(Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing Co-Founder/CEO, Greg Koch, was on The Brewing Network last night. Here are my notes…
– More Brown than Black IPA debuts today
– Will brew Saison du Buff with Dogfish Head and Victory Brewing during the week of the Craft Beer Conference. This will be the first of Stone’s collaboration to be re-brewed. [ed. note: Saison du Buff in Wine Barrels is also planned for a bottle release eventually. Perhaps the release will coincide with that week?]
– Going to come out with another small batch of Crime & Punishment
– Hopes to have details of the 12.12.12 celebration by March/April
– Hired a full-time video editor recently and that individual’s only job is video editing
– Will share elevation and designs for new hotel complex in early 2012. It will include an event space with a barrel aging room.
– Says that while it’s not too late for new breweries to join the industry, he doesn’t recommend it. Not for “anti-competitive reasons” but talked about how much work there is to be done for margins relatively low compared to wineries. Says that if we want more small breweries to open up and thrive then as the “beer loving public,” we need to allow for the high end of the category to increase. This will allow for a larger variety in packages, styles, regions, etc.. Says that retailers have gotten away from “line pricing” and appreciate differences in styles and packages today more so than they used to. This has helped the category to grow.
– On Europe, said that local governments have been extremely helpful to them in their search but that they are meeting resistance with property owners in terms of speed. They are focusing on historical warehouse buildings in places that are “visitable.”
– On the brewery’s distribution business, mentioned some highlight brands
- Wholesaler for the following local brands:
- Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
- The Bruery
- AleSmith
- #1 wholesaler for Avery Brewing, Oskar Blues Brewing outside of Colorado
- #1 wholesaler for Bear Republic and Russian River outside of Northern California