Stone to open a Brewery in Europe? from stonebrew on Vimeo.

From the Vimeo page: “This is a very exciting project for Steve and me…and all of us at Stone Brewing. We’re going to be learning quite a bit with this endeavor, first and foremost: Will we be welcome? We’re approaching this with no assumptions other than we’d like to consider any and all options (other than having our beers contract brewed by another brewery, as that’s simply not our style). Many of the countries of Europe have great brewing traditions. Some countries are also currently experiencing a bit of a resurgence of small, independent (and independent thinking) breweries. As anyone knows that has visited the Stone Brewing Co. and our attached restaurant – the Stone World Bistro & Gardens – where we have more Guest taps than we do of Stone, we enjoy sharing the camaraderie of great craft beers. We look forward to joining in the fight in Europe by doing our part to add to the growing trend towards unique, flavorful artisanal beers, as opposed to the mass-blandification efforts characterized by megabrand sameness!”

This is a very interesting play. BrewDog has proven that a Stone mentality works in Europe. Combine that with the fact that Denmark, Norway, and a few other countries there are seeing a surge in craft beer interest. It is a very smart play in my opinion. No harm in looking. While business is booming here in the States, we are starting to see that we are past the hill in terms of peak growth according to the latest Beer Association figures (at least for this cycle). Growth may continue to slow over the next few years and with an increasing number of craft brands jockeying for space on shelves, who knows what position each brewery will be in five or ten years. I’m not predicting the apocalypse but just making the observation that the double digit growth figures that we’ve seen recently may not be the norm down the road. It is smart for those who have resources and are game for it to give Europe consideration.