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August 08, 2007
Number 7
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| Last year Sierra Nevada Brewery (SNB) shipped
675,000 barrels of beer. Just under half of that ended up in my garage.
That
puts SNB in 7th place when ranked alongside the largest breweries in the
U.S. There's a bit of an asterisk in that ranking. We're not counting
beer produced
for breweries under license. For example, Samuel Adams sold more beer,
but produced less than SNB. Since it's our hometown brewery (not many towns
can make that statement) we'll ignore the details and just say "way to
go Sierra
Nevada Brewery"! Hold on... I'm about to do it... here it goes... Way to go Sierra Nevada Brewery! The brewery now has about 475 employees with about 200 working in the restaurant. They are looking towards expanding the number of their beer storage tanks by 30% for the sole purpose of providing more beer for my garage. SNB even has physician's assistants in house on a regular basis. This allows employees to make use of preventative medical care, or to address routine medical needs at their convenience. And did I mention they sell golf discs in their gift shop? Under Ken Grossman's leadership the brewery has installed fuel cells that dump energy back into the grid, methane recovery systems that recover... methane, and they are adding solar panels that will create power and shade the restaurant parking area. They send the organic remains of their beer production to Chico State's ranch (as cattle feed), and then sell the ranch's beef in their restaurant. They capture and reuse their clean CO2 byproducts (clean compared to CO2 byproducts from petroleum manufacturing). There's some talk of providing CO2 to Smuckers so they can carbonate an organic beverage they produce. That's just being a good neighbor. |
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| So am I "gushing for Grossman". Not really.
I know that all of the great sustainable headway his company is making
is a conceit of wealth. A truly successful company can avert its eyes from
generating income, and focus for a while on altruism. And since Grossman
is the sole owner of SNB, he can more easily make business decisions that
might not immediately provide return to shareholders. But setting that reality aside, what's going on at the brewery reminds me somewhat of Andrew Carnegie. Here's something Carnegie said... "Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community." Grossman seems to fit the template proposed by Carnegie. We're all lucky to have the great products produced by SNB (I'm talking mostly about Celebration Ale), and lucky that the brewery is run by a local guy who uses his money to make a statement that's not about how many shiny houses and big cars he owns. And did I mention he sells golf discs in his gift shop? |
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| Here's a true story I ran into Ken Grossman at Lowe's one time. One of the brewery's bottling lines had shut down, and Ken was there buying a fuse and some wiring to get it up and running. Can you believe he went down to get the stuff and fix it himself? That's a hands-on owner. Okay, that story is mostly fabricated. I did see Ken Grossman at Lowe's once. I have no idea what he was doing there. But that story is so dull I figured I'd spice it up. After all, this is a blog and I have no journalistic ethics requirements. Do I? |
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CI Challenge: You guys have been pretty quick to figure out the last couple of challenges, so I've upped the anti on this one. Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the correct answer. |
Posted by Lon at August 8, 2007 12:00 AM
Comments
The lucious lips of the non endangered (but should have been better addressed in the EIR) lyme disease carrying Butte County Deer Tick?
So many have been relocated by latching on to frizbee golfer's socks that their populations have shown a marked decrease at the site according to the most recent biological studies.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at August 8, 2007 07:34 AM
Gregg,
I cannot believe you guessed that right! How did you do that? You're like a CI Challenge savant. Of course I'm kidding, you're totally wrong. But I'd say you are "warm".
Lon
Posted by: Lon at August 8, 2007 07:46 AM
OK then it must be the Bidwell Crab Louse. Not native but protected under CEQA as a historically significant resource.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at August 8, 2007 08:20 AM
I'm not sure if that's warmer, colder, or about the same. Although I do know that the Bidwell Crab Louse was named after John Bidwell who brought them out to the west coast from Boston in 1877. He's also widely credited with distributing them throughout the North State.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at August 8, 2007 08:25 AM
is it part of an aphid? they have a hind end that might resemble something like that under a microscope.
Posted by: TrevHastings at August 8, 2007 08:39 AM
Hey Trevor,
Good guess, but I have to say it is not part of an insect.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at August 8, 2007 09:36 AM
I'll go with; an electron microscope view of a portion of the mouth of a mosquito.
SNB is a fascinating place as well as a remarkable and astounding local level of accomplishment for its (approx) 28 year history. You’ve come a long way baby from The Home Brew Shop.
With 10-years of big corporation employment experience, there’s no question in my mind that some short sighted corporation would never have had the long term vision to pull-off this level of success and would not have the long-term vision and patience to invest in such things as the fuel cell array, solar cell array, methane recovery, etc, etc to the extent that SNB has. SNB is very well deserving of the praise they have received in all these areas.
Oh yea, they also make some darn good brew!
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at August 8, 2007 09:39 AM
Mark,
Thanks for posting. You forgot to mention that they sell golf discs at their gift shop.
It is an electron microscope image, it is part of something living, but it is not part of an insect.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at August 8, 2007 09:54 AM
OK a spiders foot built for navigating the tangled web of deception
Posted by: gregg at August 8, 2007 10:17 AM
Gregg,
It's good I don't do this for a living. Apparently you guys are too smart, or I'm too stupid to make this tough.
It is an electron microscope image of a black widow's claw. I thought the "it's not an insect" would throw you folks off the trail for a least a day or two.
Good job.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at August 8, 2007 10:22 AM
When I first moved to Chico, I loved the bicycling but I couldn't believe all the flat tires I kept getting. I'd never heard of puncture vine before.
Then someone told me about our founding mother, Annie (the prohibitionist), intentionally propagating it to get the heathen native Indians to start wearing shoes. I don't think I really believed it, but I thought it was a pretty funny story.
Shortly after I worked on a project at SNB and met Ken Grossman. I don't really know him that well, but he appeared to be one of the genuinely nicest, rich guys I ever met. But my favorite part of that experience is how I realized that this local town hero is making Annie spin in her grave at his success from selling beer.
I am not a bean counter or a historian, but I am sure he has contributed a lot more to this town than she ever did. I love that kind of irony. That kind of irony is truly the playground of the gods. The kind of gods I want to party with.
I might be totally wrong on all accounts, but thinking about it sure makes changing my flat tires a lot easier to cope with.
Posted by: tj glenn at August 8, 2007 06:10 PM
I thought I'd comment on the odd coincidence that SNB Vice President Steven Gary Harrison has been reported missing today. Here is the E-R story that will probably be front page news tomorrow.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_6574546
I hope Harrison is found well some time soon. His car was found along the Sacramento River east of River Road, and he hasn't been seen since Monday when he left work.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at August 8, 2007 06:34 PM