In 1997, less than a year after its ribbon-cutting ceremony, Stone Brewing Co. made a promise to its supporters: “To our fans who go to these fine places and drink our beer, we pledge to never let you down.”
Next year, as Stone celebrates its 20th anniversary with an expansion into Europe, that promise is going to have far-reaching implications.
Greg Koch, CEO & Co-Founder of Stone Brewing Co.
Image credit: Stone Brewing Co.
“We’ve been wanting to expand into Europe for five years,” says co-founder Greg Koch. After an exhaustive search of more than 130 sites in nine countries, they struck gold with a historic gasworks facility in Berlin, Germany. It fit all the criteria: a historic building, enough space to house a production brewery and a visitor-friendly site with room for a restaurant and biergarten. The menu will be eclectic, world-influenced and “not typical”—much like Stone itself.
Koch anticipates brewing to begin in early 2016 and construction of the restaurant to begin shortly after. But while many of the early, more technical challenges are behind him, all is not quiet on the German front. With news of the expansion spreading, locals have been extremely polite but “quite skeptical of what we (Koch and Stone) have planned.”
Raised on the strict German beer purity laws (known as Reinheitsgebot), this customer has very little context for the bold, mega-hoppy brews that have characterized the American craft beer revolution—and that Stone is known for. But Koch is prepared for the challenge.
“Most of our beers already do fall into the Reinheitsgebot,” he says. “So we don’t feel constrained by it.”
And Stone is no stranger to proving people wrong. When the brewery opened in California in 1996, Koch recalls people didn’t like the beer. Today, Stone is frequently cited as a pioneer on the U.S. craft beer scene, topping numerous “best of” lists and praised for its ability to push the envelope and think outside the box.
It’s that very thinking that birthed Stone’s popular “Enjoy By” series, a constantly evolving collection of brews meant to be drunk by the date on the bottle for the freshest experience possible—something vital with hoppy, West Coast–style beers whose flavor and aroma deteriorate with time. While Stone’s American customers treasure these beers, Koch expects a challenge with the European market, whose customers are accustomed to a longer shelf life.
Koch anticipates brewing to begin at the new Berlin brewery in early 2016.
Image credit: Stone Brewing Co.
“The phrase ‘enjoy by’ means fresh, but to [Germans], it means almost a year old.”
If winning over German beer purists wasn’t enough of a challenge, Stone also has to contend with technical changes like water chemistry. Though hops and grain get all the glory, water is the backbone of your beer, making up about 90 percent. When the mineral content of water changes—as it certainly will in the 5,800 miles between San Diego and Berlin—the flavor of the beer changes, too. This is why, historically, beer styles evolved to suit the local water supply: Burton-on-Trent, Pilsen, Dortmund and Dublin, for example. Luckily, today’s brewers have the ability to add or subtract calcium, magnesium, sodium and other minerals in order to emulate the preferred water style.
For trailblazers like Stone, fear is not really an option. Naysayers often have the loudest voices, and many of them worry about an upset to tradition. But as Koch shrewdly points out, bold American IPAs haven’t exactly stomped out other beer styles, as many suggested would happen. Rather, they’ve grown in parallel with classic styles such as helles, dortmunder and kolsch.
“Innovation as a whole is always a plus,” Koch says. And as he introduces the innovation he’s undertaken at Stone across the pond, we’ll be cheering him on.
