Urban Artifact is not trying to become a bigger brewery.
That distinction is important to understanding where the Cincinnati company is headed.
Founded by Scott Hand, Bret Kollmann-Baker and Scotty Hunter in a historic church property in the city’s Northside neighborhood, Urban Artifact built its reputation around sour beers and, eventually, the fruit-forward beers that became its signature. But as the company has grown, the founders have increasingly viewed their expertise not as a limitation, but as the foundation for a much broader beverage business.
The strategy is less about abandoning beer than using what Urban Artifact knows — fruit, unusual ingredients, difficult-to-produce beverages and the infrastructure required to package them — to create more ways to make money.
“We’re the fruit experts,” Kollmann-Baker said.
