Exclusive: US brewer in Euro bid

Lucky Bastard Ale: You won't like it. Or will you?

Stone Brewing negotiating on sites in Bruges and Berlin

It would be fair to assume a brewer who brands one of his bestselling beers Arrogant Bastard Ale is accustomed to taking risks with bold ideas. And Greg Koch, CEO of San Diego-based Stone Brewing Co, is on the cusp of taking his boldest yet.

Koch has revealed to Brewers' Guardian that he is negotiating on two sites in Europe with a view to opening a microbrewery, in doing so becoming the first US craft brewer to set up a base on the opposing side of the Atlantic.

His team have spent the last year trawling more than 75 sites in nine different countries, from Spain in the south to Denmark in the north, and have finally set their sights on two potential locations in Europe’s beer heartlands – one in Berlin, one in Bruges.

Koch said: “It’s been quite a journey. We were looking for a brewery but we were unable to find any that met our parameters. As we couldn’t find one, it’s been our goal to create something where we can open our doors to the public and have a visitor component.

“So we started looking at historic warehouse sites and we found these two that qualified. Fantastically interesting buildings, very visible and also had the square feet that would enable us to do our brewing.”

Koch said he “loves” both sites, but will have to choose one of them. The capacity of the brewery will depend on which one it is, but is likely to be between 50 and 80 hectolitres. He declined to put a timeline on it, saying only that the timing is “process driven” and that each site “has its own set of challenges”.

Stone’s growth stateside has been prolific, from humble beginnings in 1996 to 99,000 barrels in 2009. It is known for its tongue-in-cheek, in-yer-face marketing – copy on the aforementioned Arrogant Bastard Ale mocks customers with the line: “This is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it”.

Behind the bluster lies a notable success story. One of the fastest growing breweries in America over the past decade, it now boasts a modern, 120 barrel brewery and a 385-seater bistro.

It has only a very limited distribution outside of the US, for reasons of economy and maintaining the quality of the product. While Koch hopes to rectify that with his European project, he admits it is an act of faith.

“It’s unquestionable that it’s a bit of a leap,” he said. “An extraordinary leap. Because the popular perception of American beer is 30 years old. The popular perception of how American brewing compares to the traditions of the UK and Germany and Belgium is 30 years old.

“In the US too, people think Germany is the pinnacle of brewing, but anybody in Europe knows it’s been declining. There’s been a consolidation, a reduction in choice and some would argue quality, though I’m not here to make that statement.”

To counter the perception of American beer as fizzy, yellow, flavourless and mass-produced, the customer experience will be key, Koch believes. The bistro is an important element of the Stone operation in San Diego with some 32 craft beers on tap, 130 speciality bottled beers and, he notes with some pride, “zero commodity beers.”

He said: “There’s a nascent craft brewing movement that’s doing wonderful things, but the general public has no awareness of it. We just promote speciality craft beers. We love it and we plan to do the same wherever we end up in Europe.

“We want to highlight the wonderful character of craft beers in Europe. A lot of people are unaware of what’s going on in their own backyard.”

Koch is cautiously optimistic about the reaction he has garnered so far in his travels. Though there appears to be a disconnect between the reaction of individuals and their perception of what the broader view will be.

“For the brewery media and beer enthusiasts, people who know about the beer marketplace, it’s been enthusiastic, but with a dose of scepticism. They love the idea, but question whether or not the public will get it.

“Talk to your more average people in the street or the train station…let’s just say it’s an extraordinarily large dose of scepticism.”

Koch will hope that Arrogant Bastard’s marketing does not prove prescient. He is banking on Europeans to overcome their own preconceptions and welcome a brewer that produces in the finest traditions of the craft. Will he succeed? Only time will tell.