Day 2: Sierra Nevada and Superbowl
We were out the front of Sierra Nevada Brewery at 11am waiting for the doors to open. (The guy at the hotel said it wasn't really walkable so we took a cab, which cost all of $4! We ended up walking back, and it took about seven minutes. Americans don't do walking.)
Here's me waiting outside for the doors to heaven to open:
When the brewery did finally open (late) we propped ourselves at the copper bar and proceeded to taste their 19 tap beers in "flights", which is what we'd call tasting paddles. At $3 a pop for four glasses, plus another three glasses free when I asked to taste the three we hadn't already covered, it was pretty good value. And the burger made from beef fed on the spent grain and the pork-belly wrap were pretty tasty and cheap, too.
These are the 19 beers we tried:
And four "flights" racked up:
My favourites - aside from the Pale Ale - were the Torpedo Extra IPA (7.2% ABV and 65 IBU) and Ruthless Rye IPA (6.6% ABV, 55 IBU). The little lady enjoyed the Blonde Ale (4.5%, 32 IBU), Old Chico Brand Crystal Wheat (a clean beer brewed with 60% wheat; 4.7% ABV, 26 IBU) and Kellerweis Hefeweizen (4.8%, 15 IBU)
We also discovered why the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale we'd had on tap the previous night didn't taste like the stuff in bottles we were used to: Because it's a different beer. The tap version is made to a different recipe and is lower in alcohol than the bottled version (5.6% ABV, 38 IBU versus 5.0% ABV, 36 IBU). The only place in the world you can taste the bottled recipe on tap is the brewery.
One of the things that struck us was the number of "growlers" they were selling across the bar. They are two-litre bottles with swing tops that you buy for $11.99, then come into the brewery and fill up. Most are about $11 to refil, apart from the stronger beers, which are about $20. It's not a swap-and-go type affair, because they refill the growler that you bring in, so it's your responsibility to keep it clean.
Below are Jim and Larry, two lifelong friends that we talked to at the bar. They'd dropped in for a couple of pints and to fill up their growlers to take home to watch the Superbowl that afternoon. The guy on the left, who from memory is Jim, was one of quite a few people we have met who have said the Pale Ale was their least-favourite Sierra Nevada beer.
Sierra Nevada only uses hop cones, not pellets. The hops that this guy is shovelling are Centennial. The two compartments to the left of him contain two as-yet-unnamed experimental hop that was in the very delicious Ruthless Rye IPA. The fresh hops have almost a mandarin or cumquat quality about them (yes, we were allowed to rub any of the hops between our hands). Our guide, Scott, says that because the hop resins aren't water-soluble the guys who work in the hop fridge get new clothes every two weeks because they can't wash their clothes to remove the hop resin!
How'd you like a grain mill like this? In the foreground is the mash tun.
This is one of the boilers at Sierra Nevada. They're stainless steel on the inside and copper on the outside, purely for looks. Apparently the owner wanted the copper covers to match some from the original, smaller brewery, so got the European coppersmiths out of retirement to build them four new ones for the lauter tun, boilers and whirlpool. The walls of the brewhouse are painted with artwork done by a friend of the owner and depict some of the staff who were working there at the time the paintings were done. The ceiling is pressed tin. In the foreground are hops and Irish moss waiting to be added to the boil.
Here we are under the fermenters, outside the conditioning room.
The staff notice board advertising jobs, and announcing the plans for a new brewery on the East Coast, in North Carolina. (Sorry if you can't see the whole thing but I posted this on a tiny screen so can't see if it actually works. If it doesn't here's the direct link to the pic:
http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forumpic ... 2/SN10.jpg.)
After the tour we (re)tasted eight of the beers and were shown the new SNPA that will be released in cans in the next week or so. Torpedo IPA is also going to be available in cans. Scott the guide said that until recently there were no linings for cans that were acceptable because they contained harmful chemicals. Bigfoot (of Barleywine-style Ale fame) is on the left and the brewhouse is behind.
(Bullfrog, the Sierra Nevada gift shop sells 12-packs of 12oz SNPA for $14.20, which is a bit more reasonable than the $5.95 for 16oz in the restaurant the other night. Makes you wonder how it ends up costing close to $5 at Dan Murphy's.)
The incredible thing that we found about the brewery was how environmentally friendly it all is. There are more than 10,000 solar panels on the roof and they generate more than 80 per cent of their power. All the company cars are Toyota Priuses (admittedly it's debateable whether there are non-hyrbid alternatives that are more environmentally friendly) and you can charge your electric car from the solar array while you have some beers and something to eat. All the spent grain goes to local farms, lots of the other waste is composted (using a composter from NZ, which is the only one in the US) and they grow some of their own hops at the brewery for specialty beers, although only enough to keep the brewery going for a few hours!
After spending the first half of the Superbowl in the hotel on the phone to the bank in Australia about why they'd suspended our credit card it was off to The Graduate, which is a beer barn in Chico. I did my very best to get through the 50 beers they had on tap, but failed miserably.
Next stop, Anderson Valley Brewing Co.
Cheers,
Oliver
- in San Francisco. I thought we'd visit Anchor Brewing, Rogue Ales and 21st Amendment Brewery, as well as Marin Brewing, of course.
