brands such as The Alchemist (famed for Heady Topper IPA), Anchorage Brewing, Holy Mountain, Fast Fashion, and Jester King, among others.

If Upstanding Distribution is not a familiar name, their previous history as Shelton Brothers Oregon may be. When that distributor launched in 2016 as an off-shoot of world famous Shelton Brothers Importers from the east coast, it was big news. Suddenly the importing company responsible for introducing generations of Americans to the greatest European breweries in the world wasn’t just partnering up with distributors but becoming one. But in 2020, Shelton Brothers, the importer, imploded with the banks forcing them to liquidate their assets. But because the distributor was a separate entity, it continued under the leadership of Elise Spitzer who eventually rebranded the company as Upstanding Distribution and began shifting to more local partners while retaining relationships with a few international luminaries like Drie Fonteinen.

“Elise, myself and Jake Mowdy pivoted during the pandemic to rebrand and focus on more west coast and statewide breweries since imports were stalled during that time,” says Neely, who was one of the original partners when they started independent distribution in Oregon. Neely comes from a background of art, logistics and craft beer. Most of his career established at UPS and Point Blank Distributing where Elise did Shelton Brothers import sales before they all left and brought those brands into the new distributor.

Upstanding was approached by Alebriated according to Neely, who thought it would be a great way to enhance their current catalog. Finding the funding for an acquisition was more difficult, they flirted with a lender before settling on a payment arrangement over time.

“We’re not backed by big money, a brewery or anything of that nature. Simply just a locally owned and operated company who good morals, ethics and rewards their employees with profit sharing, fair wages, benefits, 401K etc. That said, with those things in place that has helped us be able to open up other distribution outlets because we have a great working relationship and solid fucking team,” says Neely.

A diverse lineup of partners has recently landed at Upstanding even before the Alebriated acquisition. The Portland newcomers Grand Fir Brewing, also new Seattle brewery Bizarre Brewing, quickly growing Puff Coffee, and even latino-owned artisanal ice maker CUBE’D with their clear, mint, edible flowers, and coffee infused cubes.

Upstanding will bring in the Alebriated brands that are still wanting to continue Oregon distribution with the change of ownership. The addition of their second warehouse in Bend, and now with coffee roasters, more ciders, seltzers, etc. the pending expansion into statewide Washington distribution, will make for a more complete and competitive wholesaler that has little in common with the Shelton Brothers import business that they started out with 7 years ago.

“As we transition the Alebriated brands over to the Upstanding catalog yes we intend on bringing in beers and ciders towards the end of this month, first week of October at the very latest,” adds Neely.