Brief Review of Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Hey, Chris here.

Just finished reading Ken Grossman (founder/owner/president) of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Beyond the Pale. The book chronicles the rise of Sierra Nevada from its home brewing origins to the craft brewing giant it is today.

Here are 6 things I learned:

1) Sierra Nevada's first brewery was made of scrap dairy farm parts that Grossman fashioned into a micro-brewery

(Grossman tinkering with a bottling machine)

Grossman sourced the parts from various defunct dairy farms along the West Coast and learned the finer points of welding and refrigeration on his own (with help from classes taken at the local community college). The "frankenstein" brewery lasted for almost a decade, and was purchased by a brewery who still uses it today!

2) A power struggle ensued between Grossman and a fellow co-founder

Camusi (left) with Grossman in the San Francisco Examiner, 1986

Ken and fellow co-founder Paul Camusi had a bitter falling out. The friction started when Grossman began working endless hours at the brewery and felt Camusi wasn't pulling his weight. The tension grew and grew, but ironically enough, Ken couldn't buy out Camusi and his family's shares due to their hesitancy to sell them because of the growth and success of Sierra Nevada that Ken was largely responsible for. He eventually took full control of the company after years of dispute.

3) They have a high-tech-mad-scientist brewing laboratory on site

Gas chromatograph for analyzing hop aromas

In 2005, Sierra Nevada built a ten barrel pilot brewery--an exact replica of the larger brewhouse--to test smaller batches of beer and advance the research of the beer making process. They equipped this brewery with scientific machines with names like: gas chromatograph (to assist in hop aroma research); liquid chromatograph (for analyzing beer components such as hop resins and malt sugars); inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (that detects traces metal in water or finished beer). 

4) It's a great place to work

Workers Pour Sierra Nevada at Beer Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Sierra Nevada places a large emphasis on employee well-being. They offer a free on-site health care clinic, on-site daycare, and beer education courses to all employees. A happy workforce makes great tasting beer.

5) Beer Camp

Beer Campers enjoying samples on an awesome Sierra Nevada bike

Started in 2009, Beer Camp was originally intended for distributors, restauranteurs, and bar owners to learn about beer by helping to brew a small batch at the Chico Brewery. After fielding an overwhelming number of inquiries from fans eager to attend, Sierra Nevada started an online contest where hopeful Beer Campers submit a video in order to prove why they're worthy enough to experience it.

6)  Running a Brewery = Little Time for Family

Ken with his son, Brian, and daughter, Sierra

Throughout the book, Grossman routinely refers to himself as a "workaholic", lamenting just how little time he has spent with his family during his 30 year journey building Sierra Nevada. It reinforces that building a brewery isn't easy, and the entrepreneurial success that Grossman achieved came with consequences. Today, it seems as though Grossman has reconciled this--the book was written with help from his daughter, Sierra, and most of his family has worked in various positions in the brewery.

Pick up the book at Sierra Nevada or Amazon