Sierra Nevada Stout brewed by the Sierra Nevada Brewing - Chico, CA
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. Stouts had always been a favorite,
so when we needed a big and rich beer to test out the brewing system at our
fledgling brewery, stout was the obvious choice. Thirty years later, not
much has changed. We’re still brewing the beers we want to drink and our
classic Stout is the same as it’s ever been—big, rich, bold, black as night
and filled with the wild-eyed passion of which dreams are made.. This stout is brewed with two row pale, munich,
caramel and black malts. The bittering hops are magnum and the finishing
hops include cascade and willamette. Alcohol content is 5.8% by volume.
Beer Review by Beer
Advocate:
Appearance: Jet black with the smallest amount of light at the bottom. The head
is a tan color and has really good retention. Just a small amount of lacing.
Smell: Chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, grapefruit, pine. Wow.
Taste: Nailed it. Right off the bat is some intense roasted malt and chocolate
flavors. Lot of oily hops in here. Grapefruit and pine for the most part. Nice
level of bitterness in here, I love the flavor. Finish has some coffee and a
lingering roasted taste. Everything I want in an American Stout.
Mouthfeel: Creamy medium bodied beer. Carbonation is low-medium. Feels slick and
oily.
Overall: This is everything I want from a stout and more. It has an intense
roasted flavor with some backing hop bitterness. The alcohol level makes it
possible to drink 2 or more and the pricing is more than reasonable. I love you
Sierra Nevada.
 
Sierra Nevada - The Beginning
In 1979, Ken Grossman began building a small brewery in the town of Chico,
California. His goal: to brew exceptional ales and lagers. Today, the Sierra
Nevada Brewing Co. is considered the premier craft brewery in the United States.
And the beer? Critics proclaim it “Among the best brewed anywhere in the world.”
Ken’s passion for brewing began when a friend showed him the basics of home
brewing. Using homemade equipment, Ken began brewing five-gallon batches of beer
on his own, and soon became a proficient home brewer.
In 1976, after studying chemistry and physics at Butte Community College and
California State University at Chico, Ken opened his own store, The Home Brew
Shop. There, he supplied Chico’s home-brewing community with equipment,
materials, and advice, but dreamed of opening his own brewery.
Two years later, it was time to make the dream a reality. Ken and co-founder
Paul Camusi cobbled a brewery together from dairy tanks, a soft-drink bottler,
and equipment salvaged from defunct breweries. Though the equipment was
secondhand, they created a first-rate microbrewery. The ingredients were
premium, including the copious quantities of hops that would become the
brewery’s trademark. An avid backpacker, Ken named the new company for his
favorite hiking grounds—the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Finally, on November 15, 1980, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. brewed the first
batch of what would soon become a landmark in American craft brewing: Sierra
Nevada Pale Ale.
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