(Courtesy Stone Brewing)

Sapporo is preparing to say goodbye to the Southern California brewery complex that was once home to Stone Brewing.

According to WARN notices filed with the state of California, the layoffs will take place in stages beginning October 19, when 58 employees (who currently work for Sapporo’s production arm) are expected to lose their jobs. Those cuts will hit workers in brewing, packaging, warehousing, logistics and quality assurance, among other positions. All non-hospitality operations are expected to wind down by mid-to-late November.

It is a sobering development for a brewery that once seemed almost unstoppable.

Stone Brewing was founded by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner in San Marcos, California in 1996, beginning with just three employees and producing only 400 barrels during its first year.

But Stone wasn’t interested in playing things safe.

The brewery built its reputation on unapologetically aggressive beers and equally aggressive marketing. Stone IPA helped define the emerging West Coast IPA movement, while Arrogant Bastard Ale arrived with a confrontational attitude that was unlike almost anything on beer shelves at the time.

And that logo became increasingly difficult to miss.

By 2005, Stone was producing more than 36,000 barrels annually and had outgrown its original San Marcos home. The brewery moved into a much larger Escondido facility built around a 120-barrel brewhouse, giving Stone the production capacity it needed to pursue national ambitions.

Over the following decade Stone became one of the defining breweries of craft beer’s explosive growth years, expanding distribution, opening elaborate hospitality destinations and eventually operating breweries on both coasts. Stone also became one of the first American craft breweries to make an ambitious push into Europe, opening a brewery in Berlin in 2016.

And through much of that rise, Stone was also one of craft brewing’s loudest champions of independence.

But in 2022, Stone Brewing was sold to Japanese brewing giant Sapporo for approximately $165 million, ending 26 years as an independent brewery.

Sapporo had plans for Stone’s considerable brewing infrastructure. Its Escondido and Richmond, Virginia production breweries could make both Stone and Sapporo beer, providing the Japanese brewer with a much larger US production platform.

But the marriage proved surprisingly short.

Earlier this year Sapporo agreed to sell the Stone Brewing brand to Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Duvel Moortgat USA, with the transaction closing May 15. The deal included the Stone brand and several hospitality operations, but importantly did not include the massive Escondido production brewery or its adjacent World Bistro & Gardens.

That left Sapporo with a huge brewery but without Stone Brewing.

Sapporo USA CEO Zach Keeling said the company has been unable to find a viable long-term solution for the Escondido property, leading to the decision to wind down operations there.

Stone beer itself isn’t disappearing.

Under the new ownership arrangement, production of the Stone portfolio will gradually shift north to Firestone Walker’s brewery in Paso Robles, California and east to Duvel USA’s Boulevard Brewing operation in Kansas City, Missouri.

And there is at least some better news for Stone employees. Firestone Walker and Duvel USA have already hired more than 200 former Stone workers, while Stone’s World Bistro & Gardens at Liberty Station and taprooms in Oceanside, Pasadena and San Diego’s Little Italy remain part of the continuing business.

But that doesn’t make the loss of Escondido any less significant.

Stone moved there in 2005 because the brewery was growing too quickly for its original San Marcos home. The enormous facility became both a symbol of Stone’s ambitions and a monument to an era when American craft breweries were expanding rapidly and seemingly without limits.

Now, in Stone Brewing’s 30th anniversary year, that brewery is preparing to go quiet.

Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard will live on, and the gargoyle isn’t going anywhere. But the brewery that helped transform Stone from an ambitious San Diego County upstart into one of the biggest names in American craft beer is reaching the end of its run.

For the 220 people losing their jobs, that’s considerably more than the closing of a brewery.

It’s the end of an era.

###

###

Want more Beer Buzzkills?

We’ve got ’em…

Beer Buzzkills: London’s War On Vertical Drinking

Beer Buzzkills: Dirty Draft Beer Lines

Beer Buzzkills: Devastating Cyberattack Cripples 30 Asahi Breweries

Beer Buzzkills: The Craft Beer Snob