Ken Grossman

got, we got extra V. Yeah, exactly.

Uh, I mean, I got to walk in and sit at Ken's Ken Grossman's office.

We're, shooting the wind with him.

Love it.

So it kind of kicked off in 82, you know, and I have a whole timeline, which I don't know if I've gone over this with you.

But basically, Ken Grossman brews his first beer in Chico, Sierra Nevada in 82.

My mentor starts Micromatic in the U.S. in the early 90s and has a business plan to put as many draft taps in the market as absolutely possible.

So we have brands and tap handles going in tandem until COVID just growing and exploding.

And we were chasing these people.

And the brewers were like rock stars.

I mean, Ken Grossman and-

So I remember some of this.

And it's finally coming to fruition.

If it hasn't been for Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada donating the land to us and actually writing us a check to help start the program, it would have never happened.

It was at the old, I think it was Skyway Golf Course, or not Skyway, Sunset Hills.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

We need to invest in that next.

So Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded by Ken Grossman in Chico, California in 1980.

He got his first homebrew kit in 1969 while he was still a teenager.

and got away with making beer at home.

But like 1980 is kind of thought of as a bit of a low point for American brewing.

There were fewer than 100 breweries operating in the entire of the US.

The dominant beers were industrial lagers and Ken Grossman wanted to make something that had flavour and character, particularly a beer where hops played a major role.

He... was in like he didn't just want to make like go like let's make a really hoppy beer he wanted to make a beer that would leave a lasting impression and have a distinctive hop character so originally i think this is really fun fact When Ken first tried to sell the Pale Ale to bars in Chico, around 90% of people didn't like it.

But [laughs] it's a very difficult thing to do.

But we were following craft beer and I kn- I knew most of the guys, probably all, all the significant guys, Jim Koch and Ken Grossman and Fritz Maytag and all these people.

And the amount of merger and acquisition in the beverage business was quite signif- enormous, really, more than significant, and it still continues.

We always thought w- there would be a knock on the door, but only if you're attractive to another company, which means you have to grow fairly quickly and you have to be sizable.

And I definitely have seen you over the years as being that person as well, leading the charge.

And, you know, people like yourself and Ken Grossman and Garrett Oliver and all these guys that I remember meeting, I have videos on my YouTube channel and me interviewing that and in back in craft brewers conferences after the judging and everything like that.

And it's, I think a lot of times we get lost in that part where the indirect mentorship that goes on, I guess is what I'm going to try to say.

And people like yourself that are broadcasting your voice and your opinion and your perspective, how it really does affect those around them and how it does inspire those.

But I have to compete with the big boys over there like Sierra Nevada, but he's a friend.

I went to Chico State, so I love Ken Grossman.

But when you have to deal with the big boys in the industry, it's tough as a small business owner to deal with the amount of marketing efforts and stuff they do on the street.

but at the end of the day, they're buying beer from me and what I believe in and the craft that I'm doing.

And they are definitely doing that with some of their was a hidden scroll series and stuff like that, where they're they're trying to kind of put these products in the market that only very those who pay very close attention will associate them with Sierra Nevada, as opposed to kind of leaning heavily on that name as a way to kind of sell and place these products.

You know, my favorite part of that was the marketing exec who was like, yes, I had to be the one to tell Ken Grossman that we were making like a hard soda or something.

He's like, this might be my last pitch ever.

And I was like, yep, it might have