OUR STORY

Greg Koch and Steve Wagner always had their sights on Southern California, but it took a trip to Solana Beach for a visit with a friend for Greg to realize this is the area where SoCal dreams are made and where they could make their brewery dream happen. Luckily Steve was all for it too. Greg moved, then Steve and 11 months later they had keys in their hands.

There weren’t a lot of warehouses to choose from. The real estate market had been heating up. Finding a place was obviously essential, but the right combination of what we thought we could afford, the right percentage of square footage, a loading dock, et cetera, et cetera, eluded me. We eventually found a building, signed a lease and moved in on February 2, 1996. A nondescript warehouse in a nondescript industrial park on Mata Way in San Marcos was our new home.

-Greg Koch

After considerable concrete and plumbing work, it was time to start turning it into a real brewery. A semi truck rolled up with shiny stainless steel vessels and by the end of the day our nondescript industrial unit was looking like home.

We'd secured $500,000 in angel financing and purchased a 30-barrel brewing system and set out to change the world. (A barrel is 31 gallons, by the way, so 30 barrels works out to 930 gallons. And just to put that in context, in 1996 Miller sold 43.8 million barrels and Anheuser-Busch sold 91.1 million.)

-Greg Koch

Stone opened for business and our first keg was sold to Vince Marsaglia of Pizza Port fame. He not only bought the very first keg of Stone Pale Ale, he even drove to San Marcos to pick it up... giving Greg an, um, unrealistic idea of accounts' willingness to do this, which quickly changed as business picked up!

Stone Pale Ale was bottled for the very first time, in 22oz bottles, marking the start of bottling for us AND making Stone the only brewery that was both brewing and bottling its beer in San Diego County at the time!

The Bastard was born before we opened. It was a mistake made by Steve Wagner while formulating our recipes that resulted in something we loved, but it seemed way too aggressive for the general public. After being open 17 months, we thought it was time to introduce him to the world.

I think we made about 45 kegs and a hundred cases, and they sold out quickly. We made more. That sold out. We made even more. That sold out. Finally we realized that this wasn’t going to be a one-off kind of thing. Despite my suspicions to the contrary, there were worthy people out there. And they were thirsty. The beer (and the name) was here to stay.

- Greg Koch

With the success of Stone IPA and our never-ending urge to push the boundaries and status quo, we made the not too difficult decision to brew Stone 2nd Anniversary IPA with double the hops! Not the very first double IPA, but definitely one that led our palates on a long road to ruin(ation)!

We commemorated our first anniversary with a pretty bold IPA (which you now know and love as the aptly named Stone IPA). Then, in our eternal quest to outdo ourselves, we brewed our Stone 2nd Anniversary IPA with twice as much hops.

- Steve Wagner

What could be more enticing than a single 22oz bottle of Stone Pale Ale? Hmm, how about six 12oz bottles in one handy-dandy carrying case—Stone Pale Ale six-packs! In spring 1999 this became a reality, along with one of Stone's first marketing ideas...a map to the brewery on the bottom of the six-pack holder...genius, as it drove many people to the humble abode of the Gargoyle on Mata Way!

Stone Imperial Russian Stout is released for the first time , and goes on to make the federal government recognize the style.

It's a fairly well-known style now, but in the 1990s imperial Russian stouts were practically unheard of—and largely misunderstood. In fact, our friends at the TTB (aka the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the federal agency to which all alcohol producers must submit their labels for approval) weren't quite sure how to deal with it. It took several years (and large quantities of aspirin) to sort it out completely, but eventually it got resolved (obviously), in no small part due to years of diligence from Chris Cochran, Stone’s community relations manager.

- Steve Wagner

With the Stone 5th Anniversary IPA, we literally amped the hops up as much as humanly possible and went with 8.5% ABV again. Up to that point, our intention had been for the Stone 5th Anniversary IPA to be our final expression on the subject. Call it lack of vision, but back then we didn't think it was viable beyond a limited, special-release status. Well, that thought didn't last even a year. We soon found ourselves jonesing for a powerful hop smack, so in June 2002, Stone Ruination IPA was born.

- Steve Wagner

Stone 02.02.02 Vertical Epic Ale marked several firsts for us. It was the first time we brewed a Belgian beer; the first time we released a beer that had ingredients other than barley, hops, water and yeast; and, to our knowledge, the first time a brewery came out with an annual series in which the beer changed each year. A new “chapter” came every time the numbers of the day, month and year matched (ending with 12.12.12) and it was fashioned to be enjoyed together in a “vertical” tasting. Ingenuity and creativity abounded, with us using ingredients such as alligator pepper, orange peel, fresh-pressed grapes, Hatch chiles, cinnamon and ginger to create an eleven-movement symphony of flavor. What an exciting first series for us it was, although we never expected to find bottles on eBay with winning bids exceeding $800.

Stone Ruination IPA was developed as a hybrid of the Stone 2nd through 5th Anniversary IPAs. We'd been steadily bumping up the hop levels of the anniversary releases every year, but after the massively hoppy Stone 5th Anniversary IPA, adding any more would have been impractical... verging on impossible. We thought it fitting to bring out a year-round release that would be an homage to our first five years and the IPAs that celebrated them.

- Steve Wagner

As the growth curve of Stone continued at a meteoric clip, the business world started to take notice, and with triple-digit growth from the previous year, Stone Brewing was named to the Inc. 500 list for the first time in 2002! Since then we’ve been on either the Inc. 500 or Inc. 5000 eleven times—which is no easy feat. This truly shows the incredible entrepreneurial spirit that is deeply embedded in the ethos of Stone and illustrates the same spirit that guides us to this day!

This is proof positive that you can actually brew great beers AND be successful in this country. Quality and integrity in this day and age...who would have thought it would work!"

-Greg Koch

It was a big deal when we finally hit the East Coast. At 12 minutes after 12 noon on March 12, we celebrated our new bicoastal status with a first-ever Stone beer tapping event at the famous Blind Tiger Ale House in New York City. Special "I [bastard] NY" bumper stickers were made and, much to our amusement, they arrogantly found their way onto a variety of walls and locations throughout the region.
Famed beer writer Michael Jackson, Greg, and Tony Forder of Ale Street News sampling the 12 Stone beers on tap.

We experimented with Arrogant Bastard Ale, tossing in American oak chips to see how it might play with the brazen flavor. The oak chips contributed some subtle notes of vanilla and gave the normally angry beer a more sophisitcated feel. We originally put it out as a special release in 3-liter bottles.

- Steve Wagner

After many years of development and being cramped in San Marcos, we created a new facility from the ground up in Escondido. As soon as we had a green light to move in, we filled our trucks and got moving. Not only did we move the offices in a single day, we had the audacity to move the entire bottling line over the course of a weekend. We finished our bottling run on that Friday in San Marcos, dismantled the entire line and had it running early the next week.

Our new home in Escondido gave us the ability to meet the demand of thirsty fans, with room to grow. A single batch quadrupled in size with our 120-barrel brewhouse. Our original brewhouse and facility was up for grabs and looked like it might go back to being another nondescript industrial unit. We couldn’t be happier when our friends Vince and Gina at Pizza Port took ownership of it and let Tomme Arthur launch The Lost Abbey there.

Over the years Stone CEO and co-founder Greg Koch has definitely pitched a lot of things: our beers, ideas, tents, ethics, a little BS, and more. Fortunately, it’s not too often that he throws a fit. He’s definitely tossed a few things: like a few pints. However, one of the more memorable things the man-behind-the-gargoyle has pitched, thrown or tossed was the “first pitch” at a San Diego Padres game back in 2006 at the then-new Petco Park.

He was honored to be asked but not really sure what it would entail, and I informed him that, no matter what, “Don’t fuck up or the crowd will boo you, no matter who you are!” So what’d we do? Well, we ventured onto the grounds that were becoming Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Escondido, measured out 60 feet 6 inches, gathered up some rocks about the size of a baseball and practiced!

And what does practice make? Sometimes it makes perfection, and in this case it made Greg a decent enough pitcher to toss a nice, little high pitch, over the plate AND caught by the catcher to many cheers and raised glasses in the stands from Team Stone and other fans enjoying America’s pastime with America’s Finest City’s favorite beer. 

Cheers to baseball and the boys of summer!

-Stone Community Relations Manger Chris Cochran

When we were building our new brewery, restaurant and gardens in Escondido, we asked our fans to sponsor stones in the wall that connects the inside of our brewery to the patio and bar outside. People stepped up and put their stones in the wall—472 to be exact. Aside from the knowledge that they were supporting local charities, they received bottles of the specially brewed StoneWall Ale that bore the names of all the generous donors. At 12.2%, this American barley wine was the strongest beer Stone had ever brewed, and it raised more than $85,000 for charity.

All anniversaries are special in some way for us, but when it came to our 11th Anniversary Ale, we knew we couldn’t let it be a one-off gem. This beer eventually became the year-round release fans knew first as Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, then later as Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA.

As soon as we wrapped up the brewing of the Stone 10th Anniversary IPA, we started brainstorming ideas for the Stone 11th Anniversary Ale. Not long before joining Stone, I had the chance to try a black IPA called Darkside. It was made at The Shed, a little brewpub in Vermont. I was really taken with the style and wanted to brew one myself. Greg was a little hesitant, but he came around quickly after tasting the pilot. When we finished tinkering with the recipe and brewed that first batch, we found we'd nailed the perfect combination of deep, rich flavor, and a hearty bitterness. We absolutely loved it.

- Mitch Steele

This beer marked the beginning of our collaboration series. Working together with other brewers to craft interesting new beers has been one of the most rewarding endeavors Team Stone has undertaken.

Ever since we brewed the Symposium Ale for the Craft Brewers Conference in 2004, Steve and I had the idea of further collaborations in the back of our minds. Four years later, when Mikkel Bjergsø (of Mikkeller fame) got in touch wanting to do a collaboration beer, we jumped at the chance. He wanted to brew a traditional Belgian-style tripel to honor the famed beer writer, Michael Jackson, who had just passed away. I wanted to include a third brewer to really cement the idea of collaboration, so we again tapped our good friend Peter Zien who was more than happy to sign on.

- Greg Koch

As part of our rally for the American Homebrewers Association, we hosted our first homebrew competition at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens. The winning brewer would be rewarded with an opportunity to brew their beer at Stone on a large scale. Local renowned homebrewer Ken Schmidt was the first to win, with his porter Aloha Plenty, which incorporated Kona coffee, macadamia nuts and toasted coconut. We liked it so much that we buzzed our buddy Garrett Marrero from Maui Brewing Co. to see whether he wanted to jump in and make it an official collaboration. He did, and the man known for short shorts & Hawaiian shirts was thrilled! The result was Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter.

In scaling up the recipe, it became apparent that we were in for some serious labor. And these ingredients were not cheap. We needed about a thousand pounds of coconut, three hundred pounds of macadamia nuts, and two hundred pounds of Kona coffee. And that coconut had to be hand-toasted to get the flavor just right. With our small oven setup in the Bistro, the kitchen staff worked overtime, bless their hearts. All told, it took about four eight-hour shifts to toast it all up. But, in the end, it was worth it.

- Mitch Steele

With the ever-increasing demand for Stone beers and the desire for continued growth, we had to make a big decision...the distribution team might have to move out of the house and into a place of their own. This transition into a new distribution facility happened when we acquired a 57,509-square-foot building in Escondido. To put it in perspective, we tripled our capacity to store cold beer, making Stone the only local brewer/distributor to keep all of its beer cold from the brewery to the warehouse and onto refrigerated trucks headed for retailers, bars and restaurants.

The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) announced Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Escondido as one of 11 projects to achieve a certification under the nation’s most comprehensive rating system for the sustainable design, construction and maintenance of built landscapes. Among the specific sustainable design benchmarks we met: 1) Capturing stormwater and utilizing it as a design feature, 2) Edible landscaping and drought-tolerant, regionally appropriate plantings, 3) Use of salvaged and reused materials in construction of the site and 4) A commitment to sustainable and organic maintenance practices.

Flight delays in Terminal 2 became a lot more enjoyable with the opening of Stone Brewing Co. at San Diego International Airport. Keeping with our trademark “industrial-becoming-organic” design style, we created a craft beer haven for passengers to retreat to before catching their flights. With a menu made up of elevated fare worthy of airport prices and the opportunity to pick up some “flighties” (beer for the flight), it has been rated by many credible sources as one of the best airport bars.

A session ale might seem to go against our innate desire to brew big, bold beers, but one taste of this beer revealed that, despite its lower ABV, a hop flavor just as dominant and vibrant as ever.

The reason we are calling this Go To IPA is because so many of us are saying, 'wow, this going to become our new go-to beer because it is very refreshing.' Perfect for a warm day. I love the idea of having a beer that you can have multiple pints of but still delivers that American IPA and that hop intensity flavor that everyone seems to be looking for.

-Mitch Steele

We always felt uncomfortable with the precious resources expended to get our beer from one coast to the other, let alone the cost it added for fans. After years of searching for an East coast home, we settled on Richmond, Virginia.

The search for our location east of the Mississippi River was no easy endeavor. We received and reviewed hundreds of proposals, visited more than 40 sites, and received quite a bit of attention from communities and craft beer fans. The three finalist cities each provided diverse offerings, however, we decided to begin next-step negotiations with Richmond...we feel that Richmond's vibrant energy and impressive craft beer culture, along with the uniqueness of the property, will allow us to create a truly memorable Stone experience for our fans. We are honored by the amount of time and effort all the communities that submitted proposals put forth, and we want to specifically thank Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones for welcoming us.

-Greg Koch

A few years back Greg Koch proposed developing a beer delicious enough to make that word a defining part of the beer’s name. That challenge was achieved (and surprisingly so) with a citrusy IPA that also happened to be crafted to reduce gluten. The addition of Lemondrop and El Dorado hops helped deliver in spades the promise inherent in the beer's name, with its prevalent lemon-candy and herbal lemon flavors and aromas.

At 6pm (CET) our first kegs of Stone beer brewed in Berlin were tapped throughout Europe, further cementing our fate to become the first American craft brewer to build, own and operate a brewery in Europe. To celebrate its significance, this fresh beer event spanned 40 different bars and restaurants throughout Europe. To all those who came and to all of our fans and supporters of Stone Brewing - Berlin here and abroad, we say: "Danke und Prost!"

The reality of our beers being brewed and served fresh in Europe is the outcome of international camaraderie in craft beer that includes shared visions, collaboration and a unified passion for the craft that now spans oceans.

-Greg Koch

At the heart of our business is a dedication to fresh, high-quality beer and cans are the ideal packaging for preserving the unique, bold flavors we work so hard to achieve. Additionally, research shows clearly that cans offer incredible benefits in terms of sustainability and we are confident they will be the smartest decision in reducing our carbon and environmental footprint.

- Greg Koch

Inspired by the coastal surf cultures of SoCal and Oz, Stone Ripper combines the signature hops of Cascade from the Pacific Northwest and Australian Galaxy hops. The combination of the two creates a balance of citrus and pine flavors mingling with bright fruit and dankness. In true San Diego style, it pushes the hop boundaries of a pale ale, yet is right in line with the current-day interpretation of a West Coast pale.

From time to time Stone is able to produce small batches of beer for special events. In this case Steve Gonzalez, Stone’s Senior Manager of Small Batch Brewing & Innovation, worked with Jake Karley, Director of Beverages & Special Projects, P.J. Whelihan’s Pub & Restaurant in the Philadelphia/South New Jersey area to come up with this original beer for the 2016 Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. 

When I tasted it with our co-founder, Greg Koch, and other members of our leadership and sales team, we loved it so much so that we went back to San Diego to hatch the plan for a future nationwide release. Greg was particularly adamant that this beer should be in our year-round lineup and personally championed it through the process.

- Jeremy Moynier

Prenzlauer Berg and the area around Mauerpark was one of the first neighborhoods I discovered when I came to Berlin, and it was the place where I rented a flat for several years as we built our groundbreaking international destination restaurant and brewery, the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Berlin. I am still in love with the vibrant Prenzlauer Berg community. The people of Berlin have been so welcoming of us and embraced our bold and non-traditional craft beers. It’s been a wonderful city for us to call home. So now we’re ready to add a ‘neighborhood’ spot for our fans to experience the best craft beers from Stone and our fellow craft brewers! We look forward to welcoming you.

- Greg Koch

New England-Style IPAs are all the rage. Fans of Stone repeatedly ask for our take on the style, which can be met with some criticism. Rooted in West-Coast style IPAs for decades, how would we do it? Fear no more. Our brewers took the approach to deliver incredibly hoppy and aromatic flavor while keeping it very balanced, and upping the alcohol unnoticeably - nailing this astounding one-of-a-kind creation.

This is unlike your traditional lager. When we were discussing what our next year-round beer might be we all agreed that we wanted something super flavorful and yet really crushable, all while exemplifying the genre-defying qualities we’re known for at Stone. So while we did our signature thing – seeking out the newest and most interesting hops to contribute big flavor – we really stayed focused on producing a balanced beer with classic lager characteristics. It turned out crisp, clean, intensely fruity, and definitely way crushable.

- Jeremy Moynier, Stone Brewing Senior Manager of Brewing & Innovation

Arrogant Consortia (an imprint of Stone Brewing) launched a collaboration beer with Metallica... yes, THAT Metallica. Enter Night Pilsner was distributed across the US and Europe, joining the band on their World Wired Tour.

"The amount of ideals and outlooks that Metallica and Stone Brewing share are endless. I’m always blown away about how similar our paths forward have been. Our view of the worlds that we each inhabit, of creativity and process, and sense of place in relation to our peers and ‘The Man’ are almost identical. This collaboration is beyond effortless and pure, and we can’t wait to share this incredible beverage with everyone out there."

- Lars Ulrich, Metallica

Our haziest beer ever. It’s uncharacteristically low in alcohol and the team’s brewers nailed the trifecta by delivering that intense flavor that is uniquely Stone. The sum of the parts is a neverending good time. What’s more, this beer was the first beer brewed in the 2020 Stone Pilot Series Program, a trio of special releases on trial for placement in Stone’s full-time lineup of beers. 

We’re always experimenting with different yeast strains. The one used in this beer produces intense orange citrus notes that complement the intense fruit aromas and flavors of Mosaic and Citra hops. This combination really stands out, and thankfully, at 4%, we can go back for more!

- Steve Gonzalez, Stone Senior Manager of Small Batch Brewing & Innovation

This is really something special and out of the ordinary for Stone. San Diego Loyal has proven to us that they're committed to embracing San Diego's values as their own, and that includes a commitment to local craft beer. We're putting our name on the chest of this team because we believe in their potential to positively impact the culture of our city, something craft brewers have been doing for the past 30 years. And the Stone Gargoyle, the ever-vigilant guardian of our beers, gets to protect the goal of the SD Loyal - that's really exciting!

- Steve Wagner, Stone Brewing president and co-founder

When COVID-19 abruptly shut down breweries across San Diego, seven breweries pooled their resources to help the local beer industry thrive. Stone Brewing, AleSmith, Modern Times, Mother Earth, Pizza Port, Port Brewing, and Thorn announced the epic collaboration beer benefiting the San Diego Brewers Guild, San Diego Brewers United Double IPA.

Later that year, as while the virus continued to make things especially difficult for our beloved craft beer industry, we were able to donate more than $140,000 to workers affected by the pandemic.

Maria has all the qualities we were looking for in a CEO,” explained Steve Wagner, Stone Brewing co-founder & interim CEO. “She brings experience from a very well-respected brewery, and experience from outside the industry too. She lives up to our values and has long admired our revolutionary spirit. Most importantly, she’s someone co-founder Greg Koch and I are honored and excited to work with. And the latter is a must, because we’re sticking around!

Steve Wagner, president and co-founder

In 2021, our incredibly talented brewers took on the bear-impossible challenge to create a line of seltzers so good, we had no choice but to share them with the world. What they delivered was incredible. Buenavida Hard Seltzer launched in Southern California and became an immediate hit. Instead of the standard slim aluminum cans most seltzers are found in, we went with gorgeous custom-molded bottles. Because a creation this unique for us deserves to stand out.

We also launched @LiveBuena, a dedicated Instagram account specifically for lovers of the Buena Life, or more specfically, Buenavida Hard Seltzer and Stone Bueanveza Salt & Lime Lager.

The Stone One Batch Dispatch series is our way of releasing super-limited beers straight to the public. These are only available at Stone locations and our online store. As the name implies, we brew one tank-full of a given beer, package it up into 16oz can four-packs and when they're gone, they're gone! We were blown away when our first release in the series - Stone Orange Scream Hazy IPA - sold out online in just under 24 hours, and all our locations sold out of their allotment shortly after. This new series give us a chance to release unique, innovative and always amazing beers that previouslly never been released. Sign-up for our newsletter to be the first to know about our next releases.

In March of 2022, four brand new 1,000-barrel brewing tanks were delivered to Stone Brewing - Richmond via the James River. These two bright tanks and two fermentors increased maximum annual brewing capacity at our Richmond brewery by more than 33%!