Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Founded: 
1980
Brief History and Information: 

We set out with a simple goal: brew the beers we wanted to drink. We started small, with a homebrew shop, a love of American hops and plenty of passion. In the process, we changed the beer world forever. Decades later, we’re still at it, and the passion burns brighter than ever.

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, or sample brews fresh from the tank if you take our brand new Beer Geek Tour.

Choose your destiny. We can’t wait to show you around.

Our tours fill up quickly! We highly recommend making your reservations in advance. (Provided by brewery)

Location: 
Chico, California
Map: 
Tap Room Hours: 

Chico:
Sunday – Thursday
11:00am – 9:00pm

Friday – Saturday
11:00am – 10:00pm

Brewery Website: 
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

What They Brew...

  • Sierra Nevada Coffee Stout
    American Stout
    Looks:
    3
    Smell:
    3
    Taste:
    3
    Overall:
    3

    Coffee and craft beer are both drinks that inspire passion in the faithful. As we dreamed up ideas for a winter beer, they seemed destined to come together. There isn’t much that’s more comforting...

  • Sierra Nevada Flipside
    American Amber / Red Ale
    Looks:
    3.5
    Smell:
    3.5
    Taste:
    3.5
    Overall:
    3.5

    Just when it feels like the dog days will never end, suddenly, the switch is flipped, the air gets cooler and it’s clear that autumn is on the way. Featuring a ruby-red hue, restrained malt body...

  • Sierra Nevada Golden IPA
    American IPA
    Looks:
    3
    Smell:
    3
    Taste:
    2
    Overall:
    2

    We’ve always had a passion for hops, but in today’s hop-heavy beer landscape it’s easy to forget where that passion came from. In the early days, one variety changed everything—the Cascade hop. It...

  • Sierra Nevada Hoptimum
    American Double / Imperial IPA
    Looks:
    4
    Smell:
    3
    Taste:
    3
    Overall:
    3

    Hoptimum is a hurricane of whole-cone hop flavor. Hopped, dry hopped and torpedoed for incredible hop flavor and complexity, Hoptimum is the pinnacle of whole-cone hoppiness and the biggest...

  • Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen
    Hefeweizen
    Looks:
    4
    Smell:
    3.5
    Taste:
    4
    Overall:
    4

    Inspired by traditional Bavarian techniques, Kellerweis is a true artisan experience. With Kellerweis, we brew in open fermentation tanks—a process rarely seen today—to let the ingredients truly...

  • Sierra Nevada Nooner Pilsner
    German Pilsner
    Looks:
    3.333335
    Smell:
    3.333335
    Taste:
    3
    Overall:
    3.333335

    Gather your friends, pack the gear, and head out to wherever the day may take you. A midday go-to, Nooner is our take on the classic German-style pilsner—one of the original session beers. Nooner...

  • Sierra Nevada Otra Vez
    Gueuze
    Looks:
    3.5
    Smell:
    4
    Taste:
    4
    Overall:
    4

    On our search for the perfect warm weather beer, we wanted something light bodied and thirst quenching, yet filled with complex and interesting flavors. We stumbled across the fruit of the prickly...

  • Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
    American Pale Ale (APA)
    Looks:
    3
    Smell:
    3
    Taste:
    3.5
    Overall:
    3.5

    Pale Ale began as a home brewer’s dream, grew into an icon, and inspired countless brewers to follow a passion of their own. Its unique piney and grapefruit aromas from the use of whole-cone...

  • Sierra Nevada Porter
    American Porter
    Looks:
    4
    Smell:
    4
    Taste:
    3
    Overall:
    3

    Porters were invented as a fortifying drink for the rough-and-tumble working class of London’s bustling markets. It was brewed for good folks with calluses on their hands, doing work that needed...

  • Sierra Nevada Stout
    American Stout
    Looks:
    4.5
    Smell:
    3.5
    Taste:
    4
    Overall:
    4

    Before Sierra Nevada was a reality, our founders brewed beer at home and dreamed of building a brewery one day. Back then, they brewed the beers they wanted to drink—bold and full of flavor....

Pages