Q & A With Steve Wagner of Stone Brewing

Great interview from TheFullPint.com and within the interview Stone's Steve Wagner reveals the new Stone 12th Anniversary beer "Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout". Cheers, Frank TheFullPint.com is proud to bring you a one on one interview with Steve Wagner, Brewmaster & President of Stone Brewing Company. Stone Brewing Co was founded in 1996, and started in San Marcos, CA. Stone is famous for larger than life brews, painted on labels, and their gargoyle mascot. Behind these great icons is Steve Wager, Greg Koch and the entire Stone Team. Now, located in Escondido, CA, Stone is looking to sell over 90,000 barrels this year, and keeps pushing the limits on making creative, tasty ales for the country to enjoy. TheFullPint: Stone is going on its 12th year. What was it like for you at the beginning of this journey? Steve Wagner: At the beginning we were so darn busy, it was hard to think much as to what was going on. My initial tasks were putting the brewery together, designing it, purchasing the equipment, and making it all come together, and then furiously brewing beer. When it started out, it was just Greg (Koch) and I and a friend of ours that helped us out at the beginning, so there was three of us. It was pretty crazy, especially the startup phase. Once we got brewing beer, all the pressure shifted onto Greg to get out there and sell it. Once that kicked off, I had more time on my hands I then took on some of the financial roles in running the company. That was my first big mistake. It didnt seem so complicated back then. It was a lot different then it is now. We have a great team of real talented people that help us get stuff done. When we started, I knew I made good beer, but we had no guarantee we could sell it. It seems like a real long time ago. TFP: Could you describe the hierarchy between yourself, Greg, and Mitch, and why it has been so successful? SW: We were partners when we started this (Greg and I). I was the guy who makes really good beer. He was the guy with a lot of the marketing ideas and the guy willing to go out and sell it, and make it work on that end. That is our division of labor. I have taken a more operational role now. I am now supervising other departments and keeping an eye on the financials. I learned what I know working at Pyramid Brewing in Washington. The last year I worked there was 95. We probably did 90,000 barrels. I worked in a pretty good sized facility, learned some pretty good techniques and learned how to do brew it consistently on a pretty good scale, but as fast as we were growing I felt I was getting a little over my head. We kept hiring people with the same level of comfort as myself, and needed to find someone who could brew on a larger scale. Thats were Mitch came in. Besides being a good guy and being really passionate about beer, and having experience in craft brew, he brought his 14 years of knowledge from brewing for Anheuser Busch. I feel really lucky that we were able to have him join the team. TFP: Have you guys fully settled in your new facility? Too big, too small, or just right? SW: You know, its been just right for the last two years, but we are in the process of having another building built next door. We are continuing our expansion. We need room for new tanks. We just put in the last two fermenters in April, but it is taking up room needed for dry and cold storage. We have an option with our developer to build us another building next door, so we are exercising that option. We are in planning a building in the 50,000 square foot range, so we can move our dry storage and make room for more fermenters. With our brew house here, we did a little under 70,000 barrels last year, we are on track to make 90,000 barrels this year. Our brew house can eventually do 250,000 barrels, but we need the fermentation space. We ar