(Chico, CA) – Here is an update to an earlier story on Sierra Nevada Brewing‘s search for an East Coast landing spot.
This comes from Sierra Nevada’s Communications Chief, Bill Manley:
About 5-6 years ago, we put a projection plan in place looking at the capacity of the brewery, combined with the rate of growth and it became very clear that our current brewery here in Chico would eventually run out of space.
With the pace of growth picking up drastically in the past few years, the timeline for us to reach capacity was compressed and we had to begin looking at options for the future.
We have several options:
1.) Slow down growth and work within our existing capacity.
2.) Expand our brewery here in Chico to boost our existing capacity, or
3.) Look for another site to build a new production brewery.
Each scenario has a bucket-load of pros and cons attached to it so we’ve had our brewers, engineers, and specialists looking at the wisest option moving forward.
We are currently distributed in all 50 states, and while we sell the majority of our beer here in Northern California, we are having great success throughout the Eastern states. Shipping beer via rail and truck from Chico is very expensive, time consuming, energy intensive, and not as environmentally conscious as we like to be. With the rising cost of fuel, we thought that it would be worth our while to explore the possibility of an additional facility in the Eastern part of the US.
Which brings us to Pennsylvania…Over the past year or so we’ve been looking at hundreds of potential sites with the necessary facilities to support a production brewery. We’re interested in a myriad of factors; ease of shipping, great water, sustainability options, etc. but also looking at potential quality of life for our employees. Recently a team of folks from the brewery traveled to several sites to explore the possibility of building a second brewery, and Pennsylvania was indeed on that list. Unfortunately, that site wasn’t a great fit for us nor for the city, and we’ve eliminated it from our search.
We’re currently trending over 800,000 Bbl this year, and our capacity here in Chico is a bit over 1,000,000 Bbl’s. We’ve expanded our current brewery a lot over the past years, but soon we will run out of physical space in Chico.
Even if things remain at the frenetic pace of growth we’ve been seeing thus far, we still have a few years of capacity at our existing brewery. No decisions have been made, but no decisions have been eliminated either. It isn’t a given that we will build another brewery, but I can’t say that it isn’t a real possibility either. At this point, everything is still in the consideration phase, and we’ll have to see how things go as the year presses on. One thing is for certain though, that our existing brewery here in Chico isn’t going anywhere and we will continue to brew the best beer that we can no matter where we’re located.
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Photo Credit: Buy the ticket, take the ride. (Creative Commons)
Fort Wayne, IN. Long history of breweries in the area, and we would LOVE to have you.
Columbus, Ohio. Maybe they can knock off the “big” brewery here in town.
Where else but Cincinnati, OH. Some great brewing history here and Sierra Nevada would definately add to it.
I vote for Vermont or Maine.
stay put
@Douger You mean you don’t want them to open up a second location? They’re not leaving Chico regardless….
North Carolina has had one of the largest growth spurts for craft breweries and beer knowledge in past couple of years and is currently ranked 5th in production capacity of beer in the US (I believe).
An additional home for Sierra Nevada would be a wonderful addition to the already rapidly growing beer community out here in NC! Cheers for NC Beer!
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I think its unique how Sierra Nevada is up front about its options of expansion. This is a good way to get feedback from their customers.
Sierra Nevada has brewed many of my first favorite beers and I hope they succeed in choosing a great location!
Kent, Ohio.
1. no other brewery is here. Why compete? Be the Big Fish in our Pond!
2. Kent always ranks highly in those ‘best tasting water’ competitions.
People in neighboring communities come here to fill up water jugs.
3. Craft brews are popular here, and the local college population would benefit from learning about the finer points of beer from the pros.
4. there’s a LOT of new business construction going on in town. Join in the fun!
5. Kent State U has a ‘Geography of WIne’ class that’s popular. Perhaps a ‘Geography of Beer’ class could be arranged?
6. for that matter, KSU has a Hospitality Management degree. University of Akron isn’t far away, and there’s about a dozen other colleges within a short drive of Kent. Think of the educational tie-in projects.
7. there are many environmental groups in the area who would love to have an environmentally-conscious business come to town.
Washington D.C. should be the new home are the following reasons:
1. DC just passed a law legalizing commercial brewing within the city limits.
2. There is only 1 brewer in DC city limits (and it’s only been around for a month or so).
3. DC has a HUGE craft beer drinking population.
4. DC is located in an area with easy distribution channels up and down the East Coast. It’s right in the middle.
As funny as it is to see everyone posting about how their local beer community would make a great spot for a new SN brewery, I’m thinking the decision makes couldn’t care less about the local culture. If you want them in your town, you need to be talking about good shipping rates in/out of the brewery, a good location for easy (read: cheap) distribution, cheap land, tax incentives, etc.
Southern NH. Already have several large production breweries (so I’m assuming the water is good), high quality of life, close to several major beer markets (Boston, NYC, Portland), and friendly taxes.
Come to Kent, Ohio! We have some of the best water in the country, a beautiful town for employees to fall in love with and plenty of people dieing to drink excellent microbrewed beer such as yours! I completely agree with Joan Inderhees about the education classes that could start up from you being here. Kent has been transforming itself into one of the best communities in the state to live in and SN would be an incredible addition. At least come for a visit and say hello to our famous black squirrels. 😉
Take a look at an untapped market in Connecticut. Outside of Fairfield County there are some great locations, excellent water, rails, easy access highways and great living conditions. New Milford has a great new access highway, is close to rails and has very affordable property. There are also some strong craft breweries and a large homebrewing community to draw talent from. Hooker and Captain Lawerence are just 2 off the top of my head.
Right on, BW.
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Blacksburg wants Sierra Nevada!! From the Golden California Sierras to the Virginia Blue Ridge Appalachians: http://bit.ly/k2Ieto
Come to Blacksburg! Why you might say?
Blacksburg is ranked…
#31 out of 179 Best Small Places for Business and Careers (Forbes.com, 2009)
#14 Top-20 list of America’s Most Educated Small Towns (Forbes.com, 2009)
#43 in the 100 Best Places to Live and Launch (Money.cnn.com, 2008)
East Tennessee! Near the mountains, scenic and the ONLY place in the country where I 40 and I 75 cross.
East Tennessee!!
Kent, OH.
-Great Water
-Environmentally conscious (progressive community)
-Small town appeal with bigger cities like Cleveland, Akron, and Canton very close by.
-It’s exactly in the middle of NYC and Chicago and right off I-76 (A great stop for travelers)
-Northeast Ohio has an appetite for craft beer.
-I think you should
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Check out Cumberland, MD. Western Maryland is cheap and has plenty of labor. Also great geographically. Check it out on google maps. Also the city has a great industry infrastructure. Email me for more info.
Memphis TN. Upsides: Major shipping center (truck/rail/FedEx); excellent water. Downsides: City has major social problems; city taxes.
NB: I have nothing to do with the place. My personal preference is that you open in Tallahassee, FL, so I can work for ya.
A few other reasons for Blacksburg to be the new home for a Sierra Nevada Brewery.
– It is close to I-81 which connects the majority of the east coast in conjunction with a close about 30 minute trip to hit I-77 to connect the brewery with the Mid-west, and the rest of the southern east coast. Shipping could also go by train with a short trip to Roanoke to connect with one of the railways.
– Sierra Nevada is looking for 30-40 acres the greater Blacksburg and New River Valley have plenty of farms and land to spare with beautiful views and great farming land.
– If the brewery is also looking for local produce the New River Valley is a great area with farmers from all over Montgomery Co., Floyd Co., Pulaski Co., and Giles Co.
– The Blacksburg area is continually growing as well, with more Restaurants and Bars popping up every year, so there are plenty of customers to reach out to throughout the area. Another Plus with this is that Virginia Tech, and Radford University are so close, and there are students from all over the state and country who would help in that customer base.
– There is also a great loyalty factor that comes along with those who live in the Blacksburg and greater New River Valley, if Sierra Nevada would move to this area, there would be a great number of people who would jump to the opportunity to work for a great company and would be loyal consumers of something produced in their area by there friends and families.
Knoxville, Tn.
1.Diverse community
2.Large college population and liberal population.
3.20 Min. to Great Smokey Mountains
4.A Mecca for the outdoor enthusiast
5. Great area for shipping only place where i-40 and i-75 meet in the country.
st.louis? i live on the eastside in granite city IL and i’ve been enjoying your beer for about five years now. every bar i go to that’s the first thing i ask for when ordering a beer is the pale ale (love it!). schlafly brewery, ofallon brewery and inbev/budweiser brewery are all here.
we would luv to have them here in franklin,virginia we are on the east coast, we are 50 miles from norfolk, and virginia beach, we are close to the port of norfolk, and we could really use the jobs.
Take a look at Southern NH. As previously mentioned, great tax environment. Also, wonderful quality of life for employees. Mountains, lakes, ocean. Proximity to Boston, Portland Maine.
Not sure they’d like that as a distribution center during harsh winters though. Aren’t property taxes higher in NH, too? Could be wrong.