OUR STORY
From scrappy startup to one of America’s top independent craft breweries
Our founder, Ken Grossman, made a habit of chasing curiosity. His early years of backyard tinkering and covert science projects set the stage for the ultimate discovery: homebrewing.
Fascinated by the alchemy of fermentation, Ken opened The Home Brew Shop in Chico, slowly playing with more hop-forward flavors at a time when American beer wasn’t known for taking chances.
When he finally started a brewery, Ken scoured salvage yards and defunct dairies to find the tanks, pipes, and valves he needed to hand-build Sierra Nevada’s original brewhouse.
On November 15, 1980, he put his first batch of craft beer to the test. That heady stout was a 13-hour labor of love, and after one sip, he knew he had a keeper. The Pale Ale that followed sparked a true craft beer revolution. The adventure’s never stopped, and our curiosity’s still brewing.
We brew and do business like the planet’s future depends on it. We’re committed to operating sustainably, from slashing our environmental impact and producing alternative energy to farming onsite with regenerative agriculture.
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