The beer barrels keep rolling in as part of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's relief effort in response to the devastating Camp Fire that hit northern California in November.

The Chico, California, brewery's founder Ken Grossman expected a few hundred breweries might join the effort he announced in late November to help with recovery. Butte County, California, hit by the fire that claimed 85 lives, is also home to Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. About 50 brewery employees lost their homes in the blaze.

Even before authorities contained the fire, Grossman urged breweries across the U.S. to brew their own Resilience Butte County Proud IPA using Sierra Nevada's recipe and donate proceeds to relief efforts.

"Initially, I was hoping for 200 breweries to sign up, and in pretty short order we had many, many more," Grossman said. "When we were at 500, I thought that was pretty amazing, maybe we could get to 600 or 700.

"We are at roughly 1,500 now."

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Before Christmas, Sierra Nevada tapped its own Resilience IPA at the Chico and Mills River, North Carolina, breweries, and cans are starting to be distributed to markets in about 20 states. Grossman hopes Sierra Nevada can raise about $15 million for the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund from proceeds across the country.

"The response was overwhelming, and we’re going to raise some serious dollars for the community," said Grossman, who will attend a beer festival in Bend, Oregon, on Saturday where more than 20 local brewers will sell their own versions of Resilience IPA and donate other festival proceeds to the fund. "It's been very rewarding," he said.

Many breweries are just starting to tap their batches. Beer lovers can look for local spots to buy the beer on tap and in cans at retail on the Sierra Nevada website.

Atlas Brew Works in Washington, D.C., tapped its Resilience IPA on New Year’s Eve. When Atlas decided to brew the beer after Thanksgiving, it got "an amazing response," said founder and CEO Justin Cox. The brewery's malt supplier Country Malt Group and yeast supplier Jasper Yeast donated ingredients to go along with the hops Atlas donated for the beer.

"The entire supply chain has actually donated their products to us so we could brew the beer, and in turn, all that money will flow to the relief fund," Cox said. "Brewers are really good people, in general, and anything we can do to help shine light on a problem or help out with that using the power of beer is an amazing thing."

Country Malt Group, part of international parent company GrainCorp Malt, donated more than 70 metric tons of malt, some also from other GrainCorp companies, Great Western Malting and Canada Malting. The donation, valued at more than $100,000 including waived freight costs, helped Atlas Brew Works and another 220 or so breweries make their Resilience batches.

"We are part of the brewing community and look for ways we can give back and support our customers," Bryan Bechard, president of Country Malt Group, and Mike O’Toole, president of Great Western, said in a joint statement. "Sierra Nevada is a valued customer, and when their owner reached out to us to lead and support this effort, we absolutely agreed."

Grossman got some guidance from Russian River Brewing Company co-founders Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo. The Santa Rosa, California, brewers spearheaded a charity response after fires in 2017 hit wine country in Northern California.

When Grossman contacted suppliers, "the farmers chipped in, the maltsters chipped in, and actually, the Union Pacific Railroad shipped it for free as well," he said.

Another contributor is Schilling Beer Co., in Littleton, New Hampshire, which let Sierra Nevada use its Resilience beer trademark for the fundraising effort.

"It’s been a cross-industry effort," Grossman said, "and we’re very humbled by the great support and response we got from all ends of our industry from the hop farmers, barley growers to the bars and restaurants that are serving it."

Crosby Hop Farm in Woodburn, Oregon, donated hops to help numerous breweries make the beer. "Sierra Nevada’s role in spearheading the effort and the industry's unprecedented response makes me extremely proud to be part of craft (beer) and epitomizes why I love this community," said Crosby Hop Farm CEO Blake Crosby.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.