Stone Brewing Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Stone Brewing Co. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Escondido, California, USA |
| Owner | Steve Wagner and Greg Koch (independent) |
| Year opened | 1996 |
| Annual production | 50,000 US barrels/year (2006); 70,000 US barrels/year (projected 2007); 250,000 barrels/year (eventual projected capacity) |
| Active Beers | |
| Stone Pale Ale | Pale ale |
| Stone Smoked Porter | Porter / smoked beer |
| Stone IPA | India Pale Ale |
| Stone Ruination IPA | Double India Pale Ale |
| Stone Levitation Ale | Amber Ale |
| Arrogant Bastard Ale | American strong ale |
| Stone Special Release Beers | |
| Stone Anniversary Ale | style varies |
| Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine | Barley wine |
| Double Bastard Ale | American strong ale |
| Stone Imperial Russian Stout | Russian Imperial stout |
| Stone Vertical Epic Ale | style varies |
Stone Brewing Co., founded 1996 in San Marcos, is a craft brewery now located in Escondido, San Diego County, California.
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[edit] Summary
Stone is best known for the aggressive Arrogant Bastard Ale, although the brewery considers Stone Pale Ale and Stone IPA to be its flagship beers. Most of their beers are characteristic of west-coast craft brews; that is to say, emphasis is placed primarily on the recipes' hop character. Most Stone beers are purchased in 22 ounce bottles, but select beers are sold in traditional six packs, kegs, and 3 litre bottles.
The beers available in six-packs are the Stone Pale Ale, Stone IPA and Stone Levitation Ale. Stone uses 22oz bottles to feature their "bigger character" beers and Stone Special Releases. Compared to most brewers, Stone brews feature alcohol percentages that are well above average. The alcohol-by-volume content of Stone brews ranges from 4.4% to well over 11%.
Stone Brewing is consistently rated as one of the best brewers in the US, and world, by the two largest beer enthusiast websites, RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com.
[edit] Brewery
In 2006, Stone relocated from its original brewery in San Marcos to a new, custom-designed facility in Escondido. The new brewery currently has a capacity of 50,000 US beer barrels per year, with capacity expandable up to 250,000 barrels, and also includes an on-site bottling line. The site is also home to a restaurant, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, which serves a rotating menu of food and beer from Stone and other breweries in the United States and Germany.
[edit] Beers
[edit] Arrogant Bastard Ale
Arrogant Bastard Ale is an American strong ale. It is marketed by warning potential consumers as being "unworthy" of such a sophisticated beer, suggesting most people cannot appreciate a beer of such quality and depth. It is a popular beer among craft beer aficionados.
Local designer/illustrator Thomas K. Matthews created the original gargoyle in 1996. Matthews has since gone on to a career in communication but continues to have a working relationship with Stone.
Arrogant Bastard Ale is featured in the horror movie Cabin Fever in which several of the characters engage in a competition to drink only beer during their camping trip.
A variety called OAKED Arrogant Bastard has been produced in limited release 3Litre bottles with a lock, three times: November 2004, 2005 and 2006. The 2006 release saw the addition of six packs of 12 ounce bottles. It has also been produced on draft from time to time under no set schedule since its first release in November 2004, and is available in 12-ounce bottles since no later than November 2006.
Double Bastard Ale is a more intense version of Stone's American strong ale, Arrogant Bastard, with an ABV of about 10%. It is a seasonal item and goes on sale every November in 22 ounce and 3 liter bottles.
Arrogant Bastard Ale aged with oak chips is available as OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale.
[edit] India Pale Ales
Stone produces several highly-hopped examples of India Pale Ales.
Ruination IPA is a very highly hopped Double India Pale Ale. The bottle bears prodigious warnings of the high levels of bitterness (rated at over 100 IBUs) as well as its ruinous effect on the palate. Despite being touted as a supremely bitter beer, Stone Ruination IPA has a great depth of character for those who are attuned to hop flavors.
Stone IPA is a fruity, hoppy IPA featuring Amarillo hops.
[edit] Vertical Epic
Since 2002, Stone has been releasing a series of eleven beers under the Stone Vertical Epic Ale header. Each one uses a different recipe and are designed, when the release is complete, to complement its partners in a tasting of all eleven, one after the other (a "vertical tasting"). Each is released one year, one month, and one day apart, beginning with the first on February 2, 2002 (02.02.02 in a common date format on the Gregorian calendar); thus, the second was released on March 3, 2003 (03.03.03), the fourth on April 4, 2004, and so on. The last in the series will be the Stone 12.12.12 Vertical Epic Ale.
