BREWING INNOVATION

from Explore Butte County Adventure Guide 22

PLANES, TRAINS, & AUTOMOBILES

By Michael Riser

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is known all over the world for their delicious varieties of beer, but they’re also one of the brightest jewels in Butte County’s crown. To this crew of beer-loving entrepreneurs, innovation means loving where you are, being loyal to your biggest fans, and always honoring your roots, even as you push forward with new ideas.

A Deep Love Of Community

For co-founder Ken Grossman and his family, Butte County runs in their blood. When the 2018 Camp Fire devastated Paradise, Sierra Nevada was quick to offer necessities to those who lost their homes, in addition to creating the Butte Strong Fund with several partners, and starting a brewing project that would encompass scores of other brewers all donating 100% of its funds to the cause. Ken and his wife, Katie, also donated 10 acres to the Butte Humane Society for the building of a new facility.

It’s a symbiotic relationship, as it’s the community that gave them the reach they currently enjoy. Before their international renown, locals would travel and carry their favorite beer along with them, and road-tripping students from California State University, Chico would often bring brews to music festivals and social gatherings. Yet Sierra Nevada remains a thoroughly local product: instead of relocating to a larger facility as the company has grown over the years, they’ve focused on reinvesting in the Chico brewery that made them famous, expanding the boundaries of its capacity and capabilities.

A Local Flavor To The Leading Edge

That community heart means that when the brewers look at innovation, it isn’t merely to expand production; it’s a determination to find better ways of doing business, a commitment that has led them to look at the whole of their business from top to bottom.

Their Chico Fermentation Project created the organic Strainge Beast Hard Kombucha—the first non-beer beverage made by the company, realized through a partnership with Oregon State University’s Fermentation Science program. But they also look at more routine things, which has advanced their vision of the brewery complex with the aim of making it as self-sufficient as possible. A solar array covers about 20% of their power needs, and their Waste Stream Initiative helps them recycle cardboard, stretch wrap, and rubber gloves used in the lab and bottling line, keeping 99% of their waste out of landfills. They work with hop and grain growers to maintain salmon-safe practices and to avoid pesticides. Carbon dioxide is recovered from the fermentation process and reused in pressurizing tanks, much like the biogas generated by their anaerobic digester— which pretreats wastewater headed to the municipal system—gets used as fuel in their boilers.

The Chico Taproom, where visitors can grab a delicious meal to go with a fresh pint, features vegetables grown in Sierra Nevada’s own organic garden and greenhouse. What they don’t grow themselves, they source so locally it often comes from within a 10-mile radius: Chico State’s University Farm supplies produce, Llano Seco supplies pork, and Mary’s Chickens supplies poultry—the menu even has some options for vegans. There are also free charging stations for electric vehicles in the parking lot, open to public use.

COME FOR THE BEER, STAY FOR A TOUR

With this perennial focus on the local, Sierra Nevada has also looked near to hand when crafting new beer. The Baltic Joy Porter uses local almonds from Maisie Jane’s, and the Sierra Oro Farm Trail Harvest Baltic Porter uses almonds, local Lundberg rice, barley from Sierra Nevada’s own fields, and some of the extremely popular peaches from Chico State’s University Farm.

The biggest fans will want to come to the taproom to experience beers that don’t normally get a wider release, or archived beers pulled up from the back catalog of past brews. Sierra Nevada is working hard to improve their small canning line to allow for more of these special brews, pushing toward a goal of monthly or bimonthly smallbatch releases by early 2021. Those who have taken advantage of Sierra Nevada’s groundbreaking virtual tours and tastings but still want to see everything in person—as soon as conditions allow—2021 will be a perfect time to visit.

Support your local favorites or expand your taste bud horizons during Butte County Restaurant Week. With only 10 days of specials, you should start mapping out your menu options today!