Stone Brewing Visit

I finally made it to one of the brewery mother ships, Stone Brewing. Over the years I've heard tons of wonderful things about their facility and grounds. While I didn't participate in a brewery tour, I did experience, the experience. Stone is big and beautiful. Okay, so the outside of the building is unassuming; very corporate-office-like. This appears to be the norm in California. It must have something to do with their zoning regulations. We also didn't see a sign indicating that we had in fact arrived at Stone. It was Saturday, so the giant ‘Xerox’ looking building with all the cars in the parking lot, plus the beacon on our Google Maps phone app indicated that we had landed.

Once inside, it was a different world. You began experiencing the transition right after leaving the parking area. A beautiful corridor made up of stone walls and vegetation guided you to the main entrance. We passed over the threshold and into a large foyer area. From there you could see a great deal; the gift shop, the brew area, the bar/restaurant and a portion of the outside grounds. A gift shop is basically a gift shop, but the rest of the place was beautiful. The materials used in the interior construction gave the brewery a very earthy feel. It brought to mind the works of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Walk leading in.

Entry Foyer

Heading in to the bar/resturant area

After taking in the internals we worked our way outside to the garden area, which was pretty darn close to utopia. It was very organic, but well planned. The inside of the restaurant carried out into the garden area, or vice versa. It all flowed together as one complete space. Of course, the long panel of roll-up doors aided in achieving this illusion.

We had great service, food and beer on our visit. I was overwhelmed and overjoyed to see Stone’s extensive list of beers on tap and in bottles, many of which were guests on the menu. All I can tell you is that if you ever find yourself remotely close to Stone and are thinking about visiting, then sorry, you hesitated too long. Do it! Oh, and I forgot to mention that there has been talk over the years of Stone expanding even further with the addition of hotel, which appears to be actually happening according to their website.
This makes complete sense. It would nice to spend a night or two and not have to think about driving. I’m afraid I might never leave though.

Beer!

Tasters

Outdoor patio

Gift Shop

The Motley Crew