To celebrate our 15th anniversary and the bright future for local beer in Indiana, Upland Brewing Co. is paying homage to Indiana's most beloved local beer of all time.

The growth of local beer in Indiana in recent years is a great cause for celebration, but local beer is not something new; in fact, it is our heritage. Though most of us are not old enough to remember the last time that the beer in someone’s hand was brewed just down the street, beer was once the sole province of local breweries. Though the craft beer movement might seem new, it is actually as much about looking to our past as it is moving into the future.

“We’re heading into our 15^th year of operation on the heels of a massive brewery expansion, and the next few years are going to be very exciting,” says Upland’s President, Doug Dayhoff. “But we think the best way to celebrate the success that local breweries like us are having is by paying tribute to Indiana’s most successful local beer in history.”

Champagne Velvet is a German-inspired lager that was the flagship of the Terre Haute Brewing Company during its heyday, from the turn of the 20^th century until the late 1950s. If you were living in Indiana in 1908, it was the beer you and your friends would raise to celebrate the end of the work week, that you’d take with you on a fishing trip, and that you’d serve at holiday get-togethers. Champagne Velvet defined beer in Indiana for over fifty years before the Terre Haute Brewing Company fell victim to the rampant practice of consolidation that characterized the brewing industry in the latter half of the 20^th century. CV lost its home and identity, and eventually fell out of production altogether.

But that was not the end for Champagne Velvet. Inspired by the brewing notes of the Terre Haute Brewery’s assistant brewer, Walter Braun, dated to 1901, the brewers at Upland have resurrected Champagne Velvet, much as it might have been in its early pre-prohibition years. The men and women of Indiana will once again taste the smooth and flavorful lager that is their heritage in bottles and on draught beginning in April 2013.