Stone 2018 Release Calendar

You can tag the person: @StoneBrewingCo

Cheers!

 

Old Guardian was an old, dear friend. RIP buddy.

 

Woot Stout in 6 packs? Yes!!

 

I have to agree with what most people have said about this thread. I like Stone but they fall short to great breweries like Founders, Odell, and Bell's because of their lack of diversity. I agree that the consumer drives the market, and see that people are upset about that. But think of some of the victories the consumer has had on craft beer.. because of the consumer, less and less breweries are putting out beers in bomber format and opting for 4 packs for the same (or close to) price. I am happy about that for sure.

 

Besides Xocoveza, Stone is now dead to me. I will probably give Ruination 3.0 a try because I loved the original, but this calendar is so bland.

 

I realize you're talking about overall industry trends and agree. Yet back to Stone, it's notable seeing nothing in 4-packs. We're mostly seeing switches from bombers to 6-packs, such as with the lauded changes to IRS and w00tstout. At the same time, I notice at least one other beer, Delicious IPA, moving from 6-pack to only bomber and 12-pack packagings.

 

Stone goes all-in on the IPAs and in doing so, axes one of my favorites?
Where's the Mocha IPA???

Please tell me this was just an oversight on the calendar @StoneBrewingCo

 

I never thought I would say it but Stone does not excite me much anymore. I just don't seek it out unless I have no other options.

 

For those wondering why they've forsaken their old, loyal fans; they don't care about you guys anymore. They are grocery store juggernauts now. They've outgrown beer nerds. Craft beer has outgrown beer nerds.

To the people Stone are after IPA = better beer, period. These drinkers are easily frightened off by anything else aside from a stout. Craft beer is going to continue to get increasingly binary until we reach IPA and stout equilibrium. Which is a true shame since craft beer once existed solely to combat that.

 

Really hope they release Notorious P.O.G. in cans. That would sell like crazy during the summer...

 

Haven’t really had much from Stone over the last year. Used to grab every Enjoy By release I could get my hands on but since they started brewing it at Richmond it hasn’t been anywhere near the same beer. I’d kill for the Escondido version up here.

 

I am lost with this comment? Is it not the beer nerd that keeps craft booming? If what you say is true then who is craft targeting?

 

I agree, I stopped buying most Stone beers as I've been let down every time I've tried anything from the RVA brewery (and the 'Prototypes' they put out, were complete shit). Not sure if it's still the case but the RVA brewery doesn't have a canning line so anything canned should be from CA.

 

I don't even know if I agree with all of this, but I'm liking it anyway if only because your binary/IPA-stout equilibrium idea is uncomfortably funny and close to reality at a few too many of my local breweries. (Maybe "ternary", so we can include sours too )

 

Well, some craft breweries certainly have, but that was expected. Craft beer's never really been about beer nerds. It's been about making money. Big Craft is showing us that recently. As far as Stone goes, it shouldn't be a surprise, as they've been going in this directly for years.

Agreed. People gravitate towards familiar flavors and fruity IPAs and coffee-forward stouts have those.

 

It's definitely not the Untappd ticking, Instagraming, forum posting, line forming beer nerds that keep craft booming. You might buy twice as much beer as a regular 20-something but there's 100x more of those types that bring cans of Stone IPAs 1 through 7 to super bowl parties and such.

 

Indeed. You don't get to 100K bbl (300+ in Stone's case) by selling beer to JUST beer geeks.

 

So if it is not the above keeping craft beer booming who is? I guess I am lost with what your saying because it seems to me anyway that the majority of people supporting the big guys of craft are in fact beer nerds. How are breweries selling out in hours a release? Is is a beer nerd buying or the 20 somethings? Are new breweries opening and using the same model of can release days based on 20 somethings or the beer nerds lined up buying up their stock?

I guess the way I see it the 20 somethings owe their good beer selection to the very folks rating, ticking, and keeping the entire process alive, otherwise you would just have some watery IPA from AB.

 

I think maybe we are all missing the point. Yes, you are correct in saying this but did the beer geek not make Stone a go to for joe average? The beer geeks made craft beer cool, they made it a choice over bud light. That is the evolution of things, that is just how it works. Of course the sales are not 100% to a % of the market if that was the case you would have no craft beer scene because you would have no customers. And I would beg to differ that a person drinking Stone may not consider themselves a beer nerd but to those drinking a PBR they sure look like one, the 20 somethings just dont realize they are now a nerd, sorry.

 

We are working out way towards watery IPA from AB. You need to look at the bigger picture. The breweries that sell out in one day and have lines waiting for cans are only a small fraction of the craft beer sold. Most of it is purchased from grocery stores by people who only know they like IPA. They have no depth of knowledge about craft beer. They'd likely never stand in line for it unless it's KBS or BCBS. There's millions of those beer drinkers. That's the market Stone is try to tap with this 2018 release calendar.