Albert and Joni Upsher opened Snake River Brewing in 1994. As a former Anheuser Busch distributor in McMinville, Oregon Albert knew the beer business. He took notice of the expanding microbrewery scene in Oregon and decided to open a brewery in his favorite ski town, Jackson Wyoming! Snake River Brewing started as a family owned business, and in 2008 Ted and Noa Stark, a local family, took over the ownership of the brewpub.
Our beginning seemed pretty simple. We bought an old cinder block building that was previously the base of operations for a Coca-Cola distributor. It seemed to be the perfect spot for Wyoming's first brewpub. We wanted an open industrial look, with lots of light and exposed steel beams. The brewing equipment and wood burning oven would be our artwork. The concept was to create a restaurant and brewing space that was open to our customers, to draw guests into the process of making beer. We wanted a simple and unpretentious neighborhood watering hole for locals to gather and Jackson Hole tourists to taste beer from the Great State of Wyoming. From the beginning we were determined to create a brewpub building that was both excellent in style architecturally and offered excellent food and beer. We felt strongly about the quality of workmanship in the restaurant, from its beautiful windows and ceiling to its mahogany curved bar. We decided to plan for quality, substance and longevity. We knew that Jackson Hole's citizens would judge us on the quality of our beers and food. Our mission statement became- "The world doesn't need another beer, but a better beer!"
