Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Americano Stout hits shelves

Stone Americano Stout, a limited new release, is now hitting shelves.

A nod to the Stone Espresso Imperial Russian Stout released in 2013, Stone Americano Stout is a return to the fan favorite. 250 pounds of coffee is provided by San Diego Continue Reading →

Posted in Stone Brewing Co., Headlines

Stone Brewing to open Napa taproom and pilot brewery

San Diego’s Stone Brewing announced the addition of a Napa, California taproom and pilot brewery today.

The brewery will be renovating the historic Borreo Building, a 19th century stone building located in downtown Napa. The 10,000 square foot building wil house a 10-barrel pilot brewhouse, complete with a restaurant. The brewhouse will produce Stone’s core lineup, plus experimental beers using locally sourced ingredients.

“The historic Borreo building is the perfect space for us to put down our roots in Napa,” said Greg Koch, Stone Brewing CEO & co-founder. “Not only is it literally made of stone, it’s one of downtown’s most iconic links to the 19th century and a landmark that’s been vacant for the past 15 years. We recognize the high quality of wine that comes from the region and the appreciation that Napa Valley locals and visitors have for fresh, well-crafted drink. We are elated to become a contributing part of such an artisanal town.”

Visitors will find the Borreo Building on 3rd Street and Soscol Avenue in Napa. The renovations are expected to be complete sometime in 2017.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Stone Brewing Co., Headlines

Stone’s co-founder announces craft brewery investment group

Buyouts and equity investments are almost becoming a daily way of life in the beer world. Anheuser-Busch has been on a spending/acquisition spree, Constellation Brands dropped $1 billion dollars on Ballast Point – you get the idea.

Recently, Victory Brewing and Southern Tier formed a partnership; Oskar Blues acquired Tampa, Florida’s Cigar City Brewing. For many of the these breweries, the acquisitions indeed allow the brewery to grow, and gain access to larger distribution.

Stone Brewing’s co-founder Greg Koch has always been a very outspoken opponent of buyouts, (as well as “corporate yellow fizzy beer”).

On Friday, Koch was speaking to a group of entrepreneurs in Carmel, Calif. for the “e.g” conference. He unveiled plans to launch a new $100 million dollar fund, secured by independent investors, to acquire a “minority, non-controlling” stake in craft breweries.

The platform is called “True Craft,” which will allow breweries to stay craft breweries. The capital will allow the small and independent breweries financing and flexibility they need to grow.

“Some people start companies to sell out. Some start companies because they are compelled to follow their passion. True Craft is for the latter,” said Greg Koch, Stone CEO & co-founder. “Craft beer needs an alternative model to the one that requires founders to sell their company in its entirety. In a world in which there are constant forces toward homogenization and fitting in, I specifically want to foster a world of uniqueness, depth and character.”

True craft will provide minority investments with minimal stipulations. Each of the breweries will be aligned with the same philosophical mindset of “banding together to preserve craft while retaining full soul and control of their businesses for years to come.”

“This is about setting up a consortium so we can not just survive, but continue to thrive in a world in which craft is being co-opted by Big Beer,” said Steve Wagner, Stone President & co-founder. “This allows companies like Stone to follow an ethos that involves independence and passion for the artisanal. By investing in True Craft now, we can be confident that our vision is locked in beyond our professional lifetimes and we feel privileged to help others in our industry do the same.”

The company structure and formation have yet to be announced. The group of independent investors was also not disclosed.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Stone Brewing Co., New Releases

Stone 6th Anniversary Porter joins Encore Series

Stone 6th Anniversary Porter has officially joined the brewery’s 20th Anniversary Encore Series.

Back in 2002, the Stone celebrated their 6th anniversary, not with an India pale ale, but with a porter. In this case, Stone Smoked Porter the brewery kicked up “three notches” with the addition of more hops and more malt. The beer was then aged on French and American oak. The result was a big, bold beer, that was rather scare at the time. In 2016, there will be a little more to go around.

There’s a point in even our brewing lives when we came to realize that no matter how much we wanted to, we couldn’t realistically add anymore hops to our recipe. While our hop threshold is greater than most, it happened on the onset of our 6th Anniversary. Up until then, all of our anniversary beers had been increasingly amped up versions of our 1st Anniversary IPA. Which all of you know as simply Stone IPA. Instead of completely abandoning our set-in-stone stance on making big bold beers, we continued with this theme of making Increasingly more intense versions of our existing line of beers. This time we turned our attention to Stone Smoked Porter -a beer we had in our lineup since our first year. When it came to modifying our recipe. we went against the “less is more” approach and cranked it up three notches. This entailed adding more malt and more hops and conditioning it on French and American oak to add notes of toffee, cherries, dried berries and vanilla. Such noble yet gutsy experimentation doesn’t go without some mishap and at one point this smoky dark·as·night wonder was shooting out of the fermenter like a fire hose because of an unsuccessful attempt to clear a valve jammed with oak chips. Luckily the beer’s fate didn’t entirely empty down the drain, because the Stone 6th Anniversary Porter proved to fans, with its distinctive smokiness and chocolaty, coffee·like complexity, that we can brew a remarkable amount more than just awesome IPAs.

Stone 6th Anniversary Porter is a 22 ounce bottle and draft offering. Recent releases in the Encore Series include 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, and Vertical Epic 08.08.08.

Style: Smoked Porter (Oak Aged)
Hops: Tomahawk
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.

Distribution: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA and Puerto Rico
International Distribution: Australia; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Germany; Hong Kong; Japan; Korea; Mexico; Panama; the Philippines; Singapore; Sweden; Thailand; United Kingdom

Release: Mid-April, 2016

8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, New Releases, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Americano Stout hits shelves

Stone Americano Stout, a limited new release, is now hitting shelves.

A nod to the Stone Espresso Imperial Russian Stout released in 2013, Stone Americano Stout is a return to the fan favorite. 250 pounds of coffee is provided by San Diego coffee roaster Ryan Bros. Coffee.

For each 120-barrel batch, 250 pounds of beans were added to the mash kettle and post-fermentation, creating prevalent coffee character with a lingering bitterness. This beer is made complete with a hop bill composed of classic American varieties, which invigorate the coffee taste with a fruity and citrusy hop presence.

Stone Americano Stout is available in February, and will be available through May, 2016 in 12 ounce bottles and draft.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Coffee)
Hops: Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook and Columbus

Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Feb-May, 2016

National Distribution: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA and Puerto Rico
International Distribution: Australia; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Germany; Hong Kong; Japan; Korea; Mexico; Singapore; Sweden; Thailand; and United Kingdom

8.7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout returns

Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout is next to return to the brewery’s 20th Anniversary Encore Series.

2016 marks the brewery’s 20th year of brewing, and to celebrate the double decade mark, Stone is bring back a few previous releases. First up was Stone Vertical Epic 08.08.08.08 that hit shelves last September.

From their 12th year comes Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. In 2008, hops were in short supply. That constraint forced the brewers (who were used to making hop forward beers) to get creative. The result was 12th, a malt forward beer that features pure cacao added at the end of the boil.

Eight years later, Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout has been rebrewed to the exact specifications of the original recipe and features artwork evocative of the first time it hit store shelves. The onyx-colored, malt-forward stout offers a thick, rich, roasty mouthfeel and sensual chocolate flavors and aromatics.

Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout is available in 22 ounce bottles, and draft for a limited time.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Cacao Nibs)
Hops: Summit, Galena, Ahtanum, Willamette

Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Release: 1/25/16

9.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This, New Releases, Stone Brewing Co.

Spotlight: Stone Stochasticity Brainiac (Government says no Colon Blow)

Hopefully by now, you’ve seen and/or tasting new(ish) Stone Delicious IPA, a gluten-reduced offering. That beer was meant to fill a niche in the brewery’s lineup. Until Stone’s Mitch Steele learned of Grouse Malting and Roasting Company’s buckwheat and millet malts.

Those unique malts set the stage for a grain-forward brew, Stone Stochasticity Grainiac. The base malts are buckwheat and millet malts, plus Stone’s front-line hop combo, Cascade and Centennial.

As for the name? Stone Stochasticity Grainiac was really intended to be called “Colon Blow”. The name coming from an old Saturday Night Live skit. The U.S. government (as well as Stone’s marketing team) rejected the name, as it references “an effect this product could have on the human body”. Grainiac it is.

Beer Street Journal Taste impressions: Hoppy for sure. Very much in the neighborhood of Stone’s hop-forward offerings. The buckwheat and oats are strong game players, making this an easy drinker.

Stone Stochasticity Grainiac is available in 22 ounce bottles for a limited time.

Style:
Hops: Cascade, Centennial
Malts: Buckwheat, Millet

Availability: 22oz Bottles
Release: Week of November 23, 2015

?? ABV

You might end up needing this…

https://youtu.be/iUP3PMLdoOs

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, New Releases, Sierra Nevada, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Brewing Co. & Sierra Nevada team up with a hoppy result

Stone Brewing Co. and Sierra Nevada have teamed up, and the result will be in glass and bottles very soon. This is NXS IPA.

What it is.

Stone/Sierra Nevada NXS IPA is a blend of fresh hop IPAs, aged in used spirits barrels. Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman, and Stone brewmaster Mitch Steel split the collaboration right down this middle. 50% of the beer was aged in rye whiskey barrels, while 50% was aged in gin barrels. Finally, the resulting beer was blended with fresh IPA, resulting in something truly hoppy… and special.

This special-edition beer conveys the true character of collaboration with touches of inventiveness and creativity. Two batches of an IPA were brewed and expertly blended to craft this multilayered beer. The first batch was split down the middle, with 50% being aged in gin-infused bourbon barrels and the remaining half aged in rye whiskey barrels.

Sierra Nevada Stone NXS is available in 22 ounce bottles as of December 1st, 2015.

Style: Imperial IPA (Barrel Aged. Rye Whiskey. Gin.)
Hops: Magnum,Amarillo, Chinook, Cascade, Centennial & Mosaic
Availability: 22oz Bottles
Debut: 12/1/15

8.2% ABV

 

by Reid Ramsay