Business

Sierra Nevada ready to boost production

By Bill Moss, Published: June 2, 2015

MILLS RIVER — Sierra Nevada will increase production by 40 percent in about a month when it finishes installation of 10 new fermenting tanks.

The ramp-up in production from 350,000 to 500,000 barrels a year has been planned from the start and is unrelated to water usage cutbacks that the brewery is bracing for at its home base in Chico, Calif.
“That isn’t the reason for the increase,” said Stan Cooper, co-manager of the Mills River plant. “This is part of the expansion plan for Mills River. We actually sped it up just a little bit because of our growth in the whole craft industry.
“It was completely unrelated to Chico’s water. But at this point everything in California is very serious on the water shortage and there hasn’t been any real plans in place from what we know from the state as to what the cuts are going to be,” he added. “Obviously we’re watching that but this expansion here is part of the whole master plan for Sierra Nevada’s production to grow here in Mills River.”
The tanks, made by a German manufacturer, were ordered last year.
“They all have to be fabricated to our specifications,” said Sierra Nevada spokesman Bill Manly, who is also based in Mills River. “They have to ship via ocean. The whole process takes months and months. They’re here now but all piping has to be done.”
Manly said the plant need won’t need more employees or new shifts even as it increases its output by more than a third.
“The brewing process is essentially limited to the brewhouse and it’s staffed as much as it’s going to be right now,” he said. Distribution won’t change much either, although Mills River will take on a greater share of the load of seasonal beer production. Chico makes roughly 70 percent of seasonals now and Mills River 30. With the ramped up production, the Mills River’s share “will be more like 45 percent.”
In Chico, “we’re hovering just shy of a million barrels,” Manly said. As for the coming water restrictions, “there are all kinds of figures being talked about. Every county is going to have to reduce its water consumption. Butte County, where Chico is located, is going have to reduce consumption by by 30 percent. We already work pretty hard to reduce our water usage per barrel. There’s only so much we can cut.”
Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada’s 11-week-old tasting room in Mills River is attracting huge crowds and exceeding the brewery’s projections.
“This weekend we had the two busiest days we’ve ever had,” Manly said. “It got to the point where we had to place (extra) beer orders. It’s crazy for a brewery to run out of beer but it almost happened.”