The craft beer movement has turned into a national phenomenon. Microbreweries and home brewers have popped up all over the country. Much like the wine industry, craft beer has become its own community.

The personality of craft beer has taken over our entire business and we couldn’t be happier about it. We try to support California craft breweries by featuring them on both our tap and bottle beer menus. However there are a few select breweries that we hold dear to our hearts, and one of them is Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Sierra Nevada beers are a staple on our tap lines. We always try to support their specialty releases and involve them in other events at JJ’s, like beer dinners and promotions.

This post is really more of a history lesson on how the wonderful Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. came to life. It all started with a beer lover named Ken Grossman. Ken was an avid beer drinker and began brewing his own 5 gallon kegs at home. Using the knowledge he gained studying chemistry and physics at both Butte Community College and CSU Chico Ken opened a store that supplied other home brewers with materials and advice, The Home Brew Shop. He had a dream of opening his own brewery and with the help of his co-founder Paul Camusi, that dream started to come to life in 1978. They began building a small brewery in Chico, CA with secondhand equipment from other breweries and a soda-bottling machine. Using quality ingredients and plenty of hops (what they are now famous for), they created premium craft beers from substandard machines.

The first batch was finally brewed on November 15, 1980… The famous Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The brewery was named after the Sierra Nevada Mountains, one of Ken’s favorite hiking places.

The beer took off. Its popularity grew so quickly that only 9 years later in 1989, Ken’s demand had outweighed his facility’s production abilities, despite numerous upgrades throughout the years. That’s when they moved production to its current site in Chico, CA. Ken equipped the new site with a 100-gallon copper brew house that he brought back from Germany. This was sufficient enough until 1997 when again his demand had out grown his production capabilities. Ken then hired the original coppersmiths to make new barrels to match the originals, and that is what’s making those delicious beers today. They are now able to produce almost 800,000 barrels per year!

It has been Ken’s stand to only use premium ingredients to make premium beer throughout the years. That still rings true today. Ken is still personally involved in every aspect of production and loves his craft beers…. And so do we!

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