Do u think stone is a top 5 brewery in the U.S.?
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IL1kebeer
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Oceantendency said:
Nope. If he was as big of an enviro freak as you make him out to be then he absolutely would not work with Ballast Point. My point was that since he does work with them then he probably isn't as hardcore about it as you say he is. If he was an anti-fisherman nazi then there is no way he would work with them. I'm sure that he works for and spends money to conserve fish and our marine environment... But an enviro freak? Probably not that far.
Hell, as someone else pointed out: He serves fish in his restaurant, even though it's probably only "responsibly" grown or caught fish or whatever they call it.
DaveHunter5
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Oceantendency said:
I don't know anything about the MLPA and how it is against fishermen. What are you an your wife fighting for? I am curious from your first hand experience.
Please, let's get off this MLPA topic. I'll have to move this thread to the debate forum if this continues. Feel free to do your own research, or continue the conversation via PM. Thanks.
So, back on topic...
It really depends on your criteria on what makes a "top-5" brewery. As some have pointed out, you can make the argument that they aren't even top-5 in the San Diego area. I could also go all hipster on you and say that there are 5 local breweries in my backyard that you have never heard of that are all "better" than Stone.
I for one, love Stone beers and commend them for what they have done to further the craft beer market. Local politics aside, they have been great ambassadors for craft beer and have gone about doing so in the right way. From unique beers to collaborations to being friendly to homebrewers like us, I think Stone is a great brewery.
It really depends on your criteria on what makes a "top-5" brewery. As some have pointed out, you can make the argument that they aren't even top-5 in the San Diego area. I could also go all hipster on you and say that there are 5 local breweries in my backyard that you have never heard of that are all "better" than Stone.
I for one, love Stone beers and commend them for what they have done to further the craft beer market. Local politics aside, they have been great ambassadors for craft beer and have gone about doing so in the right way. From unique beers to collaborations to being friendly to homebrewers like us, I think Stone is a great brewery.
Calichusetts
Well-Known Member
Several people asked about the beer bottle date app...its called mibeerage, $1.99 and for iphone only. The app is getting there.
Fresh beer only is a nice website that helps you translate codes or tells if a brewery even lists them but is not really useful in a store.
Just annoying that several "top" breweries wouldn't think consumers want to know if there beer is fresh.
Fresh beer only is a nice website that helps you translate codes or tells if a brewery even lists them but is not really useful in a store.
Just annoying that several "top" breweries wouldn't think consumers want to know if there beer is fresh.
two_hearted
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CBMbrewer said:
That was Mitch Steele, head brewer not owner.
ZenFitness
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I like Stone, and I think their Enjoy By series is one of the best beers out there. That said, the owner does come off as a ****** when I've seen him... seems a bit too arrogant and high on the horse, but I don't hold it against his beer 
The rest of their beers are pretty good, and I think they are a classic craft beer brewery. I'm not sure I'd say they are top 5.
The rest of their beers are pretty good, and I think they are a classic craft beer brewery. I'm not sure I'd say they are top 5.
IL1kebeer
Well-Known Member
ZenFitness said:
Would you expect anything else from a guy that made a beer called Arrogant Bastard?
Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
MLPA is Marine Life Protected Area, ok I exaggerated a bit on the Nazis enviro freak part, but when you link up with other peeps who are "Polarized" like SuRFRIDER as he said in that letter some guy wrote, sorry I should have quoted better; point is he still contributed money to close down fishing areas..plain and simple and inexcuseable in my book. My wife and I were fighting with hundreds of other spearfishermen, comercial, and recreational fishermen to PREVENT unneccesary closures. If you want more info, please PM me, sorry didn't try to derail the thread, sorry guys.
Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
You sell what makes money, right? Even Vegetarian tofu freaks will sell fish(maybe not meat) at their restaurants, cause it brings in customers and $$$, duh !! Maybe he sells fish to make up for the bad deed he did a few years back ? ? ?
Whether he was influenced by his other alliances or whatever his excuse was to contibute to close down fishing grounds unneccesarily is BS, sometimes I hate CA, but then I open my freezer to pull out some fresh YellowTail or White Seabass and pour one of my homebrews; it's what we live with.
Let's get back to drinking, my Sweet Amber Ale should be carbed up tonight for Monday Night Football. Yeah.
two_hearted
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I'll check it out.
You live in Vista and you didn't know Stone had it's own restaurant? Seriously? In fact, they have more than one...
Also, Ballast Point is NOT bigger than Stone. You have it backwards, Ballast Point would love to be connected with Stone.
Bizarre post...
Seriously. Thought the same thing. Airing a vendetta, but clearly not representing the facts very well=Bad mix. 80% of the commercial fisherman in my town (a much smaller port, but with a healthy commercial fisherman population) have Surfrider stickers on their trucks FWIW. Surfrider is behind that legislation not Stone.
Sounds like Stones reputation as a one trick pony is mostly with people who don't live in the SoCal market. Glad that I get beers like Enjoy by, Vertical Epic, Sublimely Self Righteous, Double Bastard, Smoke Porter (a BJCP Callibration beer fwiw, not a hoppy beer at all) regularly in my bottle shops. Stone is a complete brewery...almost. The don't have a lager portfolio, but that's probably driven by market demand.
IL1kebeer
Well-Known Member
jbaysurfer said:
Yep. That's why I called that guy out in the first place. I felt at he was doing some over the top bashing because he had some personal agenda against the brewery.
jbaysurfer said:
I agree. I wish they made sours and more barrel aged beers. I could care less for lagers, but that's just me. For what they do, they do very well. I guess they might be following the old "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mantra, because while doing what they are doing they have been experiencing unbelievable growth since their inception and more so in recent years.
Agree regarding Stone being almost complete. I would love to see them do a lager. Would also like to see a wheat. I'm not a huge hophead, but still very much appreciated what Stone does. Two of my favorite commercial beers are their smoked Porter and RIS.
And their annual Anniversary party is not to be missed if you like beer and live within a 20 hour drive.
IL1kebeer
Well-Known Member
evrose said:Agree regarding Stone being almost complete. I would love to see them do a lager. Would also like to see a wheat. I'm not a huge hophead, but still very much appreciated what Stone does. Two of my favorite commercial beers are their smoked Porter and RIS. And their annual Anniversary party is not to be missed if you like beer and live within a 20 hour drive.
They have done a wheat called Witty Moron. Their 02 Vertical Epic was also a Witbier.
Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
So what I'm not cool because I don't go to various parts of Escondido??My Spanish ain't that good to travel around lil Tijuana. Stone only has the one place over there, and if I don't support them, never said I had a Vendetta against them. I do not like them for a particular stance they took to close down fishing ( that's called Anti-fishing), you live in Carlsbad and don't know about the whole MLPA deal, yeah right. I also stated that he donated money directly to enviro freak groups. Please at least get your facts straight.
And depending on where you are in SD, Ballast Point is bigger, they offer the most varieties of styles of beer than anyone else in San Diego and own Brewmart that sells Brewery Supplies Even the Soaked in Suds edition of the Reader lables Ballast Point as being bigger. I work down in Sorrento Valley, so if anything I'd eat at Pizzaport or Karl Strauss, instead of going to East County or Escondido, don't even like going Downtown either. But yeah I live less than 2 miles from Iron Fist Brewery and Belching Beaver and Indian Joe's, to me they're all better than Stone.
This guy is misrepresenting facts and not contributing to the thread. He's here for one reason: to slander the brewer named in the thread title-and I'm clearly not the only one who sees it.
Doesn't matter where you are in the world. Stone is bigger then Ballast Point. Bigger by all measures....save for maybe visual field. But that's like me standing really close to my truck and not being able to see Mt. Whitney on the other side and saying "depending where you are on this road, my truck is bigger then Mt. Whitney."
http://www.brewersassociation.org/p...association-releases-top-50-breweries-of-2012
Stone was #10.
Ballast Point was #48
Seems pretty clear to me.
Stone was #10.
Ballast Point was #48
Seems pretty clear to me.
I live in Oceanside, so I'm constantly getting all their new products and there's always new products. In fact, its one of the reasons I love Stone. They are damn near fearless to try new ideas and recipes. I love hoppy/bitter beers and the Self Righteously Sublime Ale and their Enjoy by are fantastic for that in addition to their various other production line beers. But have you guys tried their Espresso Russian Imperial Stout? Holy Moly! Amazing.
Being in Southern Cali, more specifically SD County, I consider myself spoiled with so many amazing breweries around making such high quality beer. Belching Beaver is a close second if not tied for first in my favorite breweries in SD county...so far...so many to try...so little time.
Being in Southern Cali, more specifically SD County, I consider myself spoiled with so many amazing breweries around making such high quality beer. Belching Beaver is a close second if not tied for first in my favorite breweries in SD county...so far...so many to try...so little time.
Agreed. Mother Earth was my favorite when I was there this summer. Also agreed on that Espresso Bean RIS!
BeastMaster
Well-Known Member
I respectfully disagree. One of the most popular, yes. One of the ones most responsible for craft beer taking off in San Diego, sure. They hit some home runs but there are alot of places making better beer.
Ballast Point
Green Flash
Alpine
Lost Abbey
Societe
Just to name a few.
Polished off a growler of that last night. Love that beer. Tonight I crack open my growler of Double Bastard!
BeastMaster
Well-Known Member
agreed
I don't agree on green flash, but that's totally subjective. I also think Alpine and Societe are so lacking in distribution the quality of what little beer they're making isn't even close to enough to knock off Stone....fwiw...criteria being whatever each of us decides it is.
I do like your list though. Mother Earth belongs on it..don't know if you've been there, but it's outstanding.
Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
Yes and they just recently reopened their Thibodo location, they upgraded to bigger vats to catch up to demand. They also have a decent LBHS at the downtown Vista location, but by far the largest selection of grain of anyone in San Diego county, even more than Brewmart or BestDam BrewStore downtown and Hydrobrew in Oside.
Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
I agree with you mostly, however KARL Strauss, Pizza Port, and Ballast Point believe it or not has contributed more to the expansion of Craft beer (as in overall styles) throughout San Diego County than STONE, STONE proved the West Coast Style and expanded everyone's palate for IPA to try and catch up to Seattle's claim to the West Coast IPA craze plus the help in East County of Alpine. Still nobody serves as many styles as Ballast Point.. I recommend reading the "Awash in Suds" article in the SD Reader, Pg 76-82, written by Brandon Hernandez, author of Complete Guide to San Diego Breweries. Reason for most Craft breweries like Alpine (for example) not being able to support a larger market is size and location. Mission and Coronado are probably some of the oldest Craft breweries in San Diego. According to the article Green Flash and Alpine are doing some kind of partnership and will be expanding their production. Green Flash is just up the road a few miles from my work and then a couple more miles is White Labs, I do happen to like their tasting rooms; gotta Love SAN DIEGO !
I'm not going to bother with a response other than to say that this is the most bizarre thing I've read on the Internet in the past year... and that's saying something.
ivegotabike
Member
Personally, I always get a stone IPA when I go to the bar. In bottles not so much but I live in Ohio so bars always have if anything Great Lakes (GL is good but has the taste of lake Erie in all their beers now it sticks with me) or Moerline (OTR is OK not great) on tap. One new brewery thats awesome is Reingeist (Ghost of the Rhine). Every bar has all of their beers on tap and I stick with Truth IPA. Very good.
Actually, I'm personally not a huge fan of ruination. It tastes like a beer made just for the sake of making a hoppy beer. Just a big mess of different hop flavors. Stone IPA is delicious though and quite the opposite. It tastes like a symphony of hop notes.
For my tastes, therefore my opinion is I wouldn't put stone in the top twenty. Ruination, Arrogant Bastard, Sublimely Self Righteous - I've had them and really wanted to like them, but they were not my cup of tea. I like hops, I like IPA's, but I don't like Stone's beers. Give me Bell's, Founder's, New Holland or Short's all from here in Michigan and all four make world class beer.
Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
I don't know you, so you just saying that's saying something means what??? What's bizzare about it, have you read the SD Reader? Or have you read the Complete Guide to San Diego Breweries?
tdhickey
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I like stone, maybe put them in the top 10..but I would put these USA guys in front of them just based on the beers I have liked better and/or felt were more interesting:
Dogfishead
Firestone Walker (yes, personally their double IPA is out of this world good)
Deschutes
Hair of the Dog
Ninkasi
Mac & Jacks
Anacortes
Hangar 24
Speakeasy
Parallel 49 (Canadian)
Powell Street (Canadian)
Dogfishead
Firestone Walker (yes, personally their double IPA is out of this world good)
Deschutes
Hair of the Dog
Ninkasi
Mac & Jacks
Anacortes
Hangar 24
Speakeasy
Parallel 49 (Canadian)
Powell Street (Canadian)
BeastMaster
Well-Known Member
I don't agree on green flash, but that's totally subjective. I also think Alpine and Societe are so lacking in distribution the quality of what little beer they're making isn't even close to enough to knock off Stone....fwiw...criteria being whatever each of us decides it is.
I do like your list though. Mother Earth belongs on it..don't know if you've been there, but it's outstanding.
criteria being my personal tastes...
I had a bottle of Mother Earth IPA, it was kind of gross. I tasted alot of diacetyl(I think). I guess it was just a bad bottle. I'll be sure to try it out again.
the_trout said:
I think Koch might do just that....
