Chico, CA

All the bars around town (The Madison Bear Garden, Normal Street, Etc.) all have one off Sierra Beers on tap, but as of the last time I was up there, there wasn't a place that was really a "Beer Bar". Most of the good bottles I picked up in Chico were at random liquor stores that had a nice selection, but as far as I can remember, there aren't any great stores.

 

The lack of a substantial beer scene in Chico is just a sign that you need to come home, Cuz. We miss you very, very, very, very, very much.

 

Chico is bros slamming Natty Light while floating on the river, not nerds arguing about IPA bottle dating.

 

I've spent plenty of time there, and I doubt if there's much demand. The college students tend to be the types who just want to chug Natty Lite at frat parties, so the bar scene tends to be dominated by whichever joint offers the cheapest happy hour and drink specials. The locals usually don't make much money, as there aren't a lot of jobs up there, so most of them aren't going to be too keen on spending, say, $8 for a pliny when you can get SN beers for $3-4 a pint. There's a very low-budget mentality.

 

Chico is a beer wasteland. Retailers are oblivious to the proper care and rotation of beer and Sierra is king of town. But as everyone has noticed, craft beer is growing in popularity. What this means is that now you can start to find more good beer around town being kept warm on the shelves. I know that I can find 4 month old Pliny for 7 bucks or old Sculpin for 15 bucks a six pack. Chico is kind of out of the way anyways. You really have to have a reason to come to Chico. So distributors don't make the trek up here with quality product because they can sell it in Sacramento or somewhere closer to their hub. It sucks not having a great beer store or beer bar, but usually the college crowd isn't into trying new and different beers (usually expensive).

 

I always heard that Sierra Nevada prices in town are ridiculously low (like $6 or even less a 6 pack), which would tend to make even those who are into craft beer think twice before spending at least half again as much on another "micro".

 

This is true, I stopped in Chico back in July, on a very long road trip to Oregon. At the SN restaurant, tasters were $0.50, so I got 5 for $2.50. Being from Socal, might be the last time I'm in Chico too, since there really isnt anything else of interest to me there beyond SN (no offence Chico residents) & it's out of the way for the most part, imo. However, SN was awesome.

 

I think that's a big part of it. It's also on tap all over town, often for the same price as whatever BMC crud is being poured. So it'd be kind of a tough nut to crack for somebody who wanted to try to sell people on other craft beers.

As an aside, SN employees used to get to take home a half case on the house for free pretty regularly--I want to say it was every week, but it's been a while so I might be misremembering. Anyway, a friend of mine who worked in the restaurant there was a BMC drinker, so I'd trade him a half case of Budlite for SN, and we'd both be happy. Ah, good times.

 

Its a college town, college students dont want a 150 dollar pony keg of sculpin, they want coors light for 50 bucks!