Ninkasi / Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tour Brew Will Be a Foreign-Style Milk Stout w/Coffee

Born and raised in California, our founding brewer Jamie is no stranger to Sierra Nevada. Its brew has been a go-to for our brewer for decades.

And once he started brewing himself, one of his mentors always told him: “Make good beer like Sierra Nevada, and you’ll be fine.”

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o that’s what he aspired to do, crediting Sierra Nevada’s brewer Ken Grossman as being a “huge role model” for establishing a brewery that he’s looked up to for decades for being
“self-made,” “committed to mastery,” “producing the highest quality beers with the most control,” and all in an “incredibly sustainable way.”

So, you can imagine that when he got a call from Ken himself, asking Jamie if he’d like to collaborate on a beer for their Beer Camp Across America, Jamie’s excitement was pretty darn sky high.

“Every hair on my body stood up,” Jamie said as he reminisced about the phone call with the Sierra Nevada brew crew.

Obviously, he said yes.

So last week, Jamie and Nikos headed down to Chico to check out the Sierra Nevada digs and start talking about one of the most important things: what we’re going to brew together!

On the road south, “somewhere between the moonset and the sunrise,” the two had the brilliant idea to brew something absolutely perfect for the Pacific Northwest, a region known for brewing more than just amazing beer:

A foreign-style milk stout with (drumroll please!) COFFEE.

The two presented the concept to Ken when they arrived in Chico, and since he dug it, this style of beer will be part of the Beer Camp Across America variety pack that will celebrate Sierra Nevada’s new east coast brewery in North Carolina through 12 different collaborations with craft breweries from across the country.

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f you’re thinking this sounds like one of the best boxes of beer ever, we couldn’t agree more.

Jamie called it an “awesome way to show commitment to the beer scene” since the effort will involve much more than just the 12 collaboration beers, with a packed schedule of regional festivals set for next summer. Each festival, held in states all over the country, will feature 70-80 different craft breweries. We’ve heard rumors that 10 percent of the craft beer industry will be involved by the time it wraps up in North Carolina next summer. Totally awesome, right? You might want to schedule a massive vacation for July right now.

The rest of Nikos and Jamie’s trip to California was spent hanging out with both new and old friends from all of the other breweries who are all gearing up to Beer Camp Across America together. The group of breweries, which includes Allagash, Ballast Point, Bell’s, Cigar City, Firestone Walker, New Glarus, Oskar Blues, Russian River, 3 Floyds, Victory and the local brewing community in Asheville, North Carolina all seem to be pretty out-of-this-world excited and honored to share this experience.

The group toured the impressive operations at Sierra Nevada…which are so impressive, it took three hours to see it all!

After the tour was over, the Grossman family hosted a bit of a celebration for the group. Can you guess what one of the best parts of a celebration with a dozen awesome craft breweries is?

AWESOME BEER, obviously. The list of beers that this crew brought to share with each other would leave you drooling all over your keyboard and rushing to the closest store to stand in line until next summer when the variety pack of everyone’s collaborations hits shelves.

Get excited, friends. This is going to be good!

If you want to learn more about the Beer Camp Across America fun, check out this!

And thanks to our friends at Sierra Nevada for sharing some photos from the trip!
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