![]() I must labour this last point because it positions Stone within a wider, and very interesting conversation concerning sustainability. “We have different filter technology, but we're using the same media to deliver the same beer,” says Robert. California uses a dry malt mill while Virginia uses a wet mill, but both breweries have the same methodology for how to slurry and inject hops into the tank, and both use a centrifuge and perlite. All of Richmond’s water comes from the James River basin.Įscondido has a Rolec brewhouse while Richmond uses Krones. Escondido has to juggle alkalinity and mineral content from three different water sources, including water from the Colorado River Basin and desalinated sea water. Escondido and Richmond’s water treatment processes obviously differ because they have to. The two facilities’ yeast, hop and malt profiles are exactly the same, as are their specs. While precise reproduction of the Stone style and flavours across sites is its highest priority, I am fascinated to learn of the differences between the two locations’ methodology, equipment and, to some extent, approach. “Then, every day there's ‘a true to type’.” This initially involves sampling beers from the other brewery, and then a number of different panels assuring quality and accuracy of flavour before hops are added, while the wort is hot, then cold, before it’s filtered, while it sits in the bright tank and after its packaged. “There's a monthly calibration between the breweries that Sean and I sit in on with a group from Escondido.” Robert continues. “They’re identical twins, that only the parents can tell apart”, says Sean with a grin, when I ask if there’s a detectable difference between the beers being brewed. ![]() It’s not the case that the East and West Coast breweries are sisters. ![]() We quickly get down to business I’m keen to know more about how the West Coast giant has navigated life on the East Coast, and how the Richmond brewery fits into Stone’s existing story and future trajectory. So, if you’re drinking a Stone beer anywhere outside the US, it was made under the watchful eyes of Sean and Robert. Richmond produces a subset of what’s made in Escondido, mostly focusing on Stone’s core range, and is responsible for supplying 65% of what’s shipped internationally. ![]() Instead they claim only to be coach and cheerleader to the tireless brew team wrangling 130,000 barrels (around 152,552 hectolitres) a year from the mammoth brew kit just through the taproom’s wall. In other words, this pair comprise the brewery’s dream team, though neither accepts the title when I offer it. The bridge’s steel beams are plastered with stickers that mark this site of pilgrimage with the branding of breweries who came to pay homage from around Richmond and far, far beyond.Īt the door to the brewery-adjacent taproom, I’m met by Sean Monahan and Robert Kuntz, Stone Brewing’s chief operating officer and its brewery director, respectively. Pulling off the road’s melting tarmac, into a carpark connected to the brewery by a tastefully designed cage-like bridge, I feel the significance of visiting the brewery, and I’m not alone. Escondido’s sister brewery in Richmond ran its first brew date on 26th May 2016 and has been supplementing and supporting production in California ever since. Out of 26 sites considered, close personal links, easy access to the I-95, and an already burgeoning craft beer scene made Richmond, Virginia the perfect place to host Stone’s second home. Since throwing shapes now definitive of West Coast IPA, Stone has remained a steward of the style and a brewery whose impact on the international craft beer movement has shaped the industry as we know it today.Īfter twenty years of unrelenting success, Stone’s aspiration to supply all fifty states and branch more significantly into European markets required an expansive leap onto the East Coast. Greg Koch and Steve Wagner set up shop in Escondido, San Diego County in 1996, and for the ten years to follow, vied with other legendary West Coast breweries of its generation – Sierra Nevada, Green Flash, Russian River, Alesmith and Ballast Point – for the IPA with the highest ABV, the boldest used of American hops, and most astringent bitterness. This stalwart of West Coast IPA has been making waves on the US’ brewing scene since American hops first came into significant use, and the first semblances of craft beer as a concept and community began to take shape. That said, if there were ever a brewery to warrant such a response, it’s Stone. It’s rare, when visiting breweries, that my nerves migrate beyond the realms of excitement, into nervousness.
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