The state of Stone under Sapporo

It may be hard to believe, but it’s been just over a year since Sapporo USA announced it had finalized a deal to acquire San Diego County’s largest brewing company, Stone Brewing. While not exactly surprising given documented fiscal concerns for the Escondido-based operation, craft-beer fans had trouble reconciling the sale of a company that had so loudly and adamantly declared it would never “sell out” for more than two decades. With the individual who had been most vocal on that front, Greg Koch, departing with fellow co-founder Steve Wagner as part of the acquisition, many wondered what would become of Stone, its workforce, its products and its staunchly independent culture. Twelve months later, Jeremy Moynier, a 19-year veteran of Team Stone and executive member of its brewing team, is chiming in with a status report on all of the above and then some, including when Stone-brewed Sapporo beers will debut across the country.

The State of Stone under Sapporo

by Jeremy Moynier, Senior Manager, Innovation Program & Supply Chain, Stone Brewing

As we celebrate the scaled-up brews of Sapporo Premium and flavor-matching at both breweries, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on the last year.

Of course, a-year-ago me wouldn’t believe that I would be talking about Sapporo and Stone in the same sentence. I’ve been with Stone for 19 years and have been well ingrained in the “never sell out” and “independent brewery” mantra. We have always been very vocal on such matters—Greg Koch especially! So over the last several years, as I watched my colleagues and friends go through acquisitions, buy-outs, etc., I had the comforting and misleading thought of, “Well, that will never happen

to Stone…there’s no way!” Pretty naïve in retrospect. I did realize the landscape around me was changing and evolving but honestly believed we would make it through. I knew internally we were looking at different business options to strengthen the company, but I still didn’t see us selling as one of those options.

It was June 23 of last year that the ominous “Important Business Update – Session 1” popped up on my calendar for 11 p.m. that evening, followed by a few more sessions the next morning. I was at home with COVID, and as much as I was totally intrigued and wanted to make that meeting at all costs, COVID had other plans and I slept through the first announcement. I did wake up in the middle of the night and noticed texts that told me the news and I thought, “Wow, I didn’t know COVID included hallucinations.” But when I woke up the next day and called into the a.m. session, it was confirmed that we had, in fact, sold to Sapporo U.S.A. Steve Wagner and Greg Koch would be leaving but would be keeping the distribution portion of the company, Stone Distributing Co.

One thing I have always said about working at Stone is that you will never get bored. Things always change and evolve, and it’s a very dynamic company. That’s why I’ve been here so long. You learn to be flexible and have an open mind. But yeah…this was a big one.

That Friday at home was one of the strangest days I have ever had working at Stone. After the internal meetings following up on the announcement (and millions of questions discussed that go with something like this), I got absolutely bombarded by folks from the beer industry (as well as those from outside of the industry). So many phone calls, emails, texts, etc. People were reaching out to make sure that, not only I was OK, but that Stone was OK. The outpouring was awesome even though it was definitely overwhelming. And Greg and Steve also called me. That was very cool. From talking to them, it was very apparent that this was no easy decision at all.

Can you imagine? Pouring your life into something for 26 years then letting go? Stone is a legacy brand. Steve and Greg built it to last beyond them. The time when they wouldn’t be involved anymore probably came earlier than anticipated but they did what they did to preserve the brand’s legacy. And I’m thankful for that, because I’m pretty invested after this long and would like to still carry on. I still love this brand and company. And obviously there’s a lot of us that feel that way!”

Jeremy Moynier, Stone Brewing

One point to mention during all those phone calls I had that day is that Sapporo has a great reputation in the brewing industry. They are a technical company and have done a lot to contribute to technical brewing knowledge. A lot of craft brewers enjoy their beer. And they have a good reputation of being good and respectful people in the industry. Everyone I spoke to that day commented on these positive attributes about Sapporo.

So, the big question: What has changed? My answer: Nothing and everything.

My core job has not changed much in the last year. I’m still focused on Innovation and new beer releases. I’m still focused on quality ingredients, especially hops as we are still a very hop-forward brand. Quality and sensory are still vital and pushing ourselves to be the best and make the best beer is still the mantra. I’m still very involved in industry organizations such as the Hop Quality Group, the Hop Research Council and the Brewers Association‘s Supply Chain Subcommittee. There are Sapporo components to my job, of course, but they are additive and not subtractive. This is to say that we are doing everything that we were doing before and still looking to do in the future with Stone Brewing. And we are also working on producing Sapporo beers.

How do you do both? You utilize the existing strong resources around you and add more. A lot more! We will double our production in a few short years. To do that we need to add a lot of people and equipment. I never thought we could add more tanks or equipment to the brewery in Escondido, but we are. And our team is constantly interviewing and hiring people to add to the team to be able to handle the output. It’s the same at our facility in Richmond, Virginia. That brewery has the advantage of not being fully built out, so now we can do that and realize the volume and capacity that was the vision when building that brewery in the first place.

And, honestly, it’s been fun for Team Stone to work with Team Sapporo. While the brands are different, we both share the same drive towards quality. We have always been a bit cocky at Stone and I think that’s a good thing. We know how to make beer and we will take on any challenge. We have done just that with the Sapporo brands, and I can’t wait for people in the U.S. to try fresh Sapporo! And we have learned a ton working with the Sapporo team during the process. You can always get better as a brewer. There’s an endless amount of knowledge and experience out there, so it’s good to keep learning and doing different and innovative processes. The Sapporo team has been awesome and very respectful. Respecting each other and knowing you can learn from each other goes a long way.

We’ve made quick progress if you think about it. In under a year, we were able to brew Sapporo Premium, which has been approved by the Japanese Sapporo team and is now flavor-matched at both breweries. It’s the bulk of Sapporo’s production, so that brand was the priority. We are working on the other brands, as well, and are close to matching them. It’s a full company effort as there is a ton involved, as one can imagine: ordering and getting in new equipment, engineering everything, installation, testing, sales and marketing efforts, etc. That’s a very simplified description, of course. There’s a lot to do and, in the meantime, we are still brewing and packaging Stone beers. And all of this is happening simultaneously.

So, do I think Stone is still “craft”? It’s an easy ‘yes’ from my perspective because nothing has changed about the brand. The company is changing. Our integration goal is to merge into one company, taking two iconic brands and having them be part of the same company. The brands and beers are different. The attention to detail and quality is the same. You can continue to look forward to new Stone beer releases–we just finalized our 2024 calendar. It’s similar to 2023 in that it has plenty of special releases, some new core brands and some amazing one-offs alongside our solid core lineup. Stone is about Innovation and we continue to challenge ourselves to be innovative. Alongside that, you will be able to get Sapporo Premium in certain package formats brewed by Stone by the end of the year as we take over all U.S. production of Sapporo. At Stone Brewing we have always pushed the concept of freshness and beer, and now that will apply to Sapporo in this country as well.

I do miss working with Steve and Greg. Besides being visionaries, they are just good guys. I’m grateful they took a chance on an ex-wine guy going through a mid-thirties crisis. And I think the beer industry is better because of what they built and what they have done for craft beer. I love being part of that legacy and look forward to the future and what we can do next.