Sierra Nevada Invites Asheville, NC Brewery Reps to Beer Camp

In an effort to make a connection between the Sierra Nevada Chico, CA brewing community & the new Asheville, NC brewing community, Ken Grossman has invited brewery reps from Asheville, NC to Beer Camp.  News from BlueRidgeNow:

The lucky campers include Andy and Kelly Cubbin, who own and operate Southern Appalachian Brewery on Locust Street in Hendersonville. Kelly Cubbin said that from the very beginning, when Sierra Nevada announced its plans in January to build an East Coast expansion brewery in Henderson County, company founder Ken Grossman told the Cubbins his company would bring the Hendersonville couple to Chico. The trip is part of Grossman’s promise to partner with smaller brewers rather than compete.

However, Beer Camp — a complete immersion into the inner workings of Sierra Nevada’s large-scale operation — takes cooperation to another level. On Sunday, just 48 hours before she was set to arrive in Chico, which some consider the mecca of the craft beer world, Kelly Cubbin called Grossman’s gesture “overwhelmingly generous.”

The highlight of Beer Camp will be a brewing endeavor in which two separate groups of campers will collaborate to create beers on Sierra Nevada’s pilot system, where many of the company’s specialty beers are born. The Cubbins’ group plans to brew a smoked India Pale Ale, an idea created by Ken Grossman’s son, Brian Grossman, who will co-manage the North Carolina plant in Mills River. Brian Grossman said during a recent trip to Hendersonville that his inspiration was the idea of blending the culinary cultures of Sierra Nevada’s sister locations — the notoriously hoppy ales of the West Coast that IPAs represent and the smokiness that defines Southern barbecue.