Brewmaster Mitch Steele Is Leaving Stone Brewing Company

Wow! Guess everybody moves on eventually. Excited to see what the future brings for him. Hoping for NY distro

 

Tip of the hat to Mitch, he's obviously been a big part of what's made Stone so good for so many years. That said, I fully expect Stone to get a great replacement.

I'd argue Enjoy By is the best mass produced beer you can get. No beer so good gets the kind of distro it gets, and it's almost year round.

 

Daaaaaaang! Cheers, Mitch. Craft beer, California, The U.S., perhaps the World is in debt to what you have accomplished and provided for all of us in your offerings. Cheers again, and good luck!

 

Good luck! Thanks for the beer!

 

This is not shocking at all. Have been hearing rumblings lately that Stone is in the process of being bought out by either AB - InBev or a Constellation like company. I would not expect Mitch to be cool with this so he is jumping ship before the deal goes down. Do not be shocked when this happens, y'all....

 

You might find the first video in this link worth watching. The rumblings you've been hearing would be highly inconsistent with what is said in the video.

 

I'm not saying any brewery is 100% immune from the allure of cashing out to the big boys, but from everything I've ever seen or read Stone would be the least likely to sell out. Time for Mitch to take on a new challenge, nothing to see here.

 

Thanks for posting that video! Had not seen that yet. I hope you guys are right but this falls right there in line with how Lagunitas talked a lot of shop before selling half their company to Heineken. A buddy of mine works on that side of the fence and has been hinting at a major brewery in California selling part of their company, if not all of it in a buyout, at the end of June / Early July. Who knows though. This is just second hand news at this point...

 

Well Magee of Lagunitas initiated the deal by proposing it to Heineken and convincing Heinken to buy 50% share of the company but leave he and his existing board control over running the breweries, etc. There's a thread here in Beer News which he started to put his explantion in place.

As for second hand news, every play a game called Whisper down the Lane or Chinese Whispers?

 

Why do you think I am posting in this thread...? Just wanting to get all those nerves boiling...

 

No idea if this is true, but if it is, wouldn't now be the worst time to get out, like selling all your Apple stock right before the iPhone came out? I mean, the guy's gotta have some shares, right?

 

Enjoy By is a really good beer that is brilliantly titled and packaged. I'm not sure that any one beer has done a better job of promoting freshness as an idea than Stone's. It's not over the top to say that it's probably educated a lot of new consumers to craft on a mass scale.

 

Mitch has indeed had quite the beer journey. From AB -> Stone -> New Adventure and then?

Thanks to all here!

@MitchAtStone @StoneGreg @StoneBrewingCo

Cheers!

 

Oh man...

 

This is one of the dumbest things I have ever read on BA. First, you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Second, your keen industry speculation is baseless. Stone has said over and over that they'll never sell out...and they would not only look like complete fools if they did, but it would erase any credibility they had with their fans. Other breweries sell out and it's no big deal. Stone has been a stalwart force in being independent...and I don't believe that will ever change.

 

You can tell it's a bittersweet parting for Mitch. He choked up a few times in that awesome video. Stone will be fine without him, though I'm sure they are sad to see him go. Good luck to Mitch in his future endeavor and I hope I get to try his new beers someday.

 

Not so dumb as you seem to think. Go back and check the comments about selling made by Tony Magee (Lagunitis) up to a few days/weeks before he himself intitated negotiations for the sale of a 50% interest in Lagunitas to Heineken.