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.
