What the hell happened to Stone?

Stone was never a go-to for me (being in Portland and all), though I did enjoy some of their older stuff. There is one point I want to make about the "bring back the old Stone" idea: Widmer did this a couple years back for their 30th anniversary (their "30 for 30" series I think they called it, though maybe I'm remembering wrong and that was just ESPN's thing) and it wasn't all that great. Some of the beers were solid, but most were just a shallow husk of their former selves. It was a great idea, but 30-year-old Widmer just couldn't replicate the hits of their past. I'm not saying Stone would do the same thing and they may very well do fantastic if they re-did those old beers, but just a note of caution. Sometimes the memory is better and the past should stay there.

 

In the early 70s in California, I had the misfortune of having a Burgermeister beer, and it stands out as especially undrinkable after all these years. I'm not sure whether the responsible (?) brewer was Meisterbrau (pre-71) or Falstaff (post-71). I had developed a short-lived fondness for the brand name during the 1970 soccer World Cup. Burgie! was a sponsor of the Spanish language broadcasts on LA area TV. The US-based announcer showed mercy on us Anglos by repeating highlights in English (was Brazil playing? did Pele score?).

 

Having turned 21 roughly in 2008(?) I came of drinking age when Stone was getting huge. I remember making regular trips to Escondido for Stone events that would draw massive crowds. Now I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in the past five years, and it's mainly more for the restaurant and not Stone itself

 

I only sampled some Widmer products occasionally while visiting relatives in Portland. However, I thought that their early German-style lager efforts were way better than any of the later beers that I tried (never a fan of Hefe). Over the years, Widmer changed tracks almost completely, while Stone's moves are more minor adjustments.

 

ha! If you don’t pay your rent then yeah the landlord is going to force you to close.

 

They did a short release of a hefeweizen "Brotha From Anotha Motha" it was apparently their first recipe for the famed Widmer Hefe". It was far nearer a proper Bavarian hefe than what eventually got produced.

 

Did your dad look disappointed and ashamed after you cracked it open? Maybe he was testing you?

 

No, but I do recall the faintest bit of a grin. Which by Midwestern German-heritage male behavior characteristics might be the equivalent of a modern-day social media shaming!

 

Stopped in today and had the 2016 Double Arrogant Bastard. Really bummed they don’t make that been yearly anymore and they don’t barrel age it.

 

Just snapped this in one of my local spots:

 

Very well said.

-54 year old dad who has visited 270 breweries across the US, Canada, and Europe and doesn't buy beer from the grocery store.

 

I’d buy every Southern Charred and be happy as can be. The 2013 Series version is still the best and IMO the best barrel aged beer Stone ever produced.

 

Apparently, Stone is bringing back RIS: https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...back-original-ris-recipe.662504/#post-7379310

 

Where is Greg Koch while we all tear his brewery down? A few years ago when he announced the opening of his Berlin brewery I predicted problems because Europeans are not generally fascinated with very highly hopped beer and within an hour he responded. We went on to have several conversations about it and unfortunately I seem to have been right. But we did have some interesting and friendly conversations over the course of a few days.
For the record I like most of the Stone beers I drank(except the IPA, it tasted like Dawn dish soap to me) but like with so many breweries I never understood the hype.

 

Bumping this to be a negative Nancy, but what the hell happened to Stone indeed?

I grew up 20 minutes from the Esco location and have been going to the Oceanside taproom for years. The beer quality has consistently degraded. I know brewers in CA are not paid nearly what they should be, but who is to be held responsible for the clear degradation of quality? Who is writing these recipes and performing QA? Anything they call a "hazy IPA" is damn near crystal clear. (Enjoy By 420 Hazy IPA for example) Their West Coast IPAs are either high gravity and unbalanced or...high gravity and unbalanced. Their high gravity stouts drink thin with no body and their barrel aged offerings are boozy and rushed. They've done enough collaborations with breweries that produce great beer, so I'm not sure why there's such a disconnect to the product they put out themselves.

 

I wish what was happening to Modern Times was happening to Stone instead. A bad year screwed over MT… it’s almost been a bad DECADE for Stone.

 

The face of the company can really screw it up. Greg of Stone and Jacob of MT hit a level of 'omg fuk off' in my eyes I couldn't buy their beer anymore. No other brewery has ever had this effect on me.

That said, they used to have great beer. SSR was one of my favorite beers of all time. I just noticed it's back for a limited time...


Hmmm

 

Most of stones ipa’s are a huge malt bomb. Like a Pacific Northwest old school ipa or a Midwest ipa. Not what most people on the west coast drink. They got rid of a lot of great beers that people loved idk why. I hope they survive because I love their tap rooms and think they are an important craft brewery. Idk who is buying their beers other than people at their brewery though

 

I still buy a stovepipe of Arrogant Bastard now and again for old times sake. One of my very first ratings here, 20 years ago.
Still a nice enough American Strong

 

I kind of wonder this myself. I was looking to see if that SSR batch would show up here and I was surprised to see just how much stone has pulled out of our market. There were some stone ipa single cans at a little local grocery that caters to the large format single can crowd, but otherwise none of my typical spots had any stone items on offer. It was kind of crazy to fully realize that that's the deal, but there it was.

They used to have a whole shelf to themselves in the bomber department, plus packs.