brewing co. type private industry alcoholic beverage founded 1980 headquarters chico california united states products beer production output 800 000 barrels owner ken grossman number of employees 450 website sierranevada.com sierra nevada brewing co. was established in 1979 by homebrewers ken grossman and paul camusi in chico california united states . 1 sierra nevada brewing is one of the top breweries operating in the united states . sierra nevada s pale ale is the second best selling craft beer in the united states behind the boston beer company s samuel adams boston lager . 2 as of 2012 it is the seventh largest brewing company in the united states . 2 the brewery produced 786 000 barrels of beer 922 353 hectoliters in 2010 . 3 the brewery was named green business of the year by the united states environmental protection agency in 2010 for its practices in sustainability . 4 contents 1 history 2 influence 3 environmental record 4 beers 4.1 sierra nevada classics 4.2 seasonals 4.3 special release 4.4 awards 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit headquarters in chico ca sierra nevada brewing co. was founded in 1979 with founders ken grossman and paul camusi expanding their homebrewing hobby into a brewery in chico california . along with the brewery s location grossman claims the company s name comes from his love of hiking in the mountains of the sierra nevada . 5 with 50 000 in loans from friends and family grossman and camusi rented a 3 000 square foot 280 m2 warehouse and pieced together discarded dairy equipment and scrapyard metal to create their brewing equipment . 6 7 they later were able to acquire second hand copper brewing kettles from germany before moving to their larger current brewing facility in 1989 . 8 the first batch brewed on premises was its pale ale 9 in november 1980 . 5 the following year the brewery introduced celebration an ipa which it continues to release as a winter seasonal . the company sold 950 barrels of beer in its first year and double that amount in the second . 6 the company s first employee was steve harrison who was put in charge of marketing and sales . 10 the head brewer is steve dresler who has been with the brewery since 1983 when its output was 25 to 30 barrels per week . 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 . 11 by 1987 the brewery was distributing to seven states and production had reached 12 000 barrels per year causing the company to pursue building a new brewery . 10 in 1988 the brewery moved into a 100 barrel brewhouse with four open barrel fermenters and 11 68 barrel secondary fermenters . a year later grossman and camusi added the sierra nevada taproom and restaurant which serves lunch and dinner and included 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 . 10 camusi retired in 1998 and sold his share in the company to grossman . 10 in 2010 sierra nevada brewing partnered with the abbey of new clairvaux with the monastery beginning production of trappist 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 . 12 the brewery employed about 450 people in 2011 . 13 in january 2012 sierra nevada announced it will build a second brewing facility with an attached restaurant in mills river north carolina . it opened in early 2014 . 14 in 2013 the company opened the torpedo room in berkeley their first tasting room outside of chico . 15 influence edit along with anchor brewing company in san francisco and the now defunct 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 . 6 9 grossman has been dubbed a pioneer by fellow craft brewers in the united states . 11 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 . 6 7 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 . 6 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 . 11 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 . 16 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 . 17 environmental record edit sierra nevada brewing co. won the us environmental protection agency s green business of the year award for 2010 . 18 the brewery is powered by solar energy having 10 000 photovoltaic modules covering its rooftops and parking lot . 19 in all the brewery uses 2.6 megawatts of solar electricity on premises . 20 it also has built a charging station for electric vehicles on its premises . 1 the company uses a small scale biopro 21 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 . 22 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 . 23 over 99.5 % of the brewery plant s solid waste is diverted from landfill . 23 the company owns one mile of railway for use in intermodal freight transport which aids in reducing the brewery s carbon footprint . each rail car can hold the equivalent of four semi trailers of grain ; 24 rail transport is more fuel efficient than road transport . sierra nevada is the largest buyer of organic hops in the united states . 18 it also farms its own organic hops and barley for use in its annual chico estate harvest ale release . 25 beers edit sierra nevada classics edit sierra nevada pale ale the brewery s year round offerings include its pale ale porter stout torpedo extra ipa kellerweis hefeweizen nooner pilsner and hop hunter ipa . 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 . 26 like several other sierra nevada offerings it is bottle conditioned . 27 it is the best selling pale ale in the united states as of 2012 . 8 28 29 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 . 30 the two offerings have been brewed since the company s first year of operation . 11 torpedo is an american india pale ale and kellerweis is a traditional bavarian hefeweizen . both were introduced as nationwide offerings in 2009 . 31 32 seasonals edit the brewery s current lineup of seasonals include beer camp hoppy lager summerfest pilsner 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 33 it has also been described as a hoppy malty amber ale 34 as well as a bigger version of the company s pale ale . 35 previous autumn seasonal tumbler brown ale has been described as a full bodied malt heavy brown ale 36 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 . 37 special release edit bigfoot 2006 edition 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 . 38 it first won medals at the great american beer festival in 1987 . 39 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 utilizes wet undried hops from eastern washington for its fresh harvest ale . it was the first fresh hop ale brewed in the united states . 40 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 in land on the brewery s premises . 23 old chico crystal wheat a wheat beer is named in memory of the chico brewery which operated in the town during the 19th century . 16 old chico brand beers are only distributed in the northern california area around chico . awards edit name style awards barrel aged narwhal wood aged strong stout 2013 great american beer festival silver bigfoot barley wine 2012 world beer cup silver 2005 great american beer festival gold 1997 great american beer festival silver 1995 great american beer festival gold 1992 great american beer festival gold 1988 great american beer festival gold 1987 great american beer festival gold celebration india pale ale 1994 great american beer festival silver 1990 great american beer festival bronze estate homegrown ale fresh hop ale 2012 great american beer festival gold 2010 great american beer festival silver imperial stout imperial stout 2012 great american beer festival silver ipa india pale ale 2005 great american beer festival gold kellerweis hefeweizen 2012 world beer cup silver kolsch k lsch 2009 great american beer festival gold 2008 great american beer festival silver ovila dubbel dubbel 2012 world beer cup bronze pilsner pilsner 2010 world beer cup gold porter porter 2009 u.s. open beer championship bronze 2000 great american beer festival bronze 1983 great american beer festival silver ruthless rye pa rye ale 2012 world beer cup gold sierra 30 jack and ken s ale barley wine 2010 great american beer festival gold pale ale pale ale 1995 great american beer festival gold 1993 great american beer festival gold 1992 great american beer festival gold 1990 great american beer festival gold 1989 great american beer festival gold 1987 great american beer festival bronze 1983 great american beer festival gold stout stout 2004 world beer cup