Mind That Moves

Greg Koch - Stone Brewing Co

They won’t admit it, but Stone Brewing Co. is quickly becoming one of the most well-known Microbreweries in the United States.  In 2007, Stone opened their custom designed brewery just a few miles up the 15 Freeway in Escondido, which also features a 300+ seat restaurant and garden.

Stone isn’t trying to cater to the masses. This is obvious by reading the back of the Arrogant Bastard Ale bottle. “This is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth.  We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory—maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you’re mouthing your words as you read this.”

We had the opportunity to interview their humble CEO, Greg Koch.

Hometown: Born in Orange County, CA / Raised in Pataskala, OH
Current Residence: San Diego
Occupation: Unemployable
Single/Married/Family: Encumbered. In a good way.
Favorite Happy Hour: The Magazine, of course!
Favorite Hang-out: On a patio with a relaxed atmosphere and good friends… great craft beer required, of course!
Favorite Stone Beer: That’s the classic impossible question to answer.  However, I am really loving the new Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale.
Favorite Beer besides Stone: Happy to say that they number in the hundreds!  There’s a lot of amazing craft beers being produced these days.
Favorite Quote: “Buy a man a beer, waste an afternoon. Teach a man to brew, waste a lifetime!”

What is something only a local would know about San Diego?
Where all the tourists go…and how to avoid them!

How’d you come up with ‘Stone’ as the name for your beer?
A stone is small.  A stone is solid.  A stone is natural.  It seemed to fit in a very no-bells-and-whistles kind of way.  Plus it was the first name that my partner Steve and I were able to agree on!

What did you do before starting Stone? 
I worked in the music biz in Los Angeles.

How did you get started brewing beer?
I discovered that there could be such a thing as “amazing beer” in the late 80’s.  I took to it.  Homebrewing with friends was a natural extension.  My partner at Stone, Steve Wagner, was the one that really took the lead on the brewing side of our equation.  Whether it was home brewing, or once we started the brewery, I was never higher ranking than “Assistant Home Brewing Lackey”!

When did you realize that Stone had become a local household name? 
It is far, far from that.  We won’t be a household name in my lifetime.  In order to be a household name, one must produce a generic, lowest common denominator product… and then advertise the s*** out of it.  I have no intention to participate in any part of that.  Thus, only those who seek out ‘better’ will be conscious of us.  Only those who are intentionally in the know.

What made you choose the Arrogant Bastard or Gargoyle as the face for Stone? 
When we were beginning, we knew that we wanted to make aggressive, big character beers.  And that we had a certain attitude about what we thought made a beer great.  As such, I felt that we should convey that attitude and philosophy with aggressive imagery that was consistent with our beers.

What was one of the biggest hurdles that you had to overcome to get where you are today? 
Just keeping at it.  There are thousands of distractions along the way.  It’s easy to get knocked off track if you’re not keeping your eye on the ball.  In our case, that “ball” was our philosophy.  It’s key to who we are.

Have you ever hit rock bottom?
About a year and a half after we sold our first keg, we were in negotiations with a local large wholesaler to distribute our beers.  We’d been self-distributed since the get-go, and we’d been bleeding money.  Distributing ourselves was way too costly, compared to the small amount of beer we were selling at the time.  In mid-February 1998 I got a call from that wholesaler saying that they’d changed their minds and had decided that they weren’t going to distribute our beers after all.  I thought that was it.  That we were dead.  We couldn’t survive much longer with the current burn rate of cash we were experiencing.  We hung in there, and that March was actually the first break-even month.

How do you get inspired about brewing a new beer? 
There’s so much to get inspired about, it’s tough to even know where to start.  The craft brewing world is very exciting these days.  There are a lot of talented brewers creating inspiring beers.  Pour one into my glass, and inspiration’s not far behind!

What are your responsibilities around the brewery, because I know you have a Brewmaster? 
My partner in Stone is Steve Wagner…he’s our President & Brewmaster.  Mitch Steele is our Head Brewer.  Out on the brewery floor, my only responsibility is to thank our team for doing such an amazing job!

Best business decision? 
Sticking to our philosophy and ethics all along the way… especially in the tougher times when easier, but ultimately inferior, decisions were beckoning.

What advice would you give yourself ten years ago? 
You are right.  You just have not yet realized HOW right.

How many gallons of beer do you brew a week? 
We brewed 83,000 barrels of beer last year.  That translates to about 2,573,000 gallons per year, which is just shy of 50,000 gallons per week.

What separates your beer from others? 
That’s for beer enthusiasts to decide, not us!

Do you have any plans of opening any other Stone Bistros in San Diego? 
Currently, there is just one Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens (In Escondido at their brewery).  No current plans for another.

What’s next for Stone? 
Keeping our eye on the ball.  Making sure that we’re hitting our own, unrealistically high expectations.

Where would you like to see your beer in ten years? 
In my hand.  If it’s there, then that’ll mean that we’re doing the job I expect.  For us, we have no goals for how MUCH beer we brew, only HOW we brew it.  If we perform on the “how” part, then we’ll continue to do well on the growth that we’ve enjoyed over the years.

Stone Brewery Tours: Go to www.StoneBrew.com for days and times.

Are you worthy of drinking a Stone? Give it a try next time you’re out and about. You can find it at just about every supermarket, liquor stone, bar or restaurant in San Diego.