![EP-065 Stephen Morrissey of Uppers & Downers [part 1]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5055e59ce4b02b42cb30023c/1451673120332-LM2VDHSGEFQ2M1OGXULE/image-asset.jpeg)
Today I’m bringing you part one of an incredible conversation with Stephen Morrissey. To me, Stephen is this brougish guy that I met at a party who got super nerdy with me about coffee beers about three years ago. We look a lot alike, we’re both dads now, we tend to hate and love the same things, but often for different reasons, but going all the way back to that party is how you uncover the beginnings of Uppers & Downers, our ongoing event series and festival of coffee beers. Stephen is the guy that’s built the entire concept with me from day one.
At the time, he was a sort of creative director at Intelligentsia, and that got them involved right away, which has been amazing. Now he’s working on his own on a few projects, and the collaboration has naturally continued as we take Uppers & Downers to the next level.
I have so much to tell you about the festival this year — we’ve actually already sold 250 tickets on day one of the announcement. But I’m saving most of that for part two. For part one, I wanted everyone to get to know Stephen — his experience in the coffee world is so relatable and important for beer people to understand. So much of what craft beer is going through has parallels in coffee, and vice versa. And that’s the kind of insight that has made our Upper s& Downers series so effective and enlightening.