Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

 

One of my favorite places on planet Earth. Awesome vibe, super clean space, big wide open and airy atmosphere with an amazing outside patio area, friendly staff who knows how to properly pour amazing beers and good food. What else could you want from one of the most important pioneers of the craft brewing industry in America. If you're in the vicinity and you consider yourself a beer fan and you don't make a point to visit Sierra Nevada then shame on you! You should get your beer geek card repossessed! Nuff said

 

Time to review one of my favorite places! Every year I drive up North to the Sierra Nevada's to visit my cabin in the mountains. And we always reserve one night in Chico (just down the road) to stay so that we can have a full night at Sierra Nevada Brewing. Parking is right next to the hops they grow. They have electric hook-ups. This place can be busy, so reserve a table! Inside and Outside seating to take advantage of the weather. Neat brewery tour and gift shop next door. As soon as you smell the hops in the air on the drive up, you know you are in the right place. This is a college town, and the crowd is younger. The restaurant is not huge (see Ballast Point, Stone Brewing, Firestone, etc), but the atmosphere is super. Great bar and cool people minding it. The food is better and better every year we come here, with the menu changing often. It is not cheap food however, so know that. It has more of an adult feel to it than a 'frat' feel to it, so expect that somewhat. Smaller outdoors seating is nice, but fills up fast too. I wish they had more specials on the menu, or could fill up a growler with specials easier. So points off for that. They do stock seasonal's and some specials in the small fridge in the gift shop, so look for that. Make reservations on the weekends, because this establishment can get a lot of pressure from the local community. Service can be subjective at any time, but we have always had really great service here.

June 11, 2017

 

 

 

 

I love this wet hop ale! Look forward to buying it by the case every year. Exceptional IPA!

 

Best brewer in USA?

I like Sierra Nevada. The food has been up and down in the past, but the last couple of years it's been really good. Sometimes I think they go out of their way to put brews on their board just to be different, but there always seems to be quite a few that are really good and worth drinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The food here is excellent. The beer choices are varied, and many choices that are not available outside the brewery, including seasonal beers. Nice merchandise store too.

 

 

 

Took their free tour which was an hour and a half long. Tour guide was hilarious and welcoming. They start you off with their flagship Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and the tour begins. You'll visit the hop freezer, taste some wort, check out their packing facility, and finish up with some beer tasting.

Beer tasting consisted mostly of year rounders with some seasonals. Below is the list they had for the free tour.

Pale Ale
Torpedo Extra IPA
Tumbler Brown Ale
Kellerweis
Otra Vez
Porter
Stout
Oktoberfest 2016 with Mahrs Brau
Narwhal Imperial Stout

After the tasting they will give you a nice keychain bottle opener. I can't wait to go back for the Beer Geek tour.

They have a gift shop where you can buy fresh beer, food made with beer, clothes, etc. I was able to get a nice sweatshirt on sale. Comfortable and high quality design. I think it was cheap because it was out of season,

UPDATE 4/28/17
Went for the Beer Gear Tour and it is much more in depth and lot of more beer tasting than the brew house tour. We covered got to try a IPA collaboration with Treehouse Brewing that was delicious. It was probably my favorite beer on the tour. We also got to try Narwhal that was barrel aged for two years in a bourbon barrel. At the end we got to try new beers that included Ovila White Ale and a couple of A Trip in the Woods barrel aged beers. It was totally worth it for the Beer Geek Tour. They will give you an exclusive shirt and growler and the tour itself it packed with beer and information about Sierra Nevada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vibe: It is a deathstar with a big ass restaurant, no way around that fact. It's worth seeing for scale but hardly charming in any way.

Quality: Here is of course where they shine... consistent and classic. These guys laid the roads down for all the new breweries to drive around on and even though you sometimes have to be cornered at a wedding bar to pick up a Pale Ale its always a nice reminder that quality is on every corner for a decent price.

Service: Always been ok. Never bad, never particularly remarkable.

Selection: There is usually at least one or two interesting taps to make you feel special. Plus a great opportunity to try all the other SN goodness fresh at the source. This is actually a huge plus considering a lot of this stuff does serious time at your local.

Food: Not great the 3 times I have had it. Standard pub quality but on the high end of the pub food price spectrum.

Overall: Its a must hit at least once in your life and if you happen to be in Chico it's worth adding in to your crawl even if you dont need to do the tour.

 

 

 

Usually pretty busy. Food is good. Beer is really good.