Local Tahoe breweries have joined forces with over 1,400 breweries nationwide to back Chico-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in their effort to raise funds for Camp Fire victims through their Resilience Butte County Proud IPA.

Participating breweries are using Sierra Nevada’s recipe to make and sell the IPA, donating all funds to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund. Among those serving Resilience IPA are FiftyFifty Brewing while Alibi Ale Works is serving their own Paradise Indian Pale Lager and donating a portion of the funds to victims.

“They’re our neighbors up the hill and we want to help out as we much as we can,” said Katie Baillargeon, FiftyFifty’s general manager, noting that the owner and brewmaster of FiftyFifty are both from Chico. “That area is near and dear to us.”

---

---

Baillargeon said they used the same recipe that was sent to them by Sierra Nevada, but that each brewery’s version might taste a little different. The beer has been offered for a week now, generating $1,500 in the first two days and $3,500 by the end of the week. All proceeds will be donated to Sierra Nevada’s Camp Fire Relief Fund.

In the past FiftyFifty has raised money for victims of the Sonoma County fires through their Sonoma Pride beer as well, brewing Storm Chaser, an American lager, to raise money for Protect Our Winters, a climate change advocacy group.

---

---

“It’s really cool that by brewing beer we can raise all this money,” said Baillargeon, adding the Resilience IPA “has taken off more than anything because Sierra Nevada is behind it.”

Unlike FiftyFifty, Alibi Ale works is selling a beer they had already been brewing but renamed it after the fire started. Alibi put the Paradise Indian Pale Lager on tap around Thanksgiving, donating one dollar of every pint sold to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund.

“This is a really easy way to raise awareness and support a local cause,” said Sasha Severance, assistant manager at Alibi’s Truckee location. “In general whether it’s your community or country we need to be there for others. We at Alibi — we’re all about community and family.”

Severance said that next to a description of the beer is a statement of where the proceeds are going.

“Since we put that in the description people who can’t decide what to drink are going towards it,” she said. “Every day we’re making money for the relief fund.”

In addition Alibi held a fundraiser last week for the fire victims in which they raised just under $2,000 from raffle tickets as well as 10 percent of all sales made that night. Severance said they have yet to choose an organization to donate those funds to, but will choose one that will directly aid victims.

Shortly after the Camp Fire began and quickly burned through much of the town of Paradise, Sierra Nevada announced its new IPA as a fundraising effort, donating 100 percent of the sales to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund, set up by the brewery and supported through the Golden Valley Bank Community Foundation. According to Sierra Nevada’s website they released 17,000 barrels, or 4.2 million pints of Resilience IPA.

Sierra Nevada then reached out to breweries nationwide to support the relief fund, resulting in more than 1,400 breweries offering to make the Resilience IPA, including Ambridge Brewery in Inkberrow, U.K.

In addition, wholesalers and retailers agreed to carry the Resilience IPA and donate every dollar they received from it.

The funds aim to provide long-term relief for fire victims. Now that the fire is out, the brewery plans to begin distributing the money to partner organizations to rebuild the affected communities.

Hannah Jones is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. She can be reached at hjones@sierrasun.com or 530-550-2652.