No trip to Chico would be complete without a tour of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Even if you aren't a beer person, the story of young homebrewer making it big (billionaire big) is worth 90 minutes of your time. WOW.

There’s a lot going on at Sierra Nevada. If you want to see it all, we’ll pull back the curtains for you. We’ve designed several tours whose durations and content vary, so one of them is bound to fulfill your curiosity—or try them all! Common among them is a dose of history that underscores our role as a craft beer pioneer. Depending on the adventure, you’ll get your hands on our ingredients, peer into brewhouse vessels, stroll beneath fermenters, overlook our packaging facility, and take in our sea of solar panels. If you’re over 21 years old, a guided beer tasting of new and limited release beers is in the cards.

To fully appreciate the magnitude of this institution, we learned about its founder. Ken Grossman learned to homebrew from the father of a close friend. From an early age, he was enamored by the sights and smells of the fermenting jugs of bubbling beer, wine and sake. His first attempts at making beer were rudimentary at best, but began lifelong passion for the art of fermentation.

Grossman began planning a new small-scale brewery based in Chico (1979). He took the name of his favorite hiking grounds in the nearby mountains and decided to launch Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
At the time, there was no such thing as small-scale or “micro” brewery equipment. Everything needed for a brewery had to be repurposed or custom built. Grossman spent months driving through rural dairy communities throughout California and Oregon searching out scrap stainless steel tanks and equipment to use. He taught himself refrigeration and welding and fashioned most of the new brewery out of recycled dairy equipment.
Now, over 30 years later, that young homebrewer has done very well and it's awesome he likes to share the fruits of his labors with us.