Q & A with Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada)

Back in 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company brewed their first batch of beer, a pale ale. Little did Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi know that the beer they had brewed would one day be known as one of the beers that helped kick-start the US craft beer industry. 

Almost 30 years later, Sierra Nevada is still one of the industry leaders. I wanted to find out a little more about some of their new releases, their outstanding commitment to sustainability and few other things so I contacted the company.

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You can imagine my surprise and immense gratitude when I received the answers to my questions from none other then Ken Grossman himself!

Thanks Ken for all that you've done for craft brewing and for answering my questions.

Cheers!

(RHP) Sierra Nevada's been releasing some excellent new beers of late, can we look forward to some more surprises in the future? If so, any hints? 

(KG) Yes, we are starting to release some new beers, as well as distribute some beers that had only been available at our taproom in the past. Additionally we are bottling our Chico Estate Harvest Ale in August – very limited release (probably Chico only).  This will be made from hops picked from our organic estate hop field.  We should also have a few more surprises out in the next year that are still in R&D, look for them or keep in touch.   


(RHP) I've been reading about all the work Sierra Nevada has been doing when it comes to sustainability. In a nutshell, where does SN stand right now when it comes to carbon emissions, recycling, reusing etc..? 

(KG) Along with incorporating as many sustainable practices within our day to day production (recycling, optimization of water usage, cutting down on packaging materials) we have been working on many initiatives for quite a few years to reduce our operational impact on the environment.  

Here is a list of some of what we have done:

The first brewery in the country (as far as I know) to join the carbon registry to track and certify our carbon emissions. We have completed our audit for 2006 and will have 2007 completed soon.

Received the State of California WRAP award (waste reduction/recycling award)  for many years, and have been recognized as one of the top recyclers in the State for our efforts.

Installed one of the largest co-generation fuel cell plants in the world (1MW) several years ago fueling it in part with methane produced from our onsite wastewater plant. 

We are also just completing one of the largest private solar projects in the country, we have already commissioned a 400kW array, by the end of the year we will have over 9000 panels producing 1.4MW of power. We should be able to produce almost 80% of our electrical power with these two combined clean technology systems.

Put in a system a few years ago to capture clean and re-use CO2 from fermentation.    

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(RHP) I was over in Sweden recently and they had SN Pale Ale in all the government run liquor stores and I've seen it in England as well. Are there any surprising locations in the world where a person can find Sierra Nevada?

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(KG) We export very limited amounts of beer, but we here about it getting bootlegged all over the world. 


(RHP) With all this talk about hops shortages and elevated grain prices, will SN be affected in anyways that the consumer may notice? 

(KG) Ever since a similar, but less severe shortage in the early 80's we have had long term contracts in place with our suppliers. We have ample hops in storage and contracted for the next several years. We actually sold, or did not take delivery of about 150,000 lbs. of surplus hops this year to ease some of the tight industry supply. 

We also have long term supply arrangements with our malt suppliers, but costs are increasing considerably. 


(RHP) Years ago I visited the brewery and drank some incredibily fresh Pale Ale, are there any special offerings at the brewery that aren't offered anywhere else? 
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(KG) Yes, we typically have about 15 different beers on tap at our restaurant, you have to go to Chico to sample most of them.

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(RHP) I have to ask, who came up with the name for Bigfoot Ale?

(KG) My best buddy that I have known from early childhood Dave Sheetz, came up with the name one day in 1981 after a few beers while camping in the Sierra Nevada's.

Click the cap to read more about the history of Sierra Nevada