WHOOO-WEEE! (to quote one or more of the Duke Boys and/or Skywalker Men), my vacation has definitely taken a turn for the BEER. As I write this I am in Portland, with one incredible Oregonian beer experience under my belt, but I’ll keep this entry about yesterday, when I was hanging out with friends in Chico, CA. The beer-related highlight there was the afternoon spent at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company brewpub/brewery/retail outlet/experimental hop farm. You’ve probably tried their Pale Ale [and if you haven't a) what's wrong with you, and 2) wait a few weeks for an upcoming "very special" Speaking of Beer podcast], or maybe their Porter. I don’t want to gush fanboy-like, but they have been in the game a long time, have reached a fairly high level of financial success, and still put out a helluva good beer.

It turns out that if you visit the actual place, many surprises await. If you have a fairly hip beer outlet, they may carry three or four Sierra Nevada brews (including seasonals). When my friend Matt and I sat down at the pub and ordered a sampler, we were greeted by SIXTEEN little glasses filled with all shades of the beer rainbow. They had a kölsch as the lightest, almost Bud-like, entry; not one but THREE different wheat beers (“Wheat”, “Crystal Wheat”, and a hefe-weizen), several variations on the Pale Ale (blonde all the way up to an IPA, with about 5 steps between), and (of course) their Stout and Porter. To go through all of that side-by-side was a bit overwhelming, but I got used to it. After tackling the sampler, I ordered an IPA, and really started to relax.

Matt and I then took a self-guided tour of the brewery and bottling plant. The place is set up to really crank out the beer. The fermenters look like the tanks at an oil refinery, and the bottling area is cranking out cases faster than Laverne and Shirley ever dreamed of. It’s freaky that the beer is so good when that part of things felt so “mass-produced”.

On the way out we checked out their hop farm. One of the guys at the restaurant said that this is a labor of love for the owner, Ken Grossman. The vines look cool, but apparently its not that easy to grow quality hops in that particular climate. Still, once a year they harvest them and pour them into a special beer available, of course, only in Chico. It’s a company town, but what a freekin’ company!