I enjoyed this podcast. It’s an interview with Ken Grossman about building Sierra Nevada.
As a salute to Mr. Grossman, I just bought a six pack of SNPA. Recalibrating my IBU meter. Grossman mentions in the podcast SNPA is and has always been 38 IBU. It was revolutionary in 1980. Lots of people found it way too bitter. Today, I find it pedestrian, but refreshingly delicious.
SNPA - one of the beers that propelled the craft brewing movement for sure, and still a much-loved brew and one I often hear folks hearken back to as an example to compare other pale ales against. When I first began to drink “premium” beer back around 1980 it was decidedly more bitter than anything else I was running across - too much so for my palate at that time. When I first started dating my wife - about 30 years back - she was a Bud Light drinker, more or less, and she jokes that when I had her try an Anchor Steam she thought I was trying to poison her. Too bitter! It was also on the bitter end for beers of the time. They sure seem tame by today’s standards.
If you enjoyed the podcast, you’d probably love Ken’s book, Beyond the Pale. Pretty much an autobiography with the emphasis on building the brewery. Great read.
never been to SN but from pictures i seen looks like one of the nicest breweries i ever seen, like disney world for beer lovers
I was lucky enough to go to Beer Camp at SN in Chico a few years back. Amazing place, amazing committee to their community and people in general. They treated us like kings. We got the run of the place and got to brew on their pilot system. When we were about to leave they took us to the hop storage freezer, handed us boxes of gal. Ziploc bags and said help yourselves. I brought home several lb. of the hop that would become Mosaic.
sound incredible, one day i will take a trip out west and visit
I haven’t been to the one in Asheville, but I understand it’s similar.
you went to the original one in Chico correct? there is a SN on the east coast i think but i want an excuse to go to California 
Yeah, I went to Chico, the original, but there’s a new one in Asheville NC
The SN in Chico is the second most beautiful brewery I have been to, and that total number of breweries is large. Most beautiful, SN Mills River NC, as you would expect for a clean sheet and large budget.
I did Beer Camp in Chico back in 2009. I’ve toured Mills River, both the free guided tour and the Beer Geek tour.
A really fun time was Oktoberfest in Chico, doubt they will have it this year.
is beer camp a regular thing at SN?
They were still doing it a year or 2 ago. Usually for distributors and prime accounts. Has to be on hold now.
Not as often as in the past. They mainly use it to educate their accounts and host journalists. I got lucky because they held a contest on the forum years ago. It was run by a friend who invited me to come, too.
I just got a twelve pack of SNPA and it is just a perfect ale in my opinion. It was the first hoppy beer that I got into way back when. I remember my favorite bar (which is no longer open) had ragtime live music, delicious sandwiches, and SNPA on draught in schooners (about 30 ounces of beer for $3.75). I have visited the Mills River location twice while visiting my brother in Asheville. It is an amazing place and I would love to see some music in the back.
A truly amazing experience. I was part of #117. I made a super sweet video [emoji28] for their social competition years back. The public liked it enough.