How This Hopped-Up Brewery Is Bringing American Craft Beer To Germany

In a converted gasworks constructing in western Berlin’s Mariendorf nearby, American craft beer brand Stone Brewing is engaged in an bizarre mission: promoting Germans—and Europeans basically—on the fun of bitter, hoppy beers like Stone IPA and the company’s fashionable smug Bastard Ale. Germans have traditionally loved lagers and wheat beers which are a far cry from the IPAs which are stylish on the American scene, but Stone hopes Europeans will go gaga for the choice.

IPA stands for “India pale Ale.” First invented as a destroy-proof number of beer for export from nice Britain to India right through the colonial era, IPAs loved a resurgence in the united states thanks to brewers like Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Brewery, and Stone. despite their British roots, IPAs are these days primarily related to American and Canadian breweries.

in the meantime, until 1993, Germany abided with the aid of a group of regulations called the that restricted beer components and discouraged brewers from important deviations from traditional formulation. Deregulation has given brewers extra leeway, resulting in homegrown brewers like Schoppebraeu creating beers that owe so much to international types like Californian IPAs and Belgian Lambics. however Stone faces a challenge in Germany—the beer target audience skews largely traditional.

Stone, some of the biggest American craft brewers to live to tell the tale a contemporary binge of craft brewery acquisitions by means of multinationals AB InBev, Heineken, and MillerCoors, is opening both a brewpub and a larger commercial beer operation on the Berlin facility. it is going to serve as the center of a ecu operation that, as of press time, includes distribution in Germany, France, Finland, and the Netherlands. There shall be some changes from the American variation—the recipes are being tweaked moderately for the european market and beers are available in cans moderately than bottles.

in step with Stone’s president and cofounder Steve Wagner, the brewery is opening in the German market by selling 4 different IPAs and boastful Bastard. He introduced that “We’re now not keeping ourselves to good flavor matching. We would like to use more native components and they will be as shut as we can make them. The hops will probably be an identical and imported from the us, but with extra malted barley from Germany and Europe.”

It’s no longer best American beer that Stone’s bringing to Europe—they’re additionally bringing an awfully specific mixture of american beer culture and marketing savvy. Their German headquarters in the outdated gasworks is a mix brewpub, restaurant, and packaging facility that’s approximately 10 blocks from the nearest U-Bahn stop. the facility, which is opening after months of delays, cost greater than $25 million to renovate and is on the middle of a a lot greater advertising and marketing push into the ecu market.

after I spoke by means of Skype to Greg Koch, the company’s CEO and cofounder, he was once on web page in Germany. He explained that the Berlin facility was preparing for opening in a number of months, and informed me concerning the latest surprising construction: An asbestos-lined pipe found underground that wasn’t shown on any maps and needed to be safely removed. Wagner referred to that the age of the ability made re novation more of a challenge than the company expected: Berlin constructions simply have these concerns more often than Stone’s nerve center back in Escondido, California.

Koch also quick made appeals to craft beer culture. I asked him about one imperative issue Stone faces—the truth that Stone’s hoppy beers are pretty much the alternative of each Pilsener or Kolsch I’ve ever had in a German bar.

“It’s cool to understand that we’ll be a major a part of a shift in European consciousness of american craft beer,” he mentioned. “lots of people over here have an out of date mind-set that each one the us makes is cheap industrial beer, and it’s enjoyable to observe the expression on peoples faces once they taste amazing craft beer for the primary time.”

From a industry perspective, this try is happening at a an important time for Stone. whereas it continues to be independently owned by way of Koch and Wagner, the corporate has been in the middle of its personal growth and shakeup. This previous autumn, Koch introduced plans to step down as CEO (although he has now not left as of press time) and for the corporate to search for a brand new executive; Stone can also be building a 2d production facility in Virginia to be able to brew beer for East Coast clients in the next few months.

The Virginia facility is opening at virtually the same time as the eu branch. Wagner informed me that the location was “no longer how we deliberate it but it surely’s how the timeline turned out,” thanks to delays in opening the German department and faster-than-anticipated progress on the East Coast. As of press time, Stone says they are the ninth largest craft brewery in the U.S. and that their beers are bought in forty one states.

within the intervening time, Stone’s quick-term goal is unassuming: sell Europeans on the virtues of yankee craft beers. whereas IPAs might now not convey up at Munich’s Oktoberfest or in the pubs of Belgium anytime soon, the corporate sees a market in Europe for these hoppy drinks.

Stone’s Berlin brewpub is scheduled for a summer season opening.

update: this article has been up to date to replicate that, even though Stone is searching for a brand new CEO, Koch is still the company’s CEO; in addition, whereas Wagner used to be Stone’s authentic brewmaster, he presently serves as president.