Hardware Podcasts

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company: Ken Grossman

How I Built This · 30 Mar 2020 · 1h 06m

What this episode covers

Ken Grossman, founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, recounts building America's third-largest craft brewery from scratch in the late 1970s with partner Paul Camuzzi. Grossman details sourcing scrap dairy tanks and welding equipment himself, securing $50,000 through family loans, and obsessively refining the recipe for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to achieve consistency and a distinct hop profile. He explains the company's early distribution strategy of selling individual bottles to bypass draft tap limitations, navigating co-founder friction, and leveraging debt to buy out Camuzzi while avoiding venture capital to maintain independence.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Anchor Brewery, New Albion, UC Davis, San Francisco Chronicle, Grateful Dead
Products
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Materials
Cascade

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