BrewDog Acquires Stone Berlin

Does this mean Stone has completed their mission of showing the Germans how to brew beer?
@herrburgess

 

I mean...who would have thought that might not work out?

 

Stone Berlin

2014 – 2019

RIP

I wish the BrewDog folks the best of luck with this new business they purchased. Hopefully their business will permit the patience needed here.

There were two things mentioned in the Greg Koch letter that I think is worth repeating:

“To feed a beast like Stone Berlin, we needed volume. The sheer cost of building and maintaining Stone Berlin to our standards didn’t let us grow it slowly. Sometimes you gotta realize when your dream is becoming a threat to your greater good.”

And:

“Maybe we should’ve started smaller, aimed for the tree line instead of the stars.”

Hindsight is always 20/20 and it appears that a more prudent business plan for Stone would have been a less grandiose business for brewing and selling beer in Berlin. It seems to me that Greg Koch has never been known as a ‘let’s take baby steps’ kind of guy and instead more like a ‘swing for the fences’ person. Well he swung hard here and unfortunately missed this time around.

Hopefully this transfer of Stone Berlin to BrewDog will be a Win-Win for the two businesses. An infusion of money (and relaxation of debt) to Stone Brewing to permit them to better concentrate on their other markets. And with the needed patience BrewDog will have success with BrewDog Berlin.

Cheers to Stone & BrewDog here!

 

@Snowcrash000, hopefully Arrogant Bastard will continue to be available to you:

“After BrewDog takes stewardship of the brewery we will continue to help and support Stone in Europe by making their beers for European distribution. This is good for the beers, good for the environment and ultimately, good for beer fans.”

https://www.brewdog.com/blog/post/brewdog-take-stewardship-of-stone-berlin-bv

Cheers!

 

There is an interesting symmetry at work here. And it's about audacity merging. Looks like Stone lucked out.

 

I think this statement from Greg says it all:

"As it stands now, German beer prices are the cheapest in Western Europe. As most of us know from life, the best things are rarely the cheapest. Amazing beer is being brewed by amazing brewers all over the country. Unfortunately, according to the stats, most Germans are still ignoring these wonderful beers and buying the cheap stuff."

Kinda arrogant if you ask me... I know its Stone and all, but calling all this other beer "cheap" is pretty sad, especially considering how many lagers and pils Stone is trying to push out here in the States.

Frankly, I have had some of these "cheap" German beers and they blow things Stone has made out of the water. Heck, some of these "cheap" beers are considered master class examples of their styles! To slam a whole industry just because they can keep their prices down is pretty sad.

Germany is many years behind the US in terms of craft beer. It will take time to change hearts and minds. It seems like Stone's attempts to run in and ignore the status quo have proven fatal in the long run.

 

I've never liked brewdogs vibe. But I'm glad Stone is able to get out of this situation without too many scratches.

Is brewdog that big? How is their American brewery doing in Columbus? The equity for punks angle always screamed gimmick. But I guess it's working.

 

And yet he can't help taking the "cheap" shot at the German beer market and consumer. As if his big whiff here deserves more praise -- and his beer 3x the money -- than hundreds of years of solid hits.

 

Will there be a video of a pallet of Stone beers being crushed?

 

That was quick. I still have to pick up my last Stone Berlin Groundbreaking Collaboration beer.

 

Sounds like Stone will still have a Taproom in Berlin, and when up and running, Brewdog will be doing some contract brewing for Stone.

 

Having purchased many beers from German train stations last fall, I can say that their "cheap" beer is actually pretty good.....

 

Yeah, the really cheap stuff in Germany (and the rest of Europe) is actually trash, mostly. Koch is not wrong there, even if it sounds arrogant.