founder of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, was born in Southern California in 1954 and developed very early interests in technical matters. He was only 11 years old when he built a guesthouse annex to his parents’ home and not much older when a neighbor interested him in fermentation processes. Upon moving to Chico in 1971, he combined employment in a bicycle shop with studies at Butte College and California State University, Chico, and opened a homebrew and winemaking retail store. During college he constructed, with cofounder Paul Camusi, his first brewery, including drilling all of the holes in the false bottom of his first lauter tun. He never did graduate. The brewery became the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, named for his favorite hiking and climbing territory. It opened in 1980 in Chico; it is now the seventh-largest brewing company in the United States. Grossman is dedicated to brewing excellence but also to matters environmental and social. He is a principal benefactor for many community groups.

See also sierra nevada brewing company.