What the hell happened to Stone?

I understand that, too.
They are focusing mostly on Buenaveza and their seltzers cuz that's what sells . Sucks but money talks
I can't get Darkness or Deths Tar in SoCal and it sucks. Lucky for me Trading exists.
I don't think anything they currently can or bottle is worth trading for , but a crowler of Double Bastard or Old Guardian certainly is.
Can't wait for October cuz OG IRS will be in 6 packs

 

It's weird how mad people who stopped drinking Stone products a decade ago are that they stopped selling products that they weren't buying anyway.

 

I stopped buying Levitation cause they stopped making it...same for OG Ruination, IRS, Oaked Arrogant. When they were on the shelves I bought them.

 

That's definitely not the case for the majority of people. The craft beer market blew up and a lot of people had access to new exciting beers and faded on a brewery you could find in every grocery store. Which is fine.

 

I think that you're correct that consumer behavior is part of the equation, but I think there is an aspect of Stone's choices as well. For sure my purchases of Stone beers declined from 2008-2014, there was an absolute explosion of options, including very high quality options to attract my attention away from my favorites from Stone (or Lagunitas,
or Sierra Nevada or Anderson Valley or North Coast or Mendocino, etc). I'm sure Stone saw a decrease in sales across brands.

The frustrating thing to me, and what I hear from others, is that Stone's response to the flood of new brands and the explosion of the hop craze was to abandon everything that wasn't an IPA and pursue this identity as the OG master of hops. They even spun off Arrogany Bastard, perhaps their most iconic brand, in what looked like an attempt to completely disassociate themselves from anything remotely malt forward.

Then, they proceeded to...not really advance their hoppy beer game at all at pace with the market at large. They appear barely capable of producing hazy ipas, I've not had a single west coast ipa from them that is better than IPA or Ruination, their fruited ipas haven't seemed to catch on with that crowd, they just sort of flopped hard. And they lost any of us who did regularly buy old guardian, RIS, SSR, etc...

 

They pivoted because the old lineup was no longer working. It might not have worked but if the old lineup would've worked they would've kept it. I think it mainly comes down to a lot of breweries have opened up since Stone was popular that make better beer and they're too big to not pivot to trends. Unfortunately pivoting to those trends is not where they shined.

I suspect if they hadn't pivoted they'd still face criticism for never evolving and most people still wouldn't be buying their products.

There are lot of world class breweries these days. They just aren't one of them (and if we're comparing beers from their heyday I would still feel the same compared to what I can find now). Nostalgia does a whole lot of heavy lifting sometimes.

 

What Hasn't happened? They been off for some time now unfortunately.

 

I agree mostly. But it would be interesting to see what it s their Best seller.
I still buy Arrogant Bastard..and it's widely available.
I have tried their newer stuff and it's not terrible. But that's the best I can say.
They should push themselves as a legacy brewery.
There was a a lot of old f*cks like me from the early 90s. Who have disposal cash.
Not everyone has to chase the hipsters.

 

Buenaveza is one of their best sellers. Also FML and Delicious
Wanna know what didn't sell?
Yep..all the shit people whine about them not carrying

Double Bastard isn't made cuz it doesn't sell enough to make them money. Same with everything else. Old Guardian, Ruination, IRS, cali Belgique

 

Maybe that's why they separated the Bastard line?
I miss Double Bastard. But then in my present medical state, could not have it. I still like Arrogant. That still sells.
Like I said Stone has to decide what it wants to be.
I can see a path for them if they go the Sierra Nevada or Deschutes way..keep your old customer happy and try weird shit

 

They should do a Trump and go BK. Well if a US president can do it..

 

Even Sierra ain't selling ...Bigfoot has had a decline in sales and that shit is touted like a holy grail here. I don't like the beer at all and don't see the big deal about it. To me it's the "older guys " holding on to a relic . I hope it staYs round tho.
Deschutes as well, they seem to be slipping into time
They can't afford to take that path, they owe a lot of moneyyyyyy
Thats life tho

 

Several weekends ago, in the middle of a long layover at SeaTac, I spotted Stone House Golden Ale on tap at a couple places.

I laughed. The company that used to say "Fizzy Yellow Beer Is For Wussies" was pushing fizzy yellow beer.

 

I don't see what you see. Bigfoot has always been rare to find. But SNPA still is in the forefront Bigfoot or even Hoptimum was never meant to be freely available . Its not a relic, maybe I am but godamn Bigfoot is classic American barley wine. You keep going back to the rarer beers to prove your point . I doubt Bigfoot was ever a big seller. Same as Double Bastard. Deschutes isnt slipping they still churn out Black Butte and Obsidian, of course they had to give into the Hazy IPA craze a bit but i mostly can still get the beers i liked 20 years ago in the grocery store.

 

I guess my question is were they "not selling" or were they "not selling on the trajectory" so they pivoted to more IPAs because that was "what was selling". Saw the same thing happen to Modern Times.

Levitation and Blazing World were my two favorite SD regular beers.

 

Yeah people say "didn't sell" and that's BS. They might not sell out in a week but Double Bastard, IRS, OG, and others definitely sold. It's the old "we don't want to make a lot of money--we want to make a crap ton of money."

 

I don't know about that. They still command a good amount of shelf space all over the place. They've pivoted to hazy ipas a lot, but there's always fresh pale ale and torpedo, and I assume the hazy stuff is fresh too but I never check that. And Dankful has been staying fresh lately.

And that's the difference with stone. Dankful is the best ipa Sierra Nevada has ever made in my opinion. They've discontinued some beers i enjoyed, but at least they've produced some quality beers in their direction of choice.

I think the argument that Stone pivoted their portfolio the way they did because the original line up "wasn't selling" would resonate more of they'd done anything interesting in their new lineup

 

I say that based on what i see in my area, it doesn't move as much. I also found it surprising to see that that vertical of Bigfoot on their webstore has been available for months and not sold out.

I dont know shit about beer stuff though. If i say something on here, it's a lie

 

Alright, fine, I'll try this Dankful IPA next time I see it.

 

Ya I can believe that SN doesn't move well in so cal, and I'm sure they're feeling the pinch from new competition that all the old timers are. But they seem to be moving very well am over nor cal and I've seen them well represented in other parts of the country I've visited