It was in a small, unassuming industrial suite in San Marcos that one of San Diego County’s largest, most popular breweries was born in 1996. Fueled by bold beers and brazen tenacity, Stone Brewing outgrew its initial space, graduating into a much larger production facility with an 8,500-square-foot restaurant with a one-acre outdoor garden, Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens, which it constructed and opened in Escondido in 2006. Following that massive expansion, the company has opened multiple taprooms throughout and beyond the county, including Los Angeles, a second brewery-equipped bistro in Point Loma’s Liberty Station, an East Coast production brewery in Richmond, Virginia, and a brewery and tasting room in Napa. A key to the company’s growth was the establishment of its own distribution arm, Stone Distributing Co. It’s through that entity that Stone will make its return to its old stomping grounds after acquiring a 110,000-square-foot distribution warehouse in San Marcos.
Located at 505 South Pacific Street, the facility was formerly home to beverage distributor Markstein Beverage Co. That family-run company’s 32-year run came to an end in 2019 following years of struggling due in large part to underperformance of its Constellation Brands portfolio, rights to which it sold to Reyes Beverage Group. Markstein was later acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev, leading to the San Marcos vacancy, which should prove advantageous to Stone.
The new facility will allow the company to consolidate its distribution operations from a pair of facilities in Escondido and Vista. The latter also houses the company’s business personnel, though the majority of those staffers have been working remotely during the pandemic. The eventual plan is to vacate the Vista facility and move all distribution and administrative operations to the San Marcos location.
“Stone Distributing was born of necessity in 1996 when distributors declined Stone’s bold and hop-forward beers, but today it’s a major contributor to Stone Brewing’s success,” says Stone CEO Maria Stipp. “Stone Distributing has proven to be a powerhouse for the SoCal craft market. We’re doubling down our focus on this part of the business, which has given so much to Stone and the craft-beer community.”
The San Marcos warehouse offers roughly 30% more space than Stone Distributing’s current facilities and is equipped with 100,000 square feet of cold-storage space. This will provide the company room to expand its growing portfolio, which includes local operations such as AleSmith Brewing, Modern Times Beer, Pizza Port Brewing and recently added Societe Brewing, augmented by popular American brands, including Beachwood Brewing, Cigar City Brewing, Oskar Blues, Russian River Brewing and Victory Brewing, plus several European brewers and hard-kombucha producers. Stone Distributing’s network includes San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties.
“We are thrilled that Stone Brewing is coming back home to San Marcos. They opened their original San Marcos location 25 years ago in what is now The Lost Abbey, and we are delighted they are returning to their roots,” says the city’s Mayor Rebecca Jones. “Attracting, retaining and expanding businesses is at the forefront of what we do in San Marcos, and Stone Brewing is a prime example of a beloved North County business creating new jobs and boosting the local economy.”