“Great Beer Will Set You Free”

Great Basin Brewing Company, home of the Ichthyosaur Indian Pale Ale, is a place for family and craft beer.

Founded by Reno Nevada natives Tom and Bonda Young Great Basin Brewing Co. has provided the Reno — Sparks community with craft brewed beer for almost 23 years.

Opening its doors in December of 1993, Great Basin Brewing Co. is the oldest brew in the Reno — Sparks area.

“When we first opened, we only had four taps and one location”, Bonda said.

“Now we have two restaurant- breweries and a building dedicated to just brewing, and more beers than I can remember.”

As of 2016 Great Basin Brewing Co. is home to 80 different beers.

Bonda attributed the company’s success to their uniqueness as a brewpub.

“We definitely like to offer the public an educational opportunity by offering a lot of different styles of beer. There’s not a whole lot of brew-pubs out there these days that have as many beers on tap as we do”.

The other contribution to their success, according to Bonda, is family. Tom and Bonda have been married for 33 years and have been business partners for 22 years.

Tom and Bond have two daughters who worked their way through the University of Nevada, Reno, as servers in the restaurant.

One of the daughters is still involved in the marketing for great Basin Brewing Co today.

This idea of family involvement applies to all their employees. Tonega Peterson, who has worked for Great Basin Brewing Co. for five years, started as a server and has made her way up through the ranks and is now the bookkeeper. she explained,

“I’ve got three kids and Tom and Bonda are very flexible with my schedule.”

Even some the regulars have turned coming to Great Basin Brewing Co. into a family tradition. Joseph Smith has been eating at Great Basin Brewing Co. for as long as he can remember.

“My dad has been drinking here since he moved to Reno in 1995. He brought my older sister here when she turned 21 for her first beer and he brought me here when I turned 21.” Smith said.

Great Basin Brewing Co. not only provides craft beer to the community, but is also active with charitable organizations in the area and provides jobs.

“It has a huge impact on the community. We do a lot of charitable donations, we do a lot of fundraising here.” Peterson said.

“It employs 120 employees now and has a big impact on town like this.” Peterson said.

In 23 years Great Basin Brewing Co. has expanded from a small seven-barrel brewery and restaurant to having three locations in the Reno — Sparks area.

The second location opened in Reno in 2010 and was an immediate success according to Bonda.

“We opened the Reno location in 2010 and quickly ran out of beer.” Bonda said.

At this point it was decided that it was time again to expand the company, according to Bonda.

“We decided that we wanted to expand our business in the direction of production. We wanted to get into distribution.”

As of 2016 Great Basin Brewing Co. distributes their canned and bottled craft beers in California and Nevada.

“We are considering Utah. But first we would like to expand in to southern California and the Bay Area” , Bonda said.

The idea of opening a new Reno area location made Bonda laugh,

“No. We are not going to open another location in town. This is all we can handle.”

The other thing that keeps many customers returning to Great Basin Brewing Co. is the price.

Despite their expansion Great Basin Brewing Co. has been able to bring back customers with their lower prices.

“As a broke college student, but a lover of beer, its nice to be able to come down here and get a good beer for only five dollars.” Joseph Smith said.

Great Basin Brewing Co. also offers a Tuesday “Tightwad” special every week at both their locations. Most of their pints rang from five dollars to nine dollars the other six days of the week. On Tuesday the most pints reduce to three dollars.

“Great beer. Great place. We’re all a family here and that’s what sets us apart form everywhere else.” Peterson said with a smile.

“If you’re in the mood for great service and great beer come on down to Great Basin.” Smith said.

Cheers.