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.
