Sierra Nevada Goes Organic

I visited the Sierra Nevada brewery last fall and spoke with founder and owner Ken Grossman about their sustainability efforts. Given the limited role sustainability plays in the company’s marketing, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how far the brewery has already traveled down the road to sustainability. Then in April I had the distinct honor and pleasure to join Ken on a panel about sustainability programs at the Craft Brewers Conference.

(Sierra Nevada’s organic hop yard abuts the visitor parking lot right next to the brewery in Chico, Ca.)

One particularly surprising fact I learned was that they have an on-site organic hop yard. Two weeks ago I ran into the Chicago-area Sierra Nevada reps at the Green Procurement Expo at Chicago’s Navy Pier convention center. I ducked over to their booth for a ‘coffee break’ during the trade show, and learned that they are soon releasing their first Estate Harvest Ale which will be brewed with the organic hops from their own yard. The bad news is that it will only be available locally around the company’s Chico, CA home.

I also just learned that Sierra Nevada has conducted a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and had the results certified by the California Climate Action Registry and has signed up with PG&E’s ClimateSmart program to offset their emissions. Here’s a short interview with Ken Grossman about both of these efforts that just appeared on the blog Beer, Maine & Me.