Grossman’s interest in home-brewing started with his frequent visits to his neighbour’s house. Grossman was best friends with his neighbour’s son, whose father was a very accomplished home-brewer; he always had something boiling on the stove. Those bubbling jugs were the start of Grossman’s dream. Soon after, Grossman bought his first home-brewing kit in 1969 - without the permission of his mother - and fell in love with the brewing process and the flavour of beer.

In 1976, Grossman moved to Chico, California, and started a small home-brewing supply store called The Home Brew Shop. Things didn’t kick off immediately but Grossman patiently built momentum by teaching classes to first-time home-brewers. Grossman’s home-brewing eventually gets more serious and sought after by the locals in Chico.

In 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewery was born. Grossman started brewing his first trial batch of beer: 5 barrels of stout and a pale ale a few days later. 10 batches later, Grossman finally perfected the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which later became the brewery’s signature brew and even helped fuel the American craft beer revolution.

In fact, the legendary pale ale is one of the most iconic craft beers in the industry. Not only is it well-loved by many, it has also inspired many great brewers including Jeremy Kosmicki, brewmaster of Founders Brewing, Steve Luke, founder and head Brewer of Cloudburst Brewing, and Sara Nelson, co-founder and co-owner of Fremont Brewing.

Sierra Nevada’s efforts in the eco-friendly brewing movement have made other breweries green with envy. The brewery has the nation’s largest private solar array that takes care of its electricity needs and helps to reduce its carbon footprint.

Sierra Nevada also diverts 99.8% of its solid waste from landfills by selling its spent grain locally for animal feed, and by composting, recycling and reusing its waste. In addition, the brewery uses a wastewater treatment plant to clean and reuse the water that was used in the brewing process.