Maria Miyashiro

Professor Waddell
Journalism 260
November 16, 2015

Water. Malt. Hops. Yeast.

The four modest components that make up the worlds most widely consumed
alcoholic beverage, only third in overall beverages behind water and tea.
Among the top craft breweries vying for the number one seat is Sierra Nevada
Brewing Company. They too started with modest ingredients and have since become
wildly popular.
Sierra Nevada, celebrating its 35th year in production, went from producing 1,500
barrels to 1 million barrels of beer per year. From one small garage in Chico, Calif. to two
expansive ones on both sides of the country, one in Chico and one in Mills River, N.C.
From its inception through the expansion to making Pale Ale the second most widely
consumed craft beer, Founder Ken Grossman has made running a sustainable business a
top priority.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico Sustainability Coordinator Mandi
McKay says that Grossman has wanted to be as sustainable as possible since the founding
in 1980. Ken is an environmentalist at heart and has always understood that the success
of a business is directly linked to the success of the environment and our role in it,
McKay says.

Alongside the companys commitment to composting 99.8 percent of its waste,

and creating 76 percent of their own energy through solar panels and fuel cells, Sierra
Nevada has a strong commitment to water conservation.
This obligation is especially vital given their dependence on water in beer
production. Their website states: Of the four main ingredients in beerwater, malt, hops
and yeastwater makes up more than 90% of the liquid, but is the most often
overlooked.
These water-conserving efforts have increased with the growing issue of limited
water in California. In 2007 they created the goal to reduce their water usage by 25
percent for every barrel of beer produced. Seven years later they made a goal to reduce
water even further, using a 4 to 1 ratio of barrels of water used to barrel of beer packaged,
a goal it has not yet met.
Their water reduction achievements have been accomplished through a series of
small endeavors. We celebrate the big wins as well as the small stuff, Cheri Chastain,
Sierra Nevadas Chico Sustainability Manager, says.
Switching from traditional watering methods to drip irrigation, replacing lawns
with drought-resistant plants, and optimizing all machinery that uses water to ensure no
water goes to waste.
Though the drought has impacted some breweries in their beer production, Sierra
Nevada has not lost steam in producing beer. In fact, it has since developed the new
brewery in Mills River to keep with the demand.
When they were able to imagine an entirely new brewery from scratch they
wanted to make it as efficient as possible. Sierra Nevada aimed to create a Leadership in

Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building, giving back as much to the
environment as they had taken away in construction in Mills River, NC. Ken thrives on
reducing waste and becoming as efficient with raw materials as possible, especially
water, McKay says.
To accomplish the LEED certification, Sierra Nevada has incorporated capturing
rain and stormwater for repurposing as non-potable water in the brewery. In addition,
wastewater created at each of the breweries is treated using microturbine technology to
clean before sending to the municipal treatment facility. The biogas produced in this
process is captured to fuel the boilers in the breweries.
Chicos brewery will not be following in Mills Rivers lead by collecting
rainwater. There simply isnt enough rain here in Chico to warrant the cost of a largescale rainwater recovery system, McKay says.
The water shortage is a crisis in Northern California and there have been
discussions of drought in western North Carolina. Though these efforts have been
effective in meeting some of their water conservation goals, the barrels of beer produced
a year continue to grow, now reaching 1 million a year. With their 2014 goal of using four
barrels of water for every one barrel of beer packaged, they are aiming to use four million
gallons of water.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company sets itself with a daunting objective. If it has
succeeded its goals in beer production, lets hope it can meet its ambitious water
restrictions.