Stone Brewing Co Bringing American Beer to the Motherland of Beer

The American Craft Brewing Renaissance Goes Across the Pond and Lands in... Berlin

Yes, yes, Germans.

Still, this is pretty cool. Considering the craft beers that are currently being made in the U.S., which are excellent, and the history of the U.S. beer industry pretty much just sucking, it would be pretty incredible if we were able to start exporting to (or in this case, brewing American beers in) Europe, particularly Germany, which is sort of the Mecca of beer. Kind of a worst to first story.

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Southern California-based brewery Stone Brewing Company announced Monday that it will open a location in Berlin, Germany. Interest in America’s craft beer renaissance has been slowly trickling into European consciousness, but producing American craft beer in Europe is a bold move. Could it be Stone Brewing’s way of communicating dominance in this arena?

"The German beer industry has been in decline for decades," Stone Brewing CEO and co-founder Greg Koch explained, citing a diminishing number of breweries and levels of beer consumption. Though it was German culture that brought us heritage styles like Hefeweizen, ?Kölsch, Pilsner, and Bock, most Germans aren’t the discerning beer drinkers one might expect, he said.

"Here’s the thing: If you’re a beer drinker in Germany, you’re mostly just drinking the industrial stuff. If you’re invited over to someone’s house for dinner, as a German, you wouldn’t bring beer. You bring wine."

Germany wasn’t the only nation Stone Brewing considered, Koch told us. The company scouted more than 130 locations across nine Western European nations before settling on an former gasworks complex in Berlin that, following a renovation that may cost upwards of $25 million, will feature a custom-built brewhouse, restaurant, and store. (Stone Brewing is currently raising funds via an Indiegogo campaign.)

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