Greg Koch says it was the later 2010s when an amalgam of brewing industry trends made it clear that, at some point, he was going to have to sell his business, Stone Brewing. Despite him and his business partner, Steve Wagner, having grown his Escondido-based passion project into one of the largest brewing companies in the country, establishing production facilities on both coasts and making a name for Stone around the world, the calculus was flawed for the times. It was time to survey the business landscape for exit strategies. There was just one problem. Koch had spent much of the prior two-plus decades proclaiming loudly and proudly that he would never “sell out”, that independence was paramount to the progress of the craft-beer movement. It complicated an already complicated matter, but in need of a lifeline to keep the company healthy and faced with a buyer for whom the bi-coastal beer concern was ideally suited, Stone was sold to Sapporo USA. That eyebrow-raising deal closed in September of 2022. In the two years since, Koch – fully retired from Stone as well as its San Marcos-based distribution business – has remained out of the public eye, not to mention the public. While life is much different, not everything has changed. Just as he did in the Stone age, Koch continues to adore beer and support worthwhile (i.e., “worthy”) causes and organizations. (Since selling the company, he’s donated more to charity than he made from said sale). But now he lives most of the year in a remote rural locale where the man more than once hailed as “Beer Jesus” can enjoy a virtually anonymous life. There are no cameras, tap takeovers, conferences or beer festivals. The switch bringing to life the energetic, openly opinionated champion of artisan ales and lagers (plus one truly Arrogant Bastard), remains in the off position…and Koch likes it that way. He’s at peace with his past, his decisions and his new life, enough that he’s finally ready to talk about…well, everything. The past, the present and even the future. In this, the first of a two-part Craft Q&A feature, Koch addresses questions about selling Stone, the long-held tenets he eventually defied, the progress he was able to make, not just for his business but for the craft-brewing industry, and much more.
For decades, you proudly proclaimed you would never sell Stone. Then you did. Care to comment?
Yeah. I know. Seriously, WTF? I shouted it out from the treetops because I very much wanted it to be true – not just me, but for the entire industry. But as it turns out, people really didn’t care. I wanted so very much for everyone to care about it as much as I did. They didn’t. It’s OK. At some point you realize you’re pushing the boulder up the hill by yourself, then your feet start to slide back and, if you’re not smart enough to get out of the way, the boulder eventually rolls back and smushes you. Haha, listening to myself, that’s a lot of melodrama. I think we’re all going to be OK, and I can truly say that I left the craft-brewing industry better than I found it.
How did it feel in the 2010s watching other craft brewery owners selling, many before it was some sort of economic necessity, or worse yet, watching breweries tailoring themselves specifically to sell out?
For a hardcore zealot like me it was awkward. People that I really liked and respected in organizations that I really liked and respected were doing something that I felt, at the time, was a bit antithetical, but the reality is we all have every right to go our own path and make decisions we think are best for ourselves or our companies. I think [the trend of craft brewery owners selling their businesses] started happening before we could realize for certain that the craft-beer industry had won; it felt like a threat to the industry. I would say today the industry is largely not threatened by a given brewery selling, and at some point as a company matures what else is going to happen? As an owner, you’re either going to sell or you’re going to shut the doors when you retire. We all need to retire at some point. Sierra Nevada Brewing owner Ken Grossman was able to pass the business on to his children, but I don’t have any children, and Steve’s kids weren’t of age nor were they interested. It wasn’t a path they wanted to go down, which is fine. A lot of kids didn’t want to go into their fathers’ businesses. I didn’t, and while my dad wasn’t thrilled, he accepted that I wanted to go down my own path.
Conversely, what positive trends did you revel in during your time in the beer industry?
It’s interesting to reflect on the changes that came during my tenure in craft brewing. When we started, craft beer was functionally flat and people still used the word “microbrew” as a pejorative or, worse, terms like “weird beer” or “fu-fu beer”. They’d ask, “How come you don’t just make a ‘real beer?’” I have patiently explained thousands upon thousands of times over the years that the beer being made at Stone and other craft breweries was the real beer. It was the industrialized versions that were the facsimile. In those days, you’d go to a bar and the macros – Bud, Coors and Miller and their light-beer offspring – were the only choices. If you were a San Diegan and wanted a range of beer in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, you would have to drive to a small handful of places like Pizza Port Solana Beach, Liar’s Club, O’Brien’s Pub and San Diego Brewing Co. I sort of realized somewhere in the early 2010s…it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when…that we were winning; we being the craft-brewing industry and “winning” meaning consumers having readily available choices nearby. It’s remarkable when you think about it. Today, hardly anybody has to go more than around the corner or down the street to get a wide selection of craft beers. So, as an industry I’m very proud. I honestly don’t know if I ever expected us to actually win so decisively. The landscape of beer has forever been changed for the better. People can now enjoy a West Coast or San Diego-style IPA literally around the world!
What are your finest memories from your time in the industry?
My favorite part of life is meeting interesting people who do interesting things. The craft-brewing industry provided a lot of that – interesting business models, architecture, design, marketing, beer and, of course, people. I formed a unique friendship with [Dogfish Head Brewery founder] Sam Calagione and [Victory Brewing founder] Bill Covaleski, and we got to watch each other as we accomplished things within our businesses. I also watched as they had children and those kids grew up. And then there was my partner, Steve. I met him and we started homebrewing together before he was married. Now he and his wife have two grown kids who’ve graduated from college and are doing great. I can think of George Fisher at Cavalier Distributing in Ohio. We were early in the curve together with each other and our businesses. I’ve enjoyed watching them grow and become such a force in the multiple states where they operate. And seeing people like my friend (Consortium Holdings co-founder) Arsalun Tafazoli going from opening a single craft-beer-focused bar downtown – Neighborhood – to now having a small empire in hospitality and really having a massive influence in elevating the culinary, craft-beer and craft-cocktail scene in San Diego. And now he’s doing hotels. We’ve traveled the world together, but Arsalun’s always wanted to keep his focus on the succinct geography of San Diego, and I think that’s worked out great for him.
Looking back, do you have any regrets or were there things you would change if given the chance?
There’s hardly anything that I wouldn’t change if given the opportunity of hindsight, but as the saying goes, “Hindsight is no great gift.” Looking back with the advent of time, amazing clarity comes into view. I’ve done nothing so well that I don’t think I could have done it better. And sure, that can lead to some regret, however, I don’t really get too caught up in all that. I am primarily focused on what’s ahead versus the rearview mirror. What’s done is done. I’m moving forward. I never want a future of beating myself up about the past.
Turning attention to the present and future, what are you up to now and what might be next?
I always have a lot of irons in the fire. I still operate in a few other realms. In the music industry, I have the music rehearsal business I’ve been operating since 1989. It’s actually the world’s largest music rehearsal facility, just shy of 200 rooms. It’s located in downtown Los Angeles and it’s where I met both Steve Wagner and legendary guitarist Keri Kelli. The latter used to rehearse there with some of his earlier bands, and there’s been a huge number of other artists who have come through there. Blind Melon wrote their big self-titled album there. Static-X rehearsed there before Wayne passed away and Fishbone has been with us for close to 30 years. And some of our more recent tenants include The Strokes, The Wallows and Saint Hotel. Most people likely don’t know, but I’ve had near-careers in music myself, not to mention real-estate development and other endeavors. I say “near-careers” because the previous two-and-a-half decades have overwhelmingly been about Stone Brewing. Yet I’ve always stayed somewhat active in other aspects of business that I now find myself able to turn my attention to with a bit more focus in fun and interesting ways! There’s one venture I’ve been devoting a lot of time to that I’m particularly excited to talk about and it goes by the name of Metal Warrior.