Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
is a Chico, California, United States, based brewing company. Established in 1979 by homebrewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi, as of 2016 it was the seventh-largest brewer in the United States and the third largest privately owned brewery in the United States.
The brewery produced in 2010, a year it was named "Green Business of the Year" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its sustainable practices. In 2014, a second brewery location was opened in Mills River, North Carolina.
Sierra Nevada is considered one of the earliest and most influential American craft breweries in the latter half of the 20th century. With $50,000 in loans from friends and family, Grossman and Camusi rented a warehouse and pieced together discarded dairy equipment and scrapyard metal to create their brewing equipment. They later were able to acquire second-hand copper brewing kettles from Germany before moving to their larger, current brewing facility in 1989.
The first batch brewed on premises was its Pale Ale, in November 1980. Head brewer Steve Dresler was hired in 1983, when its output was 25 to 30 barrels per week, and retired in 2017.
thumb|Interior of Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico
The company distributed the beer itself in the early 1980s, struggling with financial and marketing problems. A 1982 article in the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting the brewery, as well as having its beer sold in prominent restaurants such as Berkeley's Chez Panisse, helped establish a market for Sierra Nevada's beer.
By 1987, the brewery was distributing to seven states and production had reached per year, causing the company to pursue building a new brewery.
The brewery employed about 450 people in 2011.
thumb|right|Entrance to Mills River brewery
In January 2012, Sierra Nevada announced it would build a second brewing facility with an attached restaurant in Mills River, North Carolina. The LEED-Platinum-certified building opened in early 2014 on a forested tract adjacent to Asheville Regional Airport, re-using the cut-down trees as lumber both in the building and for the rainwater cisterns that flush the toilets.
From 2013 to 2022, the company operated the "Torpedo Room" in Berkeley, their first tasting room outside of Chico.
In January 2017, Sierra Nevada issued a voluntary recall of certain 12-ounce bottles of different beers in 36 states due to a manufacturing defect that had possibly introduced chipped pieces of glass into the bottle.
Influence
Along with the now-defunct Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco and New Albion Brewing Company in Sonoma, whose owners offered Grossman and Camusi early guidance in their venture, Sierra Nevada is considered one of the earliest and most influential breweries which spawned the craft beer movement of the 1980s–90s.
Environmental record
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. won the US Environmental Protection Agency's "Green Business of the Year" award for 2010.
The brewery is powered by solar energy, having 10,000 photovoltaic modules covering its rooftops and parking lot. In all, the brewery uses 2.6 megawatts of solar electricity on premises. It also has built a charging station for electric vehicles on its premises. biodiesel processor to convert the used cooking oil from its restaurant for biodiesel use in its delivery trucks. In 2009, it reached an agreement with a local ethanol company to produce high-grade ethanol fuel from its discarded yeast. Spent grain is sold to local cattle ranchers for livestock feed; spent water is sent to the brewery's own water treatment plant, where it is reused, mainly as drip irrigation for its fields. Over 99.5% of the brewery plant's solid waste is diverted from landfill. rail transport is more fuel efficient than road transport, aiding in reducing the brewery's carbon footprint.
Sierra Nevada is the largest buyer of organic hops in the United States.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Mills River, NC facility earned a LEED Platinum certification in June 2016. Sierra Nevada's Mills River brewery is the only LEED Platinum certified brewery in the USA. The Mills River brewery is also a Platinum Zero Waste facility, certified by the US Zero Waste Business Council.
Beers
Sierra Nevada Classics
right|thumb|Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
thumb|Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale label, from a bottle purchased in Chico, California.
thumb|alt=Sierra Nevada Chico News & Review Special Edition 1993|Sierra Nevada Chico News & Review Special Edition 1993
The brewery's year-round offerings include its Pale Ale, Porter, Stout, Torpedo 'Extra' IPA, Kellerweis Hefeweizen, and Hazy Little Thing.
Sierra's flagship pale ale has been described as "a balance between aggressive hops and hearty malt flavor", with its Cascade hops offering a grapefruit aroma and fruity palate. Like several other Sierra Nevada offerings, it is bottle-conditioned. It is the best-selling pale ale in the United States as of 2012.
Sierra Nevada's porter, along with its heavier stout version, have been described by writer Michael Jackson as "gently coffeish" and "beautifully roasty" examples of their respective styles. The two offerings have been brewed since the company's first year of operation.
Seasonals
The brewery's current lineup of seasonals include Beer Camp Hoppy Lager, Summerfest Lager, Oktoberfest, and Celebration Ale.
Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale has been brewed as a winter seasonal since 1981. While it has won medals under the IPA category, it has also been described as a hoppy, malty amber ale, as well as a "bigger version" of the company's pale ale.
Previous Autumn seasonal Tumbler Brown Ale has been described as a full-bodied, malt-heavy brown ale and is sold for the autumn months.
Previous Spring seasonal Ruthless Rye IPA is an IPA brewed with rye and whole-cone hops for the spring, while Summerfest is a pilsner brewed in the Czech tradition.
Special release
thumb|alt=Sierra Nevada Chico News & Review 1986|Sierra Nevada Chico News & Review 1986
right|thumb|Bigfoot, 2006 Edition
thumb|Narwhal Imperial Stout 2018
Annual "Special Release" beers produced by Sierra Nevada include Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, Hemisphere Harvest Ales and Chico Harvest Estate Ale.
Bigfoot is brewed with two types of malt and three differing hops, and tops out at 9.6%ABV. It is a barleywine, but due to alcohol laws in the U.S. it must be marketed as a "barleywine style ale". Only alcohols derived from fruits, not grains, can be marketed as wine. It first won medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 1987. It is generally released January–February of each year.
The brewery releases both a Northern and Southern Hemisphere Harvest "wet hop" ale. Introduced in 1996 as Harvest Ale, Northern Hemisphere uses wet (undried) hops from eastern Washington for its "fresh harvest" ale. It was the first fresh-hop ale brewed in the United States. The brewery later introduced Southern Hemisphere which features wet hops from New Zealand.
The Chico Estate Harvest Ale is brewed with organic wet hops and barley grown on the brewery's premises. Old Chico brand beers are only distributed in the northern California area around Chico.
The "Resilience Butte County Proud IPA" is a limited edition IPA, released to benefit recovery efforts for the Camp Fire, which impacted areas nearby Sierra Nevada's Chico brewery in 2018; about 50 Sierra Nevada employees lost their homes in the fire. Resilience IPA is brewed at the Chico and Mills River, North Carolina breweries, and over 1,500 other breweries signed up to brew and sell the beer.
Awards
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!rowspan=2| Name
!rowspan=2| Style
!colspan=3| Awards
|-
! Year
! Event
! Award
|-
|Barrel-Aged Narwhal
|Wood-Aged Strong Stout
|2013 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|rowspan=7|Bigfoot
|rowspan=7|Barley Wine
|2012 || World Beer Cup ||
|-
|2005 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1997 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1995 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1992 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1988 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1987 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|rowspan=2|Celebration
|rowspan=2|India Pale Ale
|1994 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1990 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|rowspan=2|Estate Homegrown Ale
|rowspan=2|Fresh Hop Ale
|2012 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|2010 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|Imperial Stout
|Imperial Stout
|2012 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|IPA
|India Pale Ale
|2005 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|Kellerweis
|Hefeweizen
|2012 || World Beer Cup ||
|-
|rowspan=2|Kolsch
|rowspan=2|Kölsch
|2009 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|2008 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|Ovila Dubbel
|Dubbel
|2012 || World Beer Cup ||
|-
|Pilsner
|Pilsner
|2010 || World Beer Cup ||
|-
|rowspan=3|Porter
|rowspan=3|Porter
|2009 || U.S. Open Beer Championship ||
|-
|2000 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1983 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|Ruthless Rye PA
|Rye Ale
|2012 || World Beer Cup ||
|-
|Sierra 30 Jack and Ken's Ale
|Barley Wine
|2010 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|rowspan=7|Pale Ale
|rowspan=7|Pale Ale
|1995 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1993 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1992 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1990 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1989 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1987 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1983 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|rowspan=4|Stout
|rowspan=4|Stout
|2004 || World Beer Cup ||
|-
|1989 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1988 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1987 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|rowspan=2|Summerfest
|rowspan=2|Lager
|2004 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|1991 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|Weizenbock
|Wheat Ale
|2011 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|-
|Wheat
|Wheat Ale
|1998 || Great American Beer Festival ||
|}
See also
- California breweries
- Craft beer
- Barrel-aged beer
References
External links and further reading
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Official website at sierranevada.com