Ninkasi Brewing Is Going Camping

PRESS RELEASE:

 
NINKASI BREWING COMPANY INVITED TO JOIN SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.
FOR 2014 NATIONWIDE COLLABORATION, RELEASE TOUR

EUGENE, Ore.—Aug. 20, 2013—Ninkasi Brewing Company has been invited by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to join 11 other craft breweries in a celebration of craft beer called Beer Camp Across America. Inspired by Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp® program—multi-day beer-making workshops—Beer Camp Across America comprises the creation of a variety 12-pack—one beer per brewery partner—to be released in summer 2014 preceded by a multi-weekend, west-to-east tour of regional festivals that highlight each locale’s craft beer community. The journey will culminate in Mills River, North Carolina, where Sierra Nevada will open the doors of its new East Coast brewery.

Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman and his son, Brian, co-leader of Sierra Nevada’s North Carolina brewery, personally reached out to Ninkasi founding brewer, Jamie Floyd, to invite him to join the lineup.

“Sierra Nevada has been a significant source of inspiration for me personally as a beer lover and brewery owner for more than two decades now,” explained Floyd. “As a team, we continually strive to build a sustainable business and brewery and we love to watch Sierra Nevada continue to lead by example these very tenets.”

“We think it’s pretty cool that we’ll have the Sumerian goddess of fermentation at Beer Camp,” said Ken Grossman. “Ninkasi has quickly earned respect in the Pacific Northwest—a challenging place to do so—and we imagine they’ll have big ideas for this beer.”

Opening a second brewery is no small feat for Sierra Nevada, but the Grossmans are adamant about highlighting the greater momentum of craft beer, not just their own next step.

“We’ve been in the game for a while, but we don’t reach a milestone like this without our peers,” said Ken Grossman. “We support each other and we challenge each other. Why not celebrate that spirit and what it’s done for craft beer across the country?”

The specific travel path for festivals is a work in progress, but in early 2014, Floyd will visit Chico, Calif., to develop recipes alongside:

·         Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, ME
·         Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, CA
·         Bell’s Brewery, Inc., Kalamazoo, MI
·         Cigar City Brewing, LLC, Tampa, FL
·         Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
·         New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, WI
·         Oskar Blues Brewing Company, Longmont, CO
·         Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA
·         Three Floyds Brewing, LLC, Munster, IN
·         Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, PA
·         Local brewing community in Asheville, NC

Beer Camp Across America will also support hops and malt research as well as champion the Oregon craft beer community through the Oregon Brewers Guild.

Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp program started in 2008 when a group of distributors wanted to visit Chico and learn how to brew beer. It evolved into a national contest where winners from all over the country head to Chico for a two-day, hands-on brewing session. Sierra Nevada recently reached Beer Camp number 100.

“There are no reins in Beer Camp,” said Ken Grossman. “We typically bring a dozen folks in who don’t know a ton about beer and let them have at it. This time we‘ll be brewing 12 beers with as many pros. It has potential to be epic.”

“Camaraderie is one of the best parts of the brewing tradition; there is so much opportunity for us to become better friends with this incredible group of craft brewing peers,” said Floyd. “I look forward to the stories and endless knowledge there is to learn from each other as we reach out with our collective efforts to craft beer enthusiasts everywhere we go!”