Stone’s Bistro Rescue Offers a Lesson for Craft Beer
Stone’s founders are going home, but Stone Brewing is not going with them. Greg Koch and Steve Wagner announced on October 14 that they plan to take over the restaurant and gardens at Stone Brewing’s longtime Escondido campus. They intend to reopen the space as an independent restaurant with a new name after the current Stone operation winds down. That may sound like a reunion story. It is actually a much more useful lesson about what a brewery becomes after its brand, production assets and gathering place are separated. The Stone name and the Stone place are now different assets Sapporo bought Stone Brewing in 2022. In April 2026, it agreed to sell the Stone brand and four Southern California hospitality locations to Firestone Walker Brewing and Duvel Moortgat USA. The Escondido brewery and bistro were not included in that transaction. Stone beer production is moving to Firestone Walker’s brewery in Paso Robles and Duvel USA’s Boulevard brewery in Kansas City. Meanwhile, Sappo...
