The brewery was founded by Ken Grossman, and he still owns it privately today. He began to learn the art of home brewing as a young teenager in Southern California during the early 70's. The story of his early days and of the history of the brewery is an American success story, and can be found on the brewery's site at: http://www.sierranevada.com/brewery/about-us/our-story.
Beer Camp is a program that the brewery runs about twice a month for beer fans and industry associates. It consists of an in depth tour of the brewery, and a chance to brew some beer! Our beer camp group consisted of 12 campers, two regional Sierra Nevada sales reps who acted as chaperones, and a brewery guide. We arrived at the brewery on a Wednesday night, and were treated to a fantastic meal at the brewery's restaurant where we got to meet each other and get orientated. The next morning it was up and early to the brewery for a video on the history of the brewery, accompanied by a sample of Grossman's signature Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It took him 10 tries before he got the recipe right back in 1980, dumping the unsatisfactory batches at a cost of $1000 each. It sure tasted good that morning! The next stop was the tasting bar for a few more samples before we started our tour of the brewery in earnest. The first morning's tour took us through the grain storage area, hop storage area, milling and mashing and a view of the large all copper kettles that Ken purchased from a brewery in Germany and reconstructed at his site in Chico. These impressive (and priceless) kettles, along with their original copper control panel (still all labeled in German) are the centerpiece of the brewery. We toured the fermentation area and got to taste beer right out of the fermenters, about as fresh a beer as you'll ever have!
After lunch at the brewery restaurant we were driven about 20 minutes north to the Abbey of New Clairvaux, a working monastery with about 20 monks just north of Chico. The monks operate an orchard and winery there, and produce some pretty good wine. But their main project, and the reason for their collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewery, is a medieval stone chapel that they are rebuilding on the property. The chapel stood for 5 centuries in Spain, and was brought over to California stone by stone by William Randolph Hearst in the 1930's. After languishing in Golden Gate Park for decades, the stones were donated to these monks who are rebuilding the original chapel on their site in Chico. Ken Grossman agreed to help sponsor the project by creating a Belgian beer series called Ovila, with all of the proceeds going to the monastery's project. They have come a long way with the construction, and the chapel is certainly impressive! Day one ended with beers in the pub, and a night on the town with the beer camp crew. Chico is a relatively small college town with a fun evening scene.
Day two found us meeting bright and early at Sierra Nevada's 10 barrel pilot brewery on the grounds of the main complex. It is used for experimental batches (keep your eyes out for Sierra Nevada's collaborative 12 pack early this summer) and for beer camp beer. Our group had decided ahead of time to brew a Belgian Blonde Ale with some rye malt added for complexity. The morning of brew day we went and collected the grain and hops from storage under the guidance of Abe, the head brewer at the pilot brewery. We all got a chance to taste and add the ingredients to the batch, and got a detailed look at the brewing process. We experimented a bit by adding pink peppercorn and hibiscus to the batch, taking a cue from some of the ladies in the group. We were then given a tour of the pilot brewery while our batch percolated, and got to taste some of the experimental beers right out of the pilot brewery's fermenters. After yet another fantastic lunch at the brewery restaurant, we got on a 12 person, pedal powered bicycle bar for a tour of the rest of the complex, beers in hand! We got a look at the HotRot, a massive composting machine that is the only one in the U.S., a tour of the garden and hop farm area, and the massive bottling and kegging warehouse. The sheer scale, cleanliness and unbelievable automation of the bottling area is simply amazing. This was followed by a tour of Sierra Nevada's state of the art laboratories along with some sensory tasting exercises. They have equipment there that rivals NASA, and breweries from around the country send beer to their labs to be tested. After a quick rooftop look at the brewery's expansive solar panel array, it was back to the tasting room for a wrap-up with head brewer Steve Dresler, who brought a few special selections from his cellar for us to try. We kicked around some names for our beer, and then headed to the pub and restaurant for one last session and dinner, and a chance to say goodbye to our crew. We went our separate ways, but are united by the memories, and we will each have a keg of our brew sent to us when it is ready in few months!
Looking back, I can't say enough how impressed I was with the people and facility at the brewery. No corners are cut, and everything is done with exceptional quality as the goal. The scale of the enormous complex is matched only by its cleanliness and by the friendliness of the employees. The brewery won the EPA's Green Business of the Year award in 2010. They divert an astounding 99.5% of their solid waste from landfills. Spent grain is shipped to nearby cattle farms, spent yeast and cooking oil are used to create bio-fuels, spent water is treated and used to irrigate their garden and hop fields, all food scraps from the restaurant are composted in an amazing 12 days in the HotRot composter. The brewery has enough solar power to send energy back to the grid on a sunny day.
And they offer a fantastic, hands-on experience for beer fans with their Beer Camp program. The program is open to the public, and generally beer campers are chosen through a contest. You can go too! It's truly a Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory type experience. For more information, go to: http://www.sierranevada.com/beer/specialty/beer-camp. And next time you pop open a beer from Sierra Nevada Brewery, know that painstaking steps have been taken by hundreds people to make sure the beer you are drinking is of the utmost quality!
Chip Bartsch
Beer Buyer
West Vail Liquor
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