Four of Stone Brewing's hoppiest beers, which really, is saying something. Photo: John Giuffo
I’m a sucker for a good IPA, and few craft brewers make pale ales as well as Stone Brewing, San Diego’s homebrew homerun success story.
I’ve loved their balanced version of the British-style ale for years, so when the opportunity to visit their brewery and attached brew pub in Escondido presented itself on a recent visit to SoCal, I jumped. I knew I was in for a fun little tour and some delicious beer, but I was surprised at just how impressive Stone’s tastefully-designed brewpub and stunningly-maintained gardens are.
One acre of bamboo and eucalyptus, olive trees and herbs wrap around a small pond; stone waterfalls and shaded walkways; trellises, fruit trees, and strings of small white bulbs over some of the seating areas. There’s a serene fountain located in the garden as soon as you exit the brewpub, and around it is carved a stone counter to which people scooch up on their barstools. Another stone counter surrounds a fire pit, inspiring patrons to scooch even closer to the fire, especially on those chilly San Diego nights (which is to say, every night in San Diego – the desert don’t mess around).
There’s just enough room on the outermost patio for the brewery to host small events, such as movie screenings or music performances. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience all this nighttime fun on my recent visit, but their new gardens are, by most accounts, an unmitigated hit with locals and visitors alike.
All this on a nondescript multi-lane avenue dotted, like so many suburban San Diego avenues (though it’s not technically in San Diego), with entirely-unremarkable office park buildings. Stone’s Escondido headquarters are deceptively plain. In fact, I drove right past the brewpub building on my first go-around.
This one, I thought. Really? Nah, can’t be. Maybe…yeah. Yeah. Really?
Little did I know, they were hiding all the good stuff behind the bushes. Oh, how California.
One of the main outdoor seating areas at the Stone Brew Pub. Photo courtesy Stone Brewing
Stone Brewing opened their first facility at the Escondido location 17 years ago, but the recent explosive popularity of not only craft beer in general, but of Stone in particular, has led to some growth spurts. The brewing and bottling systems were all expanded, pushing most of the production except the alchemy outside the main building. A large second facility, mostly devoted to bottling and maturation, was built adjacent to the first and opened just six months ago to help handle the increased demand, and storage was moved to a third facility, a short distance from the main “campus.”
And campus is the right word. I’m a huge fan of microbrew pubs – the small chains with three or four outlets, the mom-and-pop shops, the local favorites with increasingly-national cred. I like ‘em sports-pub style and beer-snob style.
“This place is great,” my buddy Brian assured me. “It’s just the right balance of, ‘we take our beer seriously, and you can tell from the décor, but we’re not beer snobs and we don’t take ourselves too seriously.” Immediately upon entering, I realized this was the perfect description.
But if Stone’s pub is impressive, it’s their garden that ups the beer garden game to the next level.
Benefitting from San Diego’s unrelentingly amazing weather, the gardens provide dozens of corners and nooks in which to enjoy your beer, day or evening, and a variety of seating areas to eat their surprisingly-good food.
This is normally the part of the review where I’d write something like, “But let’s get down to it: you’re here for the beer.”
The fire pit in the gardens outside the Stone Brewpub. Good times during chilly nights. Photo: Stone Brewing Co.
And we’ll get to that, but even the food here is worth talking up, which is not something you can say of most brewpubs. Ceviche! Delicious, well-marinated tilapia ceviche that comes with chili-lime tortilla chips. Homemade chips; the good stuff. Quail knots, kimchi, and fish tacos. A shepherd’s pie made with…wait for it…Southern California…come on…oh yeah, tempeh. Hold up, what?
Unfortunately I didn’t get to the transgressive tempeh dish, but from what I shared with two friends, I have every confidence that it’s delicious. A brew pub that approaches its menu not as an accompaniment, but as a main attraction all its own – well, that’s a brew pub worth the time. (And the hype – this is old hat to San Diegans.)
Which brings us to the beer.
Stone gets my love because they do one type of thing (generally), and they do it over and over, in every possible combination, until they arrive at those proprietary styles that have won them so much acclaim. Their standard IPA is what they’ve built their reputation on. It’s their most popular style by far, although the company is dedicated to constantly trying new things, they usually start with the idea that the water that goes into their beer – if it’s to be a passable version of a proper English pale ale – needs to reflect what’s known as the “Burton-on-Trent water profile,” which means that Stone and others chasing that Burton dragon try to use water that has the same mineral and flavor elements. This is no-joke stuff among brewers.
Beer science! Stone's brewmasters ain't playing around with their yeast. Photo: John Giuffo
On my recent visit, I tried a sample flight of four of their hoppier products – their Ruination IPA, with an 8.2% ABV and a sweet, forceful bite; their Arrogant Bastard – one of their most popular versions and a decent ale that gets as much love for its attitude as it does for its successes; their Enjoy By 11-12-13 IPA, which mixes different hops for a complex character designed for a short, glorious shelf life; and their 17th Anniversary Götterdämmerung IPA, which was dark and bitter and sweet and awesome.
Not a bad beer in the batch, which is no surprise.
Though they’re now the tenth-largest craft brewery in the country (Samuel Adams still runs the segment), they’ve somehow managed to maintain a small craft-brewer’s sensibility even as they explode in growth. Stone beers are distributed to more than 37 states, and they’re often rated as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. Yet they still proudly offer the microbrew products of other small producers from San Diego and elsewhere, they help smaller, local microbreweries with distribution, and they collaborate with other beer companies on new beer styles.
It’s a very Cali way to do business, what with all the getting along, good vibes, and a sense of “we’re all in this together.” Maybe that’s the secret to their success.
Well, that and those beautiful Pacific Northwest hops.
Stone Brewing Co. has two locations in greater San Diego – the main facilities in Escondido, about a 20 minute drive north of the center, and a newer, cavernous brewpub located downtown at Liberty Station – the Escondido hub still gets all the love, from what I understand, though the downtown location just opened in May. Check the company’s websites for planned events or movie screenings. Tours cost $3, which is a ridiculous bargain considering the four beer samples at the end, the free commemorative glass, and the chill vibes from our guide, Nichole, Stone’s “Indoctrination Specialist.” Also notable: Stone employs an “Indoctrination Specialist,” which is fantastic.
from Forbes.com: Most popular stories http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngiuffo/2013/11/01/san-diegos-stone-brewery-is-devilishly-awesome/
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