Making Beer Make a Difference…with Sierra Nevada Brewing & Resilience IPA

by | Nov 27, 2018

re·sil·ience

\ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s
an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

On this Giving Tuesday, we are grateful to be able to live our mission of Making Beer Make a Difference™ with 800+ others in our brewing community by brewing Resilience IPA. Ignite will be joining forces and donating 100% of the sales of Resilience IPA to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund which was established to help Butte County rebuild its community.

The “Camp Fire” is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. It started on November 8th and just yesterday (November 26th) achieved full containment. Based on accounts, within only minutes, the fire ravaged everything in its path – decimating nearly a football field every second.
A November 25th Washington Post article described the land mass engulfed in flames as the size of Chicago. According to Cal Fire, the fire burned 153,336 acres and destroyed 18,793 structures. 85 people lost their lives, and there are still 296 people unaccounted for…. not to mention the tens of thousands of residents that have lost everything in the wake of the blaze.

The Camp Fire wildfire hits close to “home” for us for many reasons…

First, did you know that we have a direct connection to Butte County via Sterling City and Chico, CA – both located just outside of the area impacted by the Camp Fire?

The Ignite name and logo pays homage to O.C. Barber, his Diamond Match Company, and how Barber’s business ignited the cities of Barberton, OH AND Chico, CA.

Excerpted from the world’s favorite news source (Wikipedia 😊), Ohio Columbus (“O.C.”) Barber was an American businessman, industrialist and philanthropist. He was called “America’s Match King” because of his controlling interest in the Diamond Match Company, which had 85 percent of the market in 1881. He founded the city of Barberton, Ohio in 1891 and moved his manufacturing plant there in 1894. Where it produced 250 million matches per day.

In 1903, the Daimond Match Company erected a factory in Chico, CA, leading to a building boom and increase in the town’s prosperity. The factory building matches the ones originally built in Barberton. Also, coincidentally, the Chico factory is less than a mile and a half from where the Sierra Nevada Brewery sits today.

Over time, Barber amassed 180,000 acres of total timberland in California. For perspective, this would be a rectangle one mile wide and just under 300 miles in length…coincidently, nearly the same amount of acreage as the Camp Fire wildfire.
Also, Ken Grossman at Sierra Nevada Brewing is one of craft beer’s trailblazers who paved the path for breweries such as ours to exist. We are awestruck by Ken Grossman’s leadership at Sierra Nevada, and challenging the brewing community to step up and support the Camp Fire Relief Fund during such a critical time displays leadership in action.

Finally, Stacy and I have spent the last couple of decades hiking around Colorado and have as a result developed an awareness and respect for the impact of a wildfire. Over the years, we have had to change summit attempt plans because of wild fire damage, and even come face to face with the damage of an active wildfire. As a result, these headlines always capture our attention.

Given these connections, on November 8th, the news of this wildfire really hit home…

Then, on November 9th, Sierra Nevada announced their Chico brewery would be closed until further notice after posting the following to their Facebook page:
Immediately after this post our team was asking “How can we help?!”

On November 16th our question was answered.

We will be releasing Resilience IPA in January. From there, we are hoping you will lift up a glass with us to support those impacted by this devastating fire. We believe that our Community will be excited to help which is why 100% of the sales of this special beer will be donated and we are targeting a goal of sending $5,000 to help their Community. Will you join us in Making Beer Make a Difference?

Cheers!
Michael