If you are familiar with the NBC hit show, Parks and Recreation, you will know that since the 2009 premier it has won a lot of acclaim.  The show is set in the small fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana.  With its strong Indiana connection Upland was contacted to be included as the authentic local beer having cameos since season one.

 

With their final day of filming on December 12th we were graciously invited to Studio City, LA to see the set before it was closed down (sob!).

 

We arrived in late November and with beer in hand.  Needless to say, photography is frowned upon when on set, so you’ll have to take our word for it… this was one of the coolest places we’ve ever been!

 

The set smelled of fresh paint and sawdust and a full crew of contractors were working hard on new sets while we toured.  We passed by empty nondescript rooms and some any P&R fan would recognize.

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Here we sit at Tom’s Bistro with the predominant Upland taps in the background.

 

Our tour continued to the prop room. It was quite an honor to see our 12 packs and labels along side other treasures, like Sweetums condoms and Snerling Valley Blueberry Wine bottles.

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After our tour we were allowed to sit and watch filming for a couple hours.  As it was a closed set, it was super quiet and very still… did I mention our seats we on Andy’s shoe shine stand?  Oh, and maybe the highlight of it all, Chris Pratt, AKA Andy Dwyer came by to pay us a visit. We chatted about craft beer and the good times of Pawnee.  What a trip!

 

Thanks to our generous hosts, Gay Perello, Property Master (foreground) and Grant, Props Assistant (background).  Upland had a great run with Parks and Rec and can’t believe this wild ride is over.

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Catch the Farewell Season starting January 13th at 8PM EST.

 

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