Sierra Nevada

Ken Grossman had previously run a homebrew supply shop in Chico before he and Paul Camusi launched the brewery in 1980 with $50,000 in borrowed money, building the original brewhouse from retrofitted dairy equipment and scrapyard metal. The name comes from the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Considered one of the earliest and most influential American craft breweries, Sierra Nevada produced 500 barrels in its inaugural year and surpassed 100,000 barrels by 1993. Grossman bought out Camusi in 1998 and the company has remained 100% family-owned and independent.

The brewery opened a second facility in Mills River, North Carolina in 2014, the only LEED Platinum certified brewery in the United States, and its beer is sold in all 50 states. Annual production now exceeds 1 million barrels.

Environmental practice is woven into Sierra Nevada's operations: the brewery has installed nearly 11,000 solar panels, added hydrogen fuel cells at the Chico site in 2004, recycles and composts almost all of its waste, and treats and reuses water. It farms its own organic hops and barley, and is the largest buyer of organic hops in the United States.

Sierra Nevada launched a dedicated alcohol-free beer range in 2023, brewed using maltose-negative yeast, a strain that cannot ferment the main sugar in wort and so yields little to no alcohol through the standard brewing process. The range spans IPAs, lagers and hop waters. One of the range's drinks has won awards. Sober-curious drinkers will find the range within a brewery that marked its 45th anniversary in 2025.