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The Triumvirate...
Greg Koch, CEO & Co–Founder
Steve Wagner, President & Co–Founder
Mitch Steele, Brewmaster
A Brief History of Time...
Stone Brewing Co. was founded in 1996 by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner in San Marcos, CA. (In the spot where our friends at Port Brewing Company/The Lost Abbey now call home!)
First keg of Stone Pale Ale sold on July 26, 1996 to Vince Marsaglia of Pizza Port fame
Arrogant Bastard Ale unleashed upon the world November 1, 1997
Moved to our current facility in Escondido, CA, in December 2005
Opened the adjacent Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in November 2006
Named "All-time Top Brewery on Planet Earth" by BeerAdvocate magazine in 2008 AND 2009! "The most popular and highest rated brewery ever!"
In December 2009, we published a formal Request For Proposal to evaluate potential sites for a brewhouse in Europe. We have narrowed the field from 79 different submitted locations (from nine different countries!) down to twoBerlin and Brugesand hope to reach a final decision soon
In May 2011, we unveiled huge local expansion plans, including Stone Company Store South Park, Stone Farms, Stone Catering, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens Liberty Station (Spring 2012), and Stone Hotel (Early 2013)
One of the fastest growing breweries in America in the past fifteen years...
INC 500 list two years in a row (2002 & 2003)
San Diego Business Journal's "Top 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies" seven years in a row (2004-2010)
Averaging 43% year-to-year growth over the past 15 years
Currently distributed to 36 states (plus Washington, DC!), and a minute amount of our beer is exported to the UK, Sweden, Japan, and Singapore
Now the 14th largest craft brewery in the United States (2011)
The brewery...
55,000 square feet and growing!
120 Bbl brewing system built by Rolec in Bavaria, Germany
Production Statistics - 1 Barrel (Bbl) = 31 gallons...
1996: 400 Bbls (1st keg sold 07/26/96)
1997: 2100 Bbls (118% increase) *
1998: 3926 Bbls (87% increase)
1999: 5848 Bbls (49% increase)
2000: 9342 Bbls (60% increase)
2001: 12,779 Bbls (37% increase)
2002: 18,450 Bbls (44% increase)
2003: 24,490 Bbls (33% increase)
2004: 32,159 Bbls (31% increase)
2005: 36,390 Bbls (13% increase)**
2006: 49,883 Bbls (37% increase)
2007: 67,841 Bbls (36% increase)
2008: 83,000 Bbls (22% increase)
2009: 98,500 Bbls (19% increase)
2010: 115,000 Bbls (17% increase)
2011: 148,686 Bbls (29% increase)
2012: 180,000 Bbls (projection)
* Note: 1996 barrelage was for the period of August-December 1996. Annualized barrelage for the year was 960, and that number was used to calculate the percentage increase of 118% between 1996 & 1997.
** We brewed at maximum capacity for our old brewery that year, then moved to our new brewery in December 2005.
Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens...
Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens is the largest restaurant purchaser of local, small-farm organic produce in San Diego.
8,500 square feet
1 acre beer garden
Seating capacity of 385 (180 inside, 205 outside)
32 craft & specialty beers on tap, plus 100+ bottle selections
Extensive wine list
Food focuses on all-natural, organic, & local ingredients
Alex Carballo, Executive Chef and "Dr." Bill Sysak, Beverage Supervisor
Hosts special events like farm-to-table FRESH! Dinners, Beer U educational classes, Stone Late Night Movies, the wildly popular Master Pairings series, as well as beer festivals including Stone Sour Fest and Stone Oakquinox
Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens: Liberty Station coming spring 2012
Stone Farms...
Located in North Escondido
19-acre farm
Rescued after farm's management went out of business
Growing pumpkins for Bruery/Elysian/Stone collaboration beer
$50,000 initial investment
5 on-going jobs
Stone Company Store South Park...
1,118 sq. ft.
14 tap growler & tasting station
Stone merchandise available for sale
15-20,000 visitors expected in the first year
$100,000 initial investment
6 on-going jobs
Selected Awards and Recognition
Malt Advocate magazine's "Brewery of the Year" (2004 and 2005)
BeerAdvocate magazine's "All-time Top Brewery on Planet Earth. The most popular and highest rated brewery ever!" (2008 and 2009)
CNNMoney.com "Stone Brewing is one of craft brewing's stars one of the 10 best breweries in the world"
Forbes "Stone has America's Top Brewery Tour" (47,204 people toured our facility in 2010 alone!)
Greg Koch is knighted by the Belgian Brewers Federation (2010)
Greg Koch named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2011)
Great American Beer Festival medals
Silver Medal for Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine (2000)
Bronze Medal for Stone Pale Ale (2006)
Gold Medal for Stone Levitation Ale (2007)
Bronze Medal for Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale (2010)
Silver Medal for Stone Smoked Porter w/ Chipotle Peppers (2010)
Other festival wins
Gold Medal for Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine at the World Beer Championships (2002)
Gold Medal for Stone IPA at the Stockholm Beer & Whiskey Festival (2007)
Gold Medal for Stone Imperial Russian Stout at the Australian International Beer Awards (2007)
Bronze Medal for Stone IPA at the Australian International Beer Awards (2007)
Silver Medal for Stone Pale Ale at the European Beer Star Awards (2009)
Silver Medal for Stone IPA at the European Beer Star Awards (2010)
Gold Medal for Stone Smoked Porter at the Asia Beer Awards (2010)
Silver Medal for Stone Imperial Russian Stout at the Asia Beer Awards (2010)
Silver Medal for Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale at the Australian International Beer Awards (2011)
Silver Medal for Stone Imperial Russian Stout at the Australian International Beer Awards (2011)
Environmental, Sustainable, and Philanthropic Efforts
Our rooftop solar panels produce about 35% of the power for the brewery and our restaurant, preventing approximately 160 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere annually
Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens is the largest purchaser of local, organic produce in San Diego County
Our Meatless Monday menu prevents 110,448 lbs. of CO2 from being released annually
"Spent grain" that has been used in the brewing process is then repurposed as a mulching tool in our garden. The rest is used by local farmers as livestock feed, and as ingredients in locally made soaps and dog treats (creatively named Stone Bones)
We do compost some of our kitchen waste, some for use in the garden and Stone Farms, and some to be picked up by our local farmers
We are having two ECOtality electric car charging stations installed in our parking lot to accommodate eco-minded drivers (including our CEO, who drives a Chevy Volt)
Our water reclamation system prevents 30,000 gallons of wastewater from entering the sewer system each day
Our new centrifuge helps us filter our beer with less waste, and increased our yield by over 5000 bbls last year
Stone Distributing added its first hybrid delivery vehicle to its fleet of 28 bio-diesel trucks
Over $1.5 million donated to charity, with the annual Stone Anniversary Celebration & Invitational Beer Festival responsible for raising over $1 million of that total
In addition to financial donations, our in-kind support of local charities adds up quickly! In 2010 along, we donated a total of 7,190 case equivalents (about 1,044 kegs or over $330,100 worth of beer) to 322 different charities
Selected Awards and Recognition:
San Diego North Chamber of Commerce's Above & Beyond Award (2008)
Surfrider Foundation Clean Water Award (2008)
Supervisor Pam Slater-Price's Sustainability Award (2009)
California Center for Sustainable Energy's SANDEE Award (now the Energy All-Star) (2009)
North County Philanthropy Council's Business of the Year award (2009)
American Society of Landscape Architect's President's Award for the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens (2009)
City of Escondido Environmental Excellence Award (2010)
We appreciate your interest in writing about Stone Brewing Co., if you have any questions youd like answered or artwork needed for your article - please email us.



