After being acquired by Japan's Sapporo last year, Stone Brewing is preparing to ramp up volume flowing from its breweries in Escondido and Richmond, Virginia
At Stone Brewing’s bistros in Escondido and Liberty Station, there’s a mystery beer on tap. It is identified on the menu only as “experimental lager.”
Layering in Sapporo beer production means roughly doubling Stone’s annual output of its own craft beers, such as Arrogant Bastard IPA and Buenaveza. It brewed more than 376,000 barrels last year — ranking seventh among the nation’s craft breweries by volume. One barrel is equivalent to 31.5 gallons. The Escondido facility will brew Sapporo Premium sold west of the Rockies, while the Richmond facility will handle production for the Midwest and East Coast. Along with Sapporo Premium, Stone’s Richmond facility also is slated to brew Sapporo Black and Sapporo Reserve.Stone also will expand its canning, bottling and keg lines in both Escondido and Richmond to handle the increased volume.
“In this maturing and competitive market, collective growth for the category is hard to come by,” said Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association. “As much as I say we are going to making the same beer that people are familiar with, I think it is actually better because it is produced in the U.S. and it is so much fresher,” he said. “You’re getting a fresh Sapporo versus one that has been on a boat coming across the ocean for weeks.”
Stone expects to add another day to its work week, going from 24 hours, five days per week to 24 hours, six days per week. The additional workload is forecast to add 40 to 50 jobs locally.
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