Stone Brewing Announces Restructuring & Layoffs

From your observations, could you share with us which "crappy local beers" are selling instead of the "better" non-geographically coincidental flavors and brands. I agree with much of your premise and argument, but I don't completely buy the judgmental qualitative panning of local beers. Many markets likely offer local choices, fairly priced, that could compete well against beer from anywhere else.

 

Big fan of Stone and @StoneGreg , this all pains me. I hope all come out of this intact.

 

You don't think cutting 60 employees makes a difference on their bottom line? I don't know all the positions cut, but I know some were sales. Figure they make 50-60k base. Add the benefits, taxes and bonus/commission and the company is in at at least 75-80k. That's 4.5-5 Million per year.

Also, I'm not sure about the giving them ton's of time and retaining. I heard of one employee that was in the middle of a their work day and got let go via a phone call. Maybe a former employee can shed more light on this.

 

Really?????

Enjoy

 

What do they mean by 'taking the weekend off'? Are they closing all locations over the weekend?

 

I also couldn't help but think back to last fall when they were really churning out the bombers between the collaboration beers, the Stochasticity beers, and a few others all within a relatively short period. It's like they thought we would try them all. I tried my fair share and there were some excellent ones like Ruination 2.0 and Sorry Not Sorry IPA, but there was also Your Father Smelt Of Elderberries, 24 Carrot Golden Ale, Points Unknown IPA, and Thunderstruck IPA (I'm probably in the minority on that last one). I recall many of those being on the shelves for months later.

I know this is just one aspect, but it felt like they really slowed down with releases after cranking them out for awhile.

 

You have to think that there was a "we're Stone, people will buy it" mentality. It's one thing for a small brewery to make some experimental beers for the taproom. But Stone was putting out some beers that were niche to begin with and in some cases flat out bad at a scale few breweries could dream of. Will be interesting to see if the product lineup changes.

 

From what I can gather, they now deleted this post

 

I wonder if this Stone restructuring event will give the BrewDogs folks pause in opening a production brewery in Columbus, Ohio?

I discussed this topic in a past thread:

“Do you think now (or 1-2 years from now) is a good time for BrewDog to open a mid-large scale production brewery in the US? Do you think there is 'room' in the market for this?”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...ion-for-new-ohio-brewery.440846/#post-4946165

Cheers!

 

The brewpooches got other people to pay for their brewery though so I doubt they are worried or too exposed financially

 

Do you know for a fact that folks coughed up the full $50 million that BrewDogs was soliciting?

Cheers!

 

I doubt it, but I'm fairly sure they were aiming high and simply built a large shed with loads of expansion room if things went well once they got off the ground. their initial brewery is for a 200hl system , which is a pretty decent size tbf. It's equivalent to what a decent sized regional brewery might have here .

 

Yea that Facebook post was ill timed probably one of the worst posts by a brewery since that brewery with the special Ed names. they definitely need to take the weekend off after that massive fail of a post ,I hope they get their stuff together I enjoy their beers

 

According to the BrewDog website they have not broken ground yet for the Columbus brewery: https://www.brewdog.com/usa/brewery/usa-brewery

According to this Fortune article the plan is to break ground in Feb. or March 2017: http://fortune.com/2016/10/10/brewdog-craft-beer-ohio/

Still plenty of time for them to reconsider and/or re-scale their plans.

Cheers!

 

Obviously everyone should only be drinking the beer you tell them to drink.

Perhaps your judgment is clouded because of the business you are in, but I see the opposite problem. Why are there so many mediocre beers from national breweries when there is so much better local/regional stuff available?

With all due respect to the pioneers and trailblazers in the industry, many of these large breweries came of age in a different era. The game is different now. Why would I buy 3 month old Sierra Nevada or Stone or Ballast Point when I can get Sip of Sunshine that was canned yesterday? Why are Rogue or Lagunitas or Anchor even on the shelves here?

So many smaller breweries have surpassed the big guys in terms of quality. I think this localization is where we are headed. More people getting beer from the source. More local/regional beer on the shelves. The national guys are going to contract. I think Stone, Sierra Nevada, etc expanding to satellite locations is a smart move. Beer sold through the distribution network is sure to shrink so expanding to other locations will be the path to growth.

 

I think this is where we are at and hence possibly part of the cause in this case. Why would I pickup a beer from Stone and alike when I can't even begin to try all that is local/regional? Several years ago it was a different story.

 

I'll always have a soft spot for stone. I still remember stone having a "keep the pint night" at the Anthill Pub at UCI in the early 2000s. I was blown away at their pale ale, maybe one of the first "real" craft beers I've ever had. Until then New Castle was my go to.

I've been to the brewery numerous times and enjoy a lot of their beers. Oddly enough I enjoy their none IPAs the most.

Anyways good luck to all the people who were laid off and that they can find a job in the beer industry that they love. I'll be drinking a glass of xocoveza in your honor. Cheers.

 

While I agree with you overall, I think you're mixing freshness and quality. Sierra Nevada's beers are better quality than 99% of beers your small local guys are putting out. It might be to your taste and it's certainly not as fresh by the time we get it (although bottle conditioning skews freshness a bit), but quality is a different argument.