Great Basin Brewing Co. is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

headquartered in

Sparks, Nevada Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904, incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno, Nevada, Reno. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 108,445 residents in the city. It is the List of citi ...

. It is

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

’s oldest currently operating brewery—though not the state's longest operated. Great Basin

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

s are available as bottled

draught beer Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as Name Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served ...

at over 400 locations in Northern Nevada and the surrounding regions, including Aces Ballpark. It also serves beer at special events, such as the

Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off The Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off is an annual Ribs (food), rib cook-off in Sparks, Nevada, Sparks, Nevada. The competition involves St. Louis-style barbecue#Pork ribs, St. Louis-style pork Spare ribs, ribs. The event is held at Victorian Sq ...

and The Great Reno Balloon Race. Growlers and

keg A keg is a small cask used for storing liquids. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. Nowadays a keg is normally constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is ...

s may be purchased or filled at any of the company's

tap room Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar *Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of ...

History

The company was established in 1993 after Nevada

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

s, including company founders Tom Young and Eric McClary, successfully lobbied the

Nevada Legislature The Nevada Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, consisting of the Nevada Assembly (lower house with 42 members) and the Nevada Senate (upper house with 21 members). With a total of 63 seats, the Legisla ...

to allow for

brewpub Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

s in the state. The original brewery and restaurant is on Victorian Square in Sparks. Its beers were winning national awards as soon as the next year. The

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

location was opened in 2010 with the expectation that its added capacity would satisfy demand for the next five years. Great Basin began regular bottling operations in 2011 (holiday releases had previously been available for several years, but on the scale of a few hundred bottles a year) and currently bottles three of their flagship brews. As demand increased further, a third facility was established when Great Basin moved into the warehouse formerly occupied by the defunct ''Buckbean Brewery''. Along with the facility, it also acquired ''Buckbeans equipment, which was modified to meet Great Basin's needs. ''Taps & Tanks'' opened to the public at this location in 2012, and a high speed

bottling line Bottling lines are production lines that fill a liquid product, often a beverage, into bottles on a large scale. Many prepared foods are also bottled, such as sauces, syrups, marinades, oils and vinegars. Bottling lines usually include label ap ...

was installed there the next year - providing capacity to bottle seasonal beers. In 2014, just one year later, Great Basin bottled its millionth beer. Great Basin saw increases in business every year during its first 20 years in operation. Taps & Tanks no longer serves the public due to new regulations on bars, but beer is still brewed and bottled there. In September 2021, Great Basin merged with Local Food Group and expanded into Carson, Nevada. In December 2023, Great Basin celebrated 30 years of operations. In 2024, Great Basin has expanded to

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

, Nevada.

Beers

Great Basin brews several different

beer style Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin. The modern concept of beer styles is largely based on the work of writer Michael Jackson in his 1977 book ...

s and maintains ten to fourteen beers on tap. Many of its brews are seasonal or available for a limited time.

Cask conditioned Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for ale that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carb ...

, barrel aged and

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

ated beers are available by the glass on location.

Use in food

Great Basin also integrates its beers into its food menu. It reuses spent barley left over from

mashing In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining ground grain – malted barley and sometimes supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat (known as the " grain bill") – with water and then heating the mixture. Ma ...

along with

brewer's yeast ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been o ...

artisan bread The hearth bread (also known as rustic bread, artisan bread, sometimes "French bread") is a "freestanding" (made without a bread pan) loaf baked at high temperature (up to 500 °F, frequently using steam) that is both crusty and chewy. The hig ...

. As a result of these and similar initiatives, 95% of Great Basin's waste output is reduced.

Awards and recognitions

Great Basin's brews have garnered several awards at many national and international beer competitions.

References

{{coord , 39.535009 , -119.754151 , type:landmark_region:US-NV_dim:100 , display=title American beer brands Beer brewing companies based in Nevada Drinking establishments in Nevada Buildings and structures in Reno, Nevada Buildings and structures in Sparks, Nevada Companies based in Sparks, Nevada Food and drink companies established in 1993 Restaurants established in 1993 Privately held companies based in Nevada Restaurants in Nevada Culture of Reno, Nevada 1993 establishments in Nevada

History

Beers

Use in food

Awards and recognitions

See also

References