Ely Key

Ely Key

Co-Founder


Up Mountain Switchel

New York, NY USA


Show up. Show up, and do the work, and make yourself valuable.

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Ely Key

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
Key originally heard about switchel from his father, who used to drink it when he worked the family farm in Vermont.
He made a batch and introduced the beverage to his friend (and now co-founder) Garrett Riffle.
The two were business and design-minded, so they decided they could team up and sell the beverage.
They made their first batch and took it to the farmer's market, where they made a $200 dollar profit.
In the early days of Up Mountain's history, the two spent a lot of time tweaking the recipe, and bottling and packaging by hand.
Says if they cared only about making profits, there are ways they could compromise their product.
However, they've chosen to put their core values-reusable bottles, for example-ahead of their need for money.
Says the best thing a young person can do is to show up ready for the job and bring something new to the table.
Keep following my journey

Career

Co-Founder

I run a switchel brewing company preserving the traditional recipe and using local ingredients.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Entrepreneurship
Food
Upholding a Cause and Belief