Stone Brewing Company
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| Location | Escondido, California |
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| Opened | 1996 |
| Key people | Greg Koch (Executive Chairman) Dominic Engels (Chief Executive Officer Steve Wagner(President) |
| Annual production volume | 325,645 US beer barrels (382,137 hL) (2015) |
| Employees | 1,100 |
| Website | stonebrewing |
Coordinates: 33°06′57″N 117°07′12″W / 33.1157°N 117.1199°W
Stone Brewing is a brewery headquartered in Escondido, California, USA. Founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, it is the largest brewery in Southern California. Based on 2016 sales volume it is the ninth largest brewery in the United States.
The brewery's first beer was Stone Pale Ale, which the company considers to be its flagship ale. The company's best known brand is Arrogant Bastard Ale, which has been described as a "watershed beer" that "put San Diego on the craft brew map." Since 2015 Arrogant Bastard has operated as its own product line, Bastard Brewing, produced at multiple breweries around the country. Most of Stone's beers are characteristic of west-coast craft brews, meaning that they have a high hop content. Compared to the macro-produced lagers, many Stone brews feature alcohol percentages that are well above average. The alcohol-by-volume content of Stone brews ranges from 4.8% to 13%.
Stone Brewing is rated as a "world class brewery" by the two largest beer enthusiast websites, RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. Stone Brewing has been voted by the readers of Beer Advocate as the #1 "All Time Top Brewery on Planet Earth."
Stone opened in San Marcos in 1996 at the location currently home to Port Brewing Company and The Lost Abbey. Local designer/illustrator Thomas K. Matthews created the original gargoyle in 1996. He also drew the Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Ruination IPA and Stone Levitation Ale gargoyles, as well as barley and hops motifs. In 2006, Stone relocated from the original brewery to a new, custom-designed facility in Escondido. In 2013 the company opened a packaging hall just south of the brewery which houses the bottling and keg lines. The brewery in Escondido produced 325,645 US beer barrels in 2015. The site is also home to a restaurant, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Escondido, a 8,500-square-foot (790 m2) restaurant with a large outdoor patio and 1 acre (4,000 m2) of gardens. The brewery also houses a Stone Company Store which sells Stone merchandise as well as 1- and 2-liter growlers and 40-ounce and can that can be filled with Stone's year-round beers and special releases.
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