Sierra Nevada Brewing history

However, Grossman and Camusi were not satisfied with the result, and they threw out the first nine batches (at a cost of $1,000 each) before commencing production in 1981.

A 1982 article in the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting the brewery, as well as having its beer sold in prominent restaurants such as Berkeley's Chez Panisse, helped establish a market for Sierra Nevada's beer.

A May, 1984 profile of the brewery in the San Francisco Chronicle 's Sunday Magazine gave the firm another boost, as did an article in New York's Village Voice, which helped create demand for the beer on the East Coast.

By 1987, the brewery was distributing to seven states and production had reached 12,000 US beer barrels (14,000 hl) per year, causing the company to pursue building a new brewery.

In 1988, the brewery moved into a 100-barrel brewhouse, with four open fermenters, and eleven 200 US bbl (230 hl) secondary fermenters.

By 1989, production had jumped to 30,500 barrels, and expansion of the new brewery had already begun.

In 1995, with the company's production continuing to mushroom, Grossman decided it was time to install a new bottling line.

The company installed it in February 1996 after arranging the brewing schedule so that production was disrupted for only two days.

The company needed more than just a new bottling line to keep up with demand, however, and in 1997 Sierra Nevada began construction on a second plant based on the design of the existing one but on a larger scale.

Camusi retired in 1998 and sold his share in the company to Grossman.

"Interview with Ken Grossman," Modern Brewery Age , May 10, 1999.

In 2000, 57 percent of the firm's beer was sold in California, with 43 percent purchased in the northern half of the state.

In 2001, Ken Grossman bought the shuttered Fun World amusement park adjacent to the company's plant.

In 2003, Sierra Nevada began limited distribution to England.

Speer, Robert, " 'Stage' Presence," Chico News & Review , May 6, 2004.

In 2005, the company began preparations to install four Direct Fuel Cell (DFC) generators to supply electrical power to its plant.

The brewery employed about 450 people in 2011.

In January 2012, Sierra Nevada announced it would build a second brewing facility with an attached restaurant in Mills River, North Carolina.

In 2013, the company opened the "Torpedo Room" in Berkeley, their first tasting room outside of Chico.

The LEED-Platinum-certified building opened in early 2014 on a forested tract adjacent to Asheville Regional Airport, re-using the cut-down trees as lumber both in the building and for the rainwater cisterns that flush the toilets.