San Diego Experience

Stone Brewing of San Diego

Makers of Arrogant Bastard one of San Diego's World Famous Breweries
By Mark S. Burgess
Posted on Mon, May 1st, 2006
Last updated Wed, Jun 7th, 2006

Video Interview

52mb .WMV (10m)

QuickTime(32mb)

30 ft High Brew Towers

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Ten years ago, two guys pursuing different paths in life attended a class on the taste of beer at UC Davis. Steve Wagner had once used Greg Koch’s recording studio to rehearse his band, The Balancing Act. Seeing each other again at the class and realizing their common interest led to Stone Brewing in Escondido, one of the top brewers in the world.

“There was a time when I lived with a guitar in my hand,” said Greg Koch, Stone’s co-founder and CEO when we interviewed him on March 31st. He studied guitar and got a degree in business management, but school appears not to have helped him put Stone on the map. “Not anything I learned in school is being applied at Stone Brewing,” he said. “Sometimes I learned what not to do. I can remember my marketing books and literally not being able to stay awake reading and marketing was a subject I found interesting. Business plans are useless if you know what you’re doing. And if you don’t, a business plan isn’t going to help you.“

Steve and Greg put together a business plan ("because we had to"), presented it to investors, got funded and opened their first brewery in 1996. It was all of 7000 square feet, not even as large as the new refrigeration area in their new brewery just off of the Auto Parkway in Escondido. One of the initial investors was Greg’s father: “He admitted to me years later that he thought he was kissing his money goodbye.” Greg said. He didn’t remember whether or not they courted the investors with some of Steve’s home brew but he’s sure his father had had some at one time or another.

Where Greg provides the business and marketing mind, Steve is the brewing brains. The two of them have put together one of the top breweries in the world. RateBeeer.com puts Stone at 10th for beers in the world and BeerAdvocate.com puts Stone as first among American beers and second in the world.

Greg calls himself an “unabashed beer geek” and reports visiting almost 300 breweries around the world. “I enjoy educating my palette,” he said. This spring RateBeer, in their Top 50 Spring Seasonals, rated Stone Imperial Russian Stout as the best beer in the world.

8000 sq ft Refrigerator

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“San Diegans have so much to be proud of,” Greg said, “and I’m not talking just about Stone. I’m talking about Alesmith and Ballast Point and Pizza Port and Oggis and Coronado Brewing and Alpine Brewing, Green Flash. These are some pretty cool breweries.” Joseph Tucker, the Executive Director of RateBeer.com believes that Greg has it right: “San Diego has become a world class beer region arguably on par with and very probably besting better known places like Munich, London, Prague and Dublin.”

Stone and other local brewers have formed the San Diego Brewers Guild which includes 30 different breweries all located in San Diego County. Their Mission Statement is:

To address the issue of liquor consumption that often confronts producers of alcoholic beverages, Greg says the attitude of the company is the same as his personally: that people need to be responsible always. He believes that beer is a “beverage of moderation” but that while there may be a few “knuckle draggers” who abuse the drink and cause problems even smart people can make mistakes and need to keep aware.

Along with the new brewery, Stone is creating a restaurant on the north side of their new facility to be called The Stone

CEO Koch in the new beer garden

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Brewing World Bistro and Beer Garden. The unique aspect of this bistro, separate from its close tie with Stone, is that it will serve fresh local products where those exist and only in the seasons they grow. “If tomatoes aren’t in season, we wont’ be serving tomatoes,” Greg said. He went on to say “I taste stuff for a living and fresh locally, naturally raised always tastes better in season. Go figure.”

When not working on Stone Brewing, Greg likes to travel and prefers lively conversation over a beer in a brew pub with good friends as a favorite way to spend time. He’s not proudest of how large Stone has gotten – he was emphatic about not caring how much beer they make. Instead, he’s proudest of the fact that when he picks up and tastes a beer they’ve made, he can honestly say “Hey!, this is good stuff!”

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