Wow, why is it that I consistently seem to lean back towards
Breweries located on the Left Coast. Is it because they take so much more care
in what they produce? Is it because they’re just hipper then Breweries on the
East Coast? Or, is it because they remind me of Mountains, Trees (Seriously
huge trees) and Oceans? It’s most likely none of these things, but rather a nod
to an area of the Country that has some of the freshest ingredients around. To
top it all off, The Homegrown Estate just magnifies this fact by marketing
itself as a brew that is crafted with nothing but locally procured ingredients.
Nice, a brewery that champions sustainability, environmental stewardship, and now…a
true nod to locally procured ingredients…supporting locally, by buying locally
(even if it comes from their own fields…think of the impact that it has on
emissions). There is a lesson here…but first the brew. Here’s what the web had
to say:
THE BEER:
Here in the sun-drenched fields of California’s North
Valley, the black soil is rich with promise.
In winter, rows of barley seed are laid in the freshly
tilled dirt. In spring, trellises are set for hops.
From our fields comes a remarkable homegrown ale, made with
organic wet hops and barley grown at our brewery here in Chico and one of the
few estate-made ales produced anywhere in the world!
This Estate Ale is rich with the flavors of the
valley—featuring hops with earthy, grapefruit-like flavors and layered spicy
aromas and barley with mild sweetness and smooth, toasted flavors. Together,
these crops grow alongside the brewery to make a truly unique brew.
Enjoy!
THE BREWERY:
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded with one purpose: to
brew the finest ales and lagers. We follow traditional brewing methods, using
only select malted barley, whole hop flowers, brewer's yeast, and pure water.
The quality of our ingredients and our devotion to the craft of brewing shows
in the superior flavor, aroma, balance, and character of our ales and lagers.
The brewing process starts in our hydrating malt mill, where
we crack the malted barley grains. Spraying the grains with hot water before
crushing softens them, yielding a more intact husk. The resulting grist is then
mixed in the mash tun, activating naturally present enzymes to convert the
barley’s starches into fermentable sugars.
In the lauter tun, hot water is run through the mash,
extracting the sugars, color, and flavor components into a sweet, nutritious syrup
called wort. For the next hour and a half, the wort is boiled with hops in our
brew kettles. While some breweries brew their wort into “high-gravity”
concentrate that they then water down before packaging, we adhere to the
time-honored brewing traditions that shun this cost-cutting practice.
In our fermentation tanks, living yeasts convert the malt
sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The type of beer produced depends on
the strain of yeast and the fermentation temperature. To make our ales we use top-fermenting
yeasts, which produce a robustly flavorful and aromatic beer.
During this process, we allow the temperature of the
fermenting beer to climb to 68°F, hold it there for several days, and then
slowly cool the fermented beer. The beer naturally clarifies and the flavor
matures during an additional period of cold conditioning below32°F. Our lagers
are produced by bottom-fermenting yeasts at temperatures below 50°F. After
fermentation, the lagers are cold-stored in their tanks for up to eight weeks.
Though expensive, this aging time is necessary to fully develop each beer’s
quality and character.
Next, we carefully centrifuge and cold-filter our ales and
lagers. This gentle process removes haze-forming proteins and yeast, producing
a clear, bright beer without affecting flavor, aroma, or mouthfeel.
At last, the beer is ready to be bottled or racked into
kegs. All our beers are naturally carbonated. For the bottled ales, we employ
the same bottle-conditioning techniques used for centuries to produce the
finest champagnes.
Just before bottling, our ales receive a small dosage of
brewer's yeast, which produces a secondary fermentation in the bottle, adding
character and developing the perfect level of carbonation. The small amount of
brewer's yeast at the bottom of each bottle attests to this traditional method
of natural carbonation.
Tour Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm & 4:00 pm
Friday and Saturday: 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm,
4:00 pm & 5:00 pm
Sunday: 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm & 4:00 pm
All tours are free of charge
All guests need to sign in at the Tour desk, located in our
Gift Shop lobby prior to each tour
All tours are approximately 1 ½ hours
Guided tour is for ages 12 and above, Educational Tasting for
ages 21 and over
Closed toed shoes are preferred in production areas
INGREDIENTS:
Barley Malt
Our beer begins life as plump grains of premium two-row
barley. In the malting process, the grains are soaked in water and allowed to
germinate. Kilning or roasting the malted grains develops distinctive character
and gives the beer its rich flavor, color, and body. We use only premium barley
malts, and never corn or rice fillers.
Hops
Each year, we hand-select the finest hop cones from growers
around the world. To achieve the complex hop character that is our trademark,
we add different varieties of whole hops to the brew kettles at specific points
during the boil. Bittering hops go into the brew kettles early to balance and
offset the sweetness of the malt. The most aromatic hops are added near the end
of the boil to capture the volatile oils that infuse our beers with their
intense flavor and aroma. Our Bigfoot Ale, Celebration Ale, and other specialty
beers receive an additional “dry-hopping” during the maturation period.
Yeast
Yeast is the magical organism that works its alchemy on the
malt and hops to produce our flavorful brews. We maintain and culture several
different strains in our laboratory to produce our classic ales and lagers. Our
ales are produced utilizing our original distinctive strain of top-fermenting
yeast. This special yeast, and our carefully monitored fermentation profile,
helps to produce the wonderful aromatic qualities found in all of our ales. We
seasonally propagate a classic cold-fermenting lager strain to produce our
range of traditional all-malt lager beers. We will often culture unique yeast
strains from around the world to produce small batches of distinctive beers.
Water
Chico's location at the base of the Sierra Nevada and
Cascade mountain ranges affords us a pure and plentiful source of water. Our
brewing water is pumped from a deep aquifer that is continually recharged by
the snow and rain falling in the nearby foothills and higher peaks. Like all of
our brewing ingredients, we carefully treat and monitor this vital raw
material. Because of our commitment to the environment and our local community,
we strive to use this valuable resource efficiently. Wastewater generated by
the brewery is thoroughly treated in our state-of-the-art recycling plant
before being discharged.
HISTORY:
In 1979, Ken Grossman began building a small brewery in the
town of Chico, California. His goal: to brew exceptional ales and lagers.
Today, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is considered the premier craft brewery in
the United States. And the beer? Critics proclaim it “Among the best brewed
anywhere in the world.”
Ken’s passion for brewing began when a friend showed him the
basics of home brewing. Using homemade equipment, Ken began brewing five-gallon
batches of beer on his own, and soon became a proficient home brewer.
 |
| The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company |
In 1976, after studying chemistry and physics at Butte
Community College and California State University at Chico, Ken opened his own
store, The Home Brew Shop. There, he supplied Chico’s home-brewing community
with equipment, materials, and advice, but dreamed of opening his own brewery.
Two years later, it was time to make the dream a reality.
Ken and co-founder Paul Camusi cobbled a brewery together from dairy tanks, a
soft-drink bottler, and equipment salvaged from defunct breweries. Though the
equipment was secondhand, they created a first-rate microbrewery. The
ingredients were premium, including the copious quantities of hops that would
become the brewery’s trademark. An avid backpacker, Ken named the new company
for his favorite hiking grounds—the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Finally, on November 15, 1980, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
brewed the first batch of what would soon become a landmark in American craft
brewing: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Word spread quickly, and over the next decade the demand for
Sierra Nevada brews soon exceeded the brewery’s modest brewing capacity.
Despite nearly constant additions to the brewery, Ken was soon back at the
drawing board, planning a new brewery. In 1989, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
moved to its current site.
Ken traveled to Germany and brought back a traditional
100-barrel copper brew house, which became the heart of the new brewery. This
met demand for a while, but the brewery soon needed to expand again. In 1997,
Ken commissioned the original coppersmiths to match new kettles to the
originals, bringing the brewery’s total capacity to almost eight hundred
thousand barrels per year.
Building the new brewery afforded Sierra Nevada the
opportunity to create two stunning showcases, both featuring exceptional
dining, live music, and its award-winning beers. The elegant Sierra Nevada
Taproom and Restaurant has become a destination in its own right. With
mouthwatering lunch and dinner menus, an impressive dining room, and a large
outdoor dining patio, it offers distinctive, contemporary cuisine as well as an
opportunity to sample the brewery’s entire line of premium ales and lagers,
including hard-to-find specialty drafts. The 350-seat Big Room—a beautifully
designed live music and multi-purpose room—was constructed on the west end of
the brewery to feature live music events for all ages and is a perfect facility
for weddings, reunions, and business conferences.
To this day, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. remains true to
its roots. Ken is still personally involved in every aspect of brewery
operation. Most importantly, the Sierra Nevada commitment to quality remains
the same. Premium ingredients and time-honored brewing techniques make Sierra
Nevada ales and lagers truly exceptional beers.
THE WEBSITE:
THE REVIEW:
Well, this was just about the freshest brew that I’ve had in
a long time. Yes, the hops are front and center, and yes, you get that
full-bodied flavor that Sierra Nevada is famous for. But in addition to the
already high quality that Sierra Nevada is well known for, you get a level of
freshness that is rarely seen, or appreciated. I would definitely recommend
that you seek this one out. You will not be disappointed, but more importantly,
you will be doing your part in supporting locally grown produce…while enjoying
a fine, fine brew.
RATING:
9/10 – A Local Champion
A NOTE ABOUT
BUYING LOCALLY:
THERE ARE MANY GOOD REASONS TO BUY LOCALLY GROWN FOOD
YOU'LL GET EXCEPTIONAL TASTE AND FRESHNESS.
Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped
long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce
varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf
life.
YOU'LL STRENGTHEN YOUR LOCAL ECONOMY.
Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your
community. Getting to know the farmers who grow your food builds relationships
based on understanding and trust, the foundation of strong communities.
YOU'LL SUPPORT ENDANGERED FAMILY FARMS.
There's never been a more critical time to support your
farming neighbors. With each local food purchase, you ensure that more of your money
spent on food goes to the farmer.
YOU'LL SAFEGUARD YOUR FAMILY'S HEALTH.
Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown or
raised enables you to choose safe food from farmers who avoid or reduce their
use of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified
seed in their operations. Buy food from local farmers you trust.
YOU'LL PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.
Local food doesn't have to travel far. This reduces carbon
dioxide emissions and packing materials. Buying local food also helps to make
farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.
When you buy local food, you vote with your food dollar.
This ensures that family farms in your community will continue to thrive and
that healthy, flavorful, plentiful food will be available for future
generations.
(Denver, CO) – Organizers of the Denver Rare Beer Tasting
IV, which supports the mission of the Pints
for Prostates campaign, have announced the list of 33 breweries for the
sold out Oct. 12 event.
