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Stone Brewing

Location	Escondido, California
Opened	1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Key people	Maria Stipp (Chief Executive Officer) Greg Koch (Executive Chairman) Steve Wagner (President)
Annual production volume	325,645 US beer barrels (382,137 hL) (2015)
Employees	1,100
Website	stonebrewing.com

Stone Brewing (formerly Stone Brewing Co.) is a brewery headquartered in Escondido, California, United States. Founded in 1996 in San Marcos, it is the largest brewery in Southern California. Based on 2020 sales volume, it is the ninth largest craft brewery in the United States.

The brewery's first beer was Stone Pale Ale, which was considered to be its flagship ale until it was retired in 2015. The company's best known brand is Arrogant Bastard Ale, which has been described as a "watershed beer" that "put San Diego on the craft brew map." Most of Stone's beers are characteristic of west-coast craft beer, meaning that they have a high hop content, and an average alcohol strength between 6% and 10%.

Stone Brewing has been rated as a "world class brewery" by two beer enthusiast websites, RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. Stone Brewing has been voted by the readers of Beer Advocate as the #1 "All Time Top Brewery on Planet Earth."

In August 2022, Sapporo Breweries bought Stone for $165 million, with the Stone brewery taking on production of Sapporo beers in California for distribution across North America.

History

Stone opened in San Marcos in 1996 at the location currently home to Port Brewing Company and The Lost Abbey. Local designer/illustrator Thomas K. Matthews created the original gargoyle in 1996. He also drew the Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Ruination IPA, and Stone Levitation Ale gargoyles, as well as barley and hops motifs.

Since 1999, the company has also operated its own distribution arm called Stone Distributing Company which services Southern California and represents more than 40 craft beer, cider and kombucha brands.

In 2006, Stone relocated from the original brewery to a new, custom-designed facility in Escondido. In 2013, the company opened a packaging hall just south of the brewery which houses the bottling and keg lines. The brewery in Escondido produced 325,645 US beer barrels in 2015. The site is also home to a restaurant, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Escondido, an 8,500-square-foot (790 m) restaurant with a large outdoor patio and 1 acre (4,000 m) of gardens. The brewery also houses a Stone Company Store which sells Stone merchandise as well as 1- and 2-liter growlers and 40-ounce and can that can be filled with Stone's year-round beers and special releases.

In May 2013 a second Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens opened in the Liberty Station development in the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego. The 23,500-square-foot (2,180 m) facility cost $8 million and can seat 700 patrons. It is housed in the former mess hall and several other historic buildings of the former Naval Training Center San Diego.

In 2013 Stone opened a location in Terminal 2 of San Diego International Airport.

In addition to the locations at Escondido and Liberty Station, there are Stone Company Stores in Oceanside, Pasadena, and in San Diego's Little Italy community. The stores sell beer in bottles, kegs and growlers.

In June 2008, Stone Brewing covered the roof of the brewery with solar panels, cutting their energy costs nearly in half. The 1,561 roof-mounted solar modules will offset more than 538,000 pounds (244,000 kg) of carbon emissions over its lifetime, which is equivalent to planting 204 acres (0.83 km) of trees.

In Summer 2014, the company announced plans to open Stone Brewing Berlin in the German capital. A 100 hectoliter brewery with onsite can filling in Berlin Mariendorf went into operation in June 2016. At that time, Stone Berlin began distributing Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale to Austria, the Baltics, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In 2016 a corner of Stone Brewing Berlin opened as a full restaurant and gardens, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Berlin. In April 2019 the entire Stone Brewing - Berlin operation was sold to Scotland-based BrewDog.

On October 8, 2014, sources indicated Stone Brewing had chosen Richmond, Virginia, as the site for its first brewery in the eastern United States. The other two finalists for the brewery were Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe made the formal announcement about the new brewery on October 9, 2014. The brewery held the opening of the Stone Company Store Richmond in March 2016 and began brewing, kegging and bottling Stone IPA in July 2016.

In May 2016, the company announced plans to open a tap room and 10-barrel brewing system in Napa, California, the heart of California's Wine Country. The facility is housed in the historic Borrero building in downtown Napa and opened in May 2018.

On February 12, 2018, Stone filed a lawsuit against MillerCoors, the makers of Keystone beer, alleging that they were attempting to co-opt their name after a brand revamp that emphasizes the word "Stone" on the sides of their products.

Beginning in 2018, Stone's legal representatives systematically alleged trademark infringement against any organization that used the word Stone or Bastard in the name of the company or product. Many of the companies are unrelated to the beer industry. Over 90 objections have been filed to date.

In June 2022, Stone and Sapporo Breweries announced that they had reached an agreement for Sapporo to purchase Stone Brewing for $168 million, with the purchase expected to close in August 2022. The sale did not include Stone Distributing, which is set to become its own independent company.

Locations

• Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Escondido, California
• Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station
• Stone Brewing Richmond
• Stone Brewing Tap Room – Oceanside
• Stone Brewing Tap Room – Pasadena
• Stone Brewing Tap Room – Kettner

Awards

Stone has won several awards at major international beer competitions.

See also

• Beer in San Diego County, California
• Beer in the United States

• Companies
• Beer
• California

References

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3. ^ "Press Room". Stonebrewing.com. 13 July 2015. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
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6. "Brewers Association Releases the Top 50 Brewing Companies by Sales Volume for 2020". Brewers Association. 30 Mar 2021. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 Apr 2021.
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16. "The People Have Spoken!". BeerAdvocate Magazine, Volume II, Issue XI, posted at Stone Brewing:News. August 12, 2011. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
17. "Sapporo Closes on Acquisition of Stone Brewing". brewbound.com. September 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
18. "Stone Distributing Co. Adds Societe Brewing, Jiant Hard Kombucha". Brewbound. 2020-12-16. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
19. Fikes, Bradley J. (March 5, 2006). "Stone Brewing Co. grows in Escondido". North County Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
20. Rowe, Peter (May 16, 2013). "Liberty Station's Stone age begins". San Diego Union Tribune.
21. "Stone Brewing Co. Harnesses the Power of the Sun with a Solar Electric System Installed by Borrego Solar Systems, Inc., Financed by Bank of America" (Press release). Bank of America. July 1, 2008. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
22. Verive, John (July 19, 2014). "Escondido's craft brew giant Stone announces plans for a Berlin expansion". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
23. Concepcion, Mariel (April 8, 2019). "Stone Brewing Co. to Close Berlin Brewery". San Diego Business Journal. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
24. "Stone Brewing Co. Names Richmond, Virginia, as Future Home for New Brewery and Destination Restaurant - VA Beer Trail". VA Beer Trail. October 9, 2014. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
25. Hirsh, Lou (May 22, 2016). "Stone Brewing Expanding to Wine Country with Napa Tap Room, Brewery". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
26. Lutz, Henry. "Stone Brewing opening its riverfront gastropub in landmark Napa building". Napa Valley Register. Archived from the original on 24 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
27. Snider, Mike. "A legal brew-ha-ha: Stone Brewing sues MillerCoors over Keystone packaging". usatoday.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
28. "USPTO TTABVUE. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System". ttabvue.uspto.gov. Archived from the original on 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
29. "Sapporo U.S.A. to Acquire Stone Brewing". www.businesswire.com. 24 June 2022. Archived from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
30. Traylor, Daniel (24 June 2022). "Sapporo U.S.A. to acquire Stone Brewing as its moves to speed up global expansion". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 24 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
31. "Stone Brewing". GABF Medal Winners. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
32. "Stone Brewing search results". World Beer Cup. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Arrogant Bastard Ale

• Beer brewing companies based in San Diego County, California
• Companies based in San Diego County, California
• Companies established in 1996
• Escondido, California