On Giving Tuesday last week, Sierra Nevada employees in Chico, California, gathered around one of the company鈥檚 brewing tanks. They were there to make what might become Sierra Nevada鈥檚 most important beer to date: . All profits from the beer will go toward a fund to help victims of California鈥檚 recent Camp Fire.
The Camp Fire, which destroyed as many as 14,000 homes and killed at least聽88 people聽in Northern California鈥檚 Butte County, was one of the deadliest, most destructive wildfires in American history. It entirely wiped out the small community of Paradise, just up the hill from Sierra Nevada鈥檚 headquarters. Forty Sierra Nevada employees lost their homes.
To make the initial batch of Resilience IPA, Sierra Nevada called in locals to help. The first handful of Centennial hops was added by , the sheriff of聽Butte County, which is home to Chico and Paradise. 鈥淗e鈥檚 become a cult hero,鈥 says Terence Sullivan, a spokesperson for the brand. 鈥淟ast year we had the Oroville Dam spill, and he had to evacuate a whole town. This is his second giant evacuation. It鈥檚 absolutely amazing work that he and his team do.鈥
When Grossman puts out a call for help, the industry fires up its tanks.
Next,聽the Sierra Nevada employees who lost homes threw in hops. Finally, Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman finished the batch by adding his own handful. 鈥淭his effort is really heartfelt,鈥 Sullivan says. 鈥淚t will probably go down as one of the proudest moments in my professional career, in helping so many people.鈥
Sullivan lives in Chico, and his house was spared damage. But during the fire, reports of colleagues losing everything came rolling in. 鈥淚 remember my wife saying, 鈥楾he sky looks weird.鈥 I went out and was like, Wow, that鈥檚 smoke,鈥 Sullivan says. 鈥淜en got evacuated from his home. He went over to his property on the coast and chatted with his friend Vinnie Cilurzo聽at the about concepts for raising money for relief.鈥
Cilurzo, the owner and brewmaster of聽Russian River, had been in a similar situation a year earlier, when fires swept through Napa and Sonoma. The idea for a collaborative beer came up. Cilurzo said he鈥檇 be happy to brew some in solidarity. Grossman wondered if other brewers would do the same.
Three weeks later, the answer is a resounding yes. More than 1,100 breweries nationwide have signed on to brew Resilience Butte County Proud IPA. 鈥淎 majority of brewers today are brewers because of Sierra Nevada,鈥 says Keith Plunkett, marketing director for the聽, in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, which is brewing a batch of Resilience. 鈥淭hey were the first ones in this space.鈥

The 64-year-old Grossman is legendary. For many, Sierra Nevada was their introduction to craft beer. So when Grossman puts out a call for help, the industry fires up its tanks.
Resilience IPA is just one of several things the brewery has done for Camp Fire victims. 鈥淩ight away we mobilized and helped get people sweatshirts and T-shirts,鈥 Sullivan says. 鈥淪o many people had to evacuate in just their pajamas. They didn鈥檛 have anything.鈥 The company has also passed out 10,000 meals, donated $100,000 to relief funds, and is now trying to help the聽thousands of displaced families by bringing in trailers to some land that Grossman owns in Chico.
Sullivan hopes that Resilience IPA will keep money coming to a community that鈥檚 going to need it. Sierra Nevada is the only brewery selling Resilience in cans. It will be available nationwide starting in late December or early January. Your local brewer will likely have Resilience on draft in the next few weeks. Currently, Sierra Nevada plans to make 4,100 barrels, or about 172,000 gallons. Proceeds from sales will go into a fund set up at聽Golden Valley Bank in Butte County. 鈥淭he funds will go directly to the victims,鈥 says Sullivan. It鈥檚聽not forming a nonprofit, which would incur administrative costs. Meanwhile many of the suppliers of hops and malt are donating the ingredients needed to make Resilience. 鈥淏y the math, if breweries produce what鈥檚 on paper and commitments are met, the beer-generated funds should be more than $10 million,鈥 says Sullivan.
Currently, Sierra Nevada plans to make 4,100 barrels, or about 172,000 gallons. Proceeds from sales will go into a fund set up at Golden Valley Bank in Butte County.
Sullivan says that a West Coast鈥搒tyle IPA was a natural choice for Resilience. 鈥淲e wanted to focus on what our local community grew up on,鈥澛爃e says. 鈥淭his is Sierra Nevada. This is Butte County.鈥 The name was a little trickier to come by. Shilling Brewing Co., in New Hampshire, already has a Resilience in its lineup. But while there are plenty of stories about brewers suing each other over similar names, this is not one of them. 鈥淭hey were nice enough to allow us to use it,鈥 says Sullivan. As a thank-you, Grossman is heading to New Hampshire next week to brew a batch of Resilience with the folks at Shilling.
Meanwhile,聽Plunkett says that several Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, brewers鈥攊ncluding Bonn Place, Two Rivers Brewing, and Lost Tavern鈥攚ill join forces to brew a batch. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an excuse to get everyone together,鈥 he says. Even Dovetail Brewing, a Chicago-based brewery that聽, is setting aside its self-imposed rule to participate.
In the past decade, the beer industry has changed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much more competitive,鈥 says Sullivan. Sometimes breweries squabble. 鈥淏ut when it comes down to the human aspect of what we all do, we鈥檙e all in this together. Down to the core, we鈥檙e all brewers.鈥 And all brewers adhere to one basic tenet: while beer won鈥檛 always fix your problems, it can make a bad situation a little better. In this case, frosty mugs of Resilience IPA may make things in California a lot better. 聽