Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was established in 1979 by homebrewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...

, United States. The brewery produced in 2010, and as of 2016, Sierra Nevada Brewing is the seventh-largest

brewing company A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

in the United States and is the third largest privately owned brewery in the United States. The brewery was named "Green Business of the Year" by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

in 2010 for its practices in

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

. 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.

History

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded in 1980, with founders Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi expanding their

homebrewing Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed dom ...

hobby into a brewery in Chico, California. Along with the brewery's location, Grossman says the company's name comes from his love of hiking in the mountains of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

. 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. The following year, the brewery introduced Celebration, an IPA, which continues to be released as a winter seasonal. The company sold of beer in its first year and doubled that amount in the second. The company's first employee was Steve Harrison, who was put in charge of marketing and sales. Head brewer Steve Dresler was hired in 1983, when its output was 25 to 30 barrels per week, and retired in 2017. The company distributed the beer itself in the early 1980s, struggling with financial and marketing problems. A 1982 article in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' 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. In 1988, the brewery moved into a 100-barrel brewhouse, with four open fermenters, and eleven secondary fermenters. A year later, Grossman and Camusi added the Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant, which serves lunch and dinner and includes a giftshop. In 2000, the brewery opened "The Big Room", a live-music venue located inside the brewery's facilities, featuring a variety of acts including country, bluegrass, folk, rock, blues, and other musical genres. Camusi retired in 1998 and sold his share in the company to Grossman. In 2010, Sierra Nevada Brewing partnered with the Abbey of New Clairvaux, with the monastery beginning production of

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

-style beers in 2011. The Abbey has not yet been sanctioned by the International Trappist Association, and therefore the monastery will not be brewing official

Trappist beer Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain— produce beer, but the ''Authentic Trappist Product'' label is assigned ...

. The brewery employed about 450 people in 2011. In January 2012, Sierra Nevada announced it would build a second brewing facility with an attached restaurant in Mills River, North Carolina. The

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

-Platinum-certified building opened in early 2014 on a

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

ed tract adjacent to Asheville Regional Airport, re-using the cut-down trees as

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

both in the building and for the rainwater

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s 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 The New Albion Brewing Company is known as the first American craft beer brewery. Founded in 1976 by Jack McAuliffe, Suzy Stern, and Jane Zimmerman in Sonoma, California, New Albion is acknowledged as the first United States microbrewery of th ...

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. Grossman has been dubbed a "pioneer" by fellow craft brewers in the United States. Whereas many of the newly spawned microbreweries of the 1980s went out of business, Sierra Nevada Brewing endured to become one of the largest independent brewers in the country, whose beers were noted for their "character and complexity". Grossman believed many microbrewers of the early 1980s had put out an inferior product due to lack of preparation for the financial and mechanical realities of commercial brewing, which were a "much different process" from homebrewing. For its 30th anniversary in 2010, the company released a series of collaborative beers with the assistance of those Grossman considered an early influence on his brewing: Charlie Papazian, Fred Eckhardt, Fritz Maytag (Anchor) and Jack McAuliffe (New Albion). In November 2010, Stansbury Publishing released ''Hops and Dreams: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co'', written by California State University, Chico professor Rob Burton, who researched the company for three years. The company has claimed to be neutral on political issues, and reiterated this stance in 2010 when it was erroneously linked by a beer industry group to opposing the California Proposition 19 of that year, which would have legalized marijuana in the state.

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 Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

, having 10,000

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

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. The company uses a small-scale BioPro™ biodiesel processor to convert the used cooking oil from its restaurant for

biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...

use in its delivery trucks. In 2009, it reached an agreement with a local ethanol company to produce high-grade

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

fuel from its discarded yeast.

Spent grain Brewer's spent grain (BSG) or draff is a food waste that is a byproduct of the brewing industry that makes up 85 percent of brewing waste. BSG is obtained as a mostly solid residue after wort production in the brewing process. The product is ...

is sold to local cattle ranchers for livestock feed; spent water is sent to the brewery's own

water treatment plant Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, inc ...

, 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 A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

. The company owns one mile of railway in Chico for use in

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

, which aids in reducing the brewery's carbon footprint. Each rail car can hold the equivalent of four

semi-trailers A semi-trailer is a trailer (vehicle), trailer without a front axle. The combination of a semi-trailer and a tractor truck is called a ''semi-trailer truck'' (also known simply as a "semi-trailer", "tractor trailer", or "semi" in the United Sta ...

of grain; rail transport is more fuel efficient than road transport. Sierra Nevada is the largest buyer of

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

in the United States. It also farms its own organic hops and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

for use in its annual Chico Estate Harvest Ale release. 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

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 Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

has been described as "a balance between aggressive hops and hearty malt flavor", with its

Cascade hops Cascade is one of the many cultivars of hops. Cascade hops are one of the most widely used hops by craft breweries in the United States. Cascade was the most widely planted hop by growers in the US for many years, before being surpassed by Cit ...

offering a grapefruit aroma and fruity palate. Like several other Sierra Nevada offerings, it is

bottle-conditioned Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

. It is the best-selling pale ale in the United States as of 2012. Sierra Nevada's

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

, along with its heavier

Stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...

version, have been described by writer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

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. Torpedo is an American India Pale Ale, and Kellerweis is a traditional Bavarian

hefeweizen Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German and Belgian ; other types include Lambic (made with wild yeast), Berliner Weisse (a ...

. Both were introduced as nationwide offerings in 2009.

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 Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

, 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 Brown ale is a Beer style, style of beer with a dark amber or brown colour. The term was first used by London brewers in the late 17th century to describe a lightly hopped ale brewed from 100% Mash ingredients#Malts, brown malt. Brown ale is a typ ...

and is sold for the autumn months. Previous Spring seasonal Ruthless Rye IPA is an IPA brewed with

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

and whole-cone hops for the spring, while Summerfest is a

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery. History ...

brewed in the Czech tradition.

Special release

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 Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

. It is a

barleywine Barley wine is a strong ale from 6–12% alcohol by volume."Barley wine"

alcohol law Alcohol laws are laws relating to manufacture, Drinking alcohol, use, as Drunkeness, being under the influence of and sale of Alcohol (drug), alcohol (also known formally as ethanol) or alcoholic beverages. Common alcoholic beverages include bee ...

s 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 The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual beer festival hosted by the Brewers Association, held in Denver, Colorado. Typically held in late September or early October, the event is currently held at Denver's Colorado Convention Cente ...

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 Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

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 Crystal Wheat, a

wheat beer Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German and Belgian ; other types include Lambic (made with wild yeast), Berliner Weisse (a c ...

, is named in memory of the Chico Brewery which operated in the town during the 19th century. 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 IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...

, released to benefit recovery efforts for the

Camp Fire A campfire is a fire at a campsite. Campfire or Camp Fire may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Campfire'' (James Blundell album) (2017) * ''Campfire'' (Kasey Chambers album) (2018) * ''Campfire'' (Rend Collective album) (2012) * "Camp ...

, 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.