Sierra Nevada Brewery

What does a $175 million brewery look like? Amazing. Simply amazing.

100 Sierra Nevada Way, Fletcher, NC 28732
SierraNevada.com

Sierra Nevada is an Old G of the craft beer world having started in 1980 in Chico California. In 2012 they announced they would open a second brewery in Mills River, NC. When you drive up the sprawling driveway and enter the facility you can tell where the millions of dollars Sierra Nevada spent went. As far as large breweries go, Sierra is doing it right. The problem is that EVERYONE knows about it.

If you arrive on a Saturday afternoon you’re looking at an extensive wait (like 2 hours), but there is ample outdoor patio seating where you can drink from the Back Porch Bar, lounge and play bocce ball, or sit around one of the many outdoor fire pits. If you arrive during an ‘off peak’ time you’re all set. With hundreds of seats including indoor and outdoor options you might get seated right away.

There are 20 beers on tap covering a broad spectrum of styles and featuring ‘tap room exclusives’ and multiple releases from the Beer Camp project that will only be available for a limited time. A few aged bottled options were also available, at reasonable prices.

But focusing just on the beer here is a mistake. The food is also fantastic. Served as small plates designed to be shared the menu will have options for everyone. Pizza, wings, curry, and lamb tartar are just a few of the options to give you an idea of the diverse offerings of the food.

When you come bring extra money of the gift shop as they have about as much swag as you could imagine a brewery having. Pickles, Beer, bicycle outfits. If you can put a logo on it, they sell it.

The venue is very family friendly and the outdoor area is great for dogs. Kids can easily free-range without issue. A large outdoor stage the nests up against the woods makes for a great evening hangout spot.

If you make the trip to the Tap Room make sure to visit the tours page. They offer many different tour options, including a 3-hour Beer Geek tour.