Biography

Established: 1980

Owner: Ken Grossman

Brewer: Steve Dresler, brewmaster

Location: 1075 E. 20th St., Chico, California, (530) 893-3520

Status:
Still the mighty oak in the craft beer forest—rooted, revered, and impossible to ignore. Sierra Nevada is not just a brewery, it’s the brewery, the gravitational center of the American craft beer universe. With flagship operations in Chico, California and a stunning second facility in Mills River, North Carolina, Sierra Nevada continues to brew with integrity, intensity, and a well-documented refusal to cut corners—or cone hops.

The Story:
In the beginning, there was Ken Grossman—teenage garage tinkerer, backyard bomber of mailboxes, and eventual prophet of American Pale Ale. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley fixing bikes and distilling underage, a kid with a soldering iron, a photographic eye, and a taste for fermentation. After a detour managing a bike shop and selling homebrew supplies, Grossman joined forces with customer Paul Camusi, and in 1980 they hand-built a 10-barrel brewhouse from scrap parts, dreams, and some light arson energy.

They dumped the first 10 batches—yes, dumped. Only when the hops hit right did Sierra Nevada Pale Ale spring to life, bright and bitter, floral and fierce, unlike anything Americans had tasted before. It was the dawn of an era, though no one quite knew it yet. They scraped, borrowed, and brewed their way to 12,000 barrels by 1988. Along the way they hired a kid named Steve Dresler, who stayed on until 2017, becoming one of the longest-tenured brewmasters in the country.

Grossman eventually bought Camusi out and kept scaling—buying a 100-barrel German copper brewhouse, building a state-of-the-art eco-paradise in Mills River, North Carolina, and launching Beer Camp Across America, a raucous collaborative brew-fest that still echoes through the barrels of countless breweries. Today, Grossman is an industry godfather worth over a billion dollars and still utterly unpretentious. He still believes in balance. In whole cone hops. In never making crap. And yes, in getting his hands sticky.

Five Notable Beers (a.k.a. Craft Canon):

• Pale Ale – The one that started it all. Citrus, pine, and the DNA of a thousand breweries.

• Torpedo Extra IPA – Dank, dry-hopped greatness born of a DIY device called the “Hop Torpedo.”

• Bigfoot Barleywine – A malty beast of a beer that has stomped through festivals since 1983.

• Porter & Stout – Classic, balanced, and brewed before dark beer became a dessert contest.

Awards & Accolades (selected from a mountain of gold):

• 1983 GABF Gold – Pale Ale

• 1987 GABF Gold – Bigfoot Barleywine

• 2010 World Beer Cup Gold – Nooner Pilsner

• 2012 World Beer Cup Gold – Ruthless Rye

• 2010 EPA “Green Business of the Year” – For being decades ahead on sustainability, solar panels, water conservation, and closed-loop brewing nirvana

• 2019 – Reached over 2,000 awards and counting, including national, international, and cosmic honorifics like “Most Likely To Save Beer’s Soul.”

Fun Facts & Glorious Trivia:
🌄 The name “Sierra Nevada” was inspired by Grossman’s love of hiking the mountain range—a love that remains as enduring as his fondness for whole cone hops.
🍃 Sierra Nevada is the largest buyer of organic hops in the U.S., and grows its own hops and barley for the once-a-year Chico Estate Harvest Ale.
🔧 The original brewhouse was entirely DIY. Grossman hand-wired the control panels. (Also: may have been mildly electrocuted.)
🏕 Peaks & Pints co-owner Ron Swarner joined Beer Camp #175, brewing a Chocolate Imperial Stout called Chicocabra. No further explanation needed.
🌎 With two breweries, a staff of over 1,000, and distribution in all 50 states, Sierra Nevada remains the third-largest American craft brewery—and still one of the most respected.
🌱 Their Mills River facility is a LEED Platinum-certified cathedral of sustainability, proof that large-scale brewing and deep environmental ethics can—and should—coexist.

Philosophy:
Use the best ingredients. Brew with integrity. Innovate without gimmicks. And if it’s not worthy of your name—or your hike through the Sierra—it doesn’t get brewed.

Sierra Nevada is still Pale Ale. Still bold. Still Grossman. Still walking the tightrope between bitter and balanced. And still reminding every newcomer: the trail was blazed long before you showed up—but there’s plenty of room on the mountain.

LINK: Sierra Nevada archives