Tag: Stone Brewing

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Quingenti Millilitre – Round 2

Well, no phone calls or e-mail from Stone Brewing. SO it appears I was not one of the lucky ones to win the first offering in the Quingenti Millilitre series. But now the second is on it’s way…..

There will be an aged Bourbon Belgo as well.

I am sure these will sell-out and probably most will be aged even further by those lucky to get one.

If you have Tuesday, September 27th off and you want to get a jump on Christmas, head on down to Escondido and buy the almost on shelves history of Stone book with the very long title. Each book you buy gives you the opportunity to buy one of these three new Quingenti’s. Plus you can get them signed by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner and Randy Clemens.

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(2) Stone Collaborations

I had the great fortune to sample both the current and future Stone Collaborative brews recently. I had the Green Tea IPA while watching the Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday and thought it was a little too tannic and a little too alcohol forward. The hops and the tea just fought each other in my opinion. The appearance and aroma are the strengths of this beer.

The Cherry Chocolate Stout was shared a day later with my beer buddy Richard and it was less alcoholic by 2%! There was an interesting sour, tart cherry taste of this dark brown brew. But the chocolate was non-existent. I would take this over this Green Tea. But I would have liked to get at least a touch of chocolate to bridge the gap of cherry to stout.

Both were interesting experiments that were just a touch off to my palate though I am sure there are people who are going to love these offerings.

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Stone SourFest

My beer buddy Richard and I traveled to Escondido for the pleasure of puckery sour beer at Stone Brewing. And at 10am no less.

We arrived and quickly received are elegant sampler glasses, our 15 taster tickets and the menu…..

I started with Sang Royal from famed (and often mentioned on this blog) Cascade Brewery in Portland which had (6) sours on the menu. Of which I sampled two. The Vine with it’s big white grape taste and milder acidity was my favorite. We found a rock wall to sit on at the lowest level and plotted our sour choices on the sunny day…

My plan was to alternate between fruit sours and barrel aged sours. Mostly to keep the acidity level in check. (Even though I brought some Tums in case). And because there were so many choices, 53 on tap plus 49 bottles, it was easy to do.

There were only a couple of duds in the 11 that I sampled but they were far outweighed by two from Cantillon that were simply amazing. The Lou Pepe Kriek and the Iris.

The kriek was like a spiced cherry pie. It was a cloudy red with excellent aroma. My number one choice of the day.

If you went this year or last, what were your favorites?

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Pour it Black

One of the announcements lost in the shuffle (a bit) on the Stone grand expansion plans was the addition of the Pour it Black festival.

More will be said later but for now, save the date.

One beer that might be in attendance is the latest collaborative brew….

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Stone Media Day – The analysis

Now that the BIG Stone Brewing news is out in the open air. I want to take a step back and really look at what this means for Stone, San Diego and craft beer in general.

Stone is now putting a lot of projects onto a hopefully large plate. Can they keep up the quality on so many fronts? I believe that they can. They have broad support from the city and community. They have common cause with local brewers some of whom they distribute and I think they have the hard headed gumption to reach 2013. They will need a deep bench of talent to do it. In the following key areas: Hotel management. This can be tricky. They plan to go into this with a company that has expertise. Which is probably the best route. But they will have to monitor and be ready to step in if the Stone ethos doesn’t stay on course. Sour and barrel beers. I am hoping that they have a brewer and staff ready to charge into this field. Could be very exciting but the bar is incredibly high. Cascade, New Belgium and Russian River are high benchmarks.

For San Diego, it is a win-win. More Stone tourist draws spread out to decrease some traffic. And hey, any business opening now is a plus. This also really burnishes the craft beer reputation. Portland and Denver have proven that more can be merrier and this will draw more beer to the region.

For craft beer, I wish I knew. I have a feeling that a Stone backlash will be in the offing. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada both get “too big” attached to their names occasionally for usually no good reason. I am sure that Stone will get tagged with it as well. But I believe we need all levels of business size to truly compete for the hearts and minds of the beer consumer. A rare beer that only a few can get will not make people put down the bad beer. We need more good beer in more places.

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Stone Media Day – the photos

Part two of the Stone blitz is purely photos. Enjoy!

Steve and Greg before the day got started.

1st, a new store in San Diego
Pointing out the sights at the Liberty Station location.
Beer at the farm!
two thirds of the brewing team behind the upcoming Green Tea IPA
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Stone Media Day – quick recap

The Stone Brewing that you know now will be so much bigger and cooler in 2013 than 2011. As you may have seen in the Twitter-sphere and on Facebook, Stone is expanding and in typical Stone fashion, boldly.

I was among the lucky people that got to experience the news in one day straight from the source, Greg Koch and Steve Wagner. We traveled from the Stone World Bistro in Escondido, to Liberty Station near the San Diego airport to a lovely little farm in North San Diego county. And it was jam packed with news. So here goes…..

1. A new Stone store will be opening in the South Park area of San Diego. Similar to the store at the World Bistro. You can get a growler fill, buy a bottle and get a shirt. It will be tremendous for those in San Diego who now don’t have to trek north to get their beer.

2. A new World Bistro will open at Liberty Station. In the old Navy mess hall! And you can play bocce! (OK, I have never played bocce, so I don’t know why I put the exclamation point there) And their will be a brewery on site that might make some interesting one-off beers.

3. And they bought a farm! Yes, a real working farm that supplies part of the food for the restaurant. It may end up hosting educational events that reinforces the Stone locavore ethos and might be the site for beer dinners. It already has an outdoor oven and a great little lake. Combine that with the great San Diego weather and you have a winner.

4. The headquarters is expanding and not by a little. This will be HUGE! A new production facility about the size of what they currently have right next door. An expanded kitchen, more parking, electric vehicle charging spots near the front door. Then across the parkway will be a 50 seat boutique hotel, a barrel aged and sour beer facility and another garden.

5. There will be a lottery for the Barrel aged Macadamia collaboration porter in the new fancy caged and corked bottles because they will not hit the regular distribution chain. Why? There are only 672 of them.

6. Today is the brew day for the charity Green Tea IPA collaboration. A big 9% beer with loads of tea and literally a world of hops in it.

7. The Belgo Anise Imperial Stout is excellent. Big anise and coffee aromas. Not heavy and viscous at all. It is lively and fun to drink. Unless you do not like black licorice. It will be available along with the regular Imperial Stout in a couple of weeks.

Oh and there is something about a brewery in Europe too.

In a couple days, I will talk about what I believe the future holds for these Stone ventures.