Chip the Beer Guy Rock 107 – Stone Brewing Greg Koch

Today’s we’re playing a little catch-up and doing a Chip two-fer.  I missed last week’s show in favor of shoveling snow (oh joy) so I’ll post up a little about last week’s show as the first half of our two-fer.  Last week’s show was the first of the new 2010 year and the first since John’s return from scenic sunny San Diego.  The beer of the week last week was Long Trail Hibernator scotch ale, and the guys loved it….so now onto today’s show!

Today’s cell-phone guest was Stone Brewing CEO Greg Koch, live from the left coast.  I was a little worried at the beginning of today’s show because it sounded something like this….”So Greg, how did you get into brewing…well I was living in LA and working on a music car eer&*(^^…… … +…. .zz zzand i zz z%!|:`:zz$zzzzz…… … …..z.z. z……… ….$(*//…… ….and that’s how Stone happened.”  Greg’s phone thankfully caught the signal and was OK from there, but it was funny to hear the guys vamping to fill in the gaps of static.  So lets get to it! 

I think the big news of the day is that Stone Brewing is planning to brew a collaboration brew with Bill Kovaleski of Victory and Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head so stay tuned for more on that.

I know you’re clicking read more to find out more about the co-brew, but so far no additional details.  Greg really turned out to be an interesting guest and you can really get a sense that the attitude Stone projects in their marketing is real.  I loved Greg’s

response to the question of “how do you convert a macro beer drinker to Stone.”  Greg’s answer was that if they want to keep their “

white knuckle grip on mediocrity” who was he to stop them.  I also enjoyed the story and background Greg gave on their choice of their Gargoyle logo.  Apparently it was an attempt to help ward off fizzy-yellow beers. 

Greg also gave props to Ace Beverage as our local Stone distributor and in talking about Stone IPA and how a hoppy 6.9% beer now suddenly has become a “session beer”, Greg also noted VInnie Cilurzo’s (from Russian River) term that America was undergoing a “Lupulin-shift” and I could not agree more.  There was a day when a 6% ABV IPA was not a beer that was easy to even find.  Now we regularly sit and drink three 7% ABV super-hoppy beers, and they’re available everywhere.  I was also pleased to hear more details on the the possibility of Stone opening a brewery in Europe—something I consider a monumental shift in world-beer culture.  All in all a very funny guy and a very funny show, and keep in mind Greg was rockin’ a 5AM west coast start time.  Thanks to Greg and the guys (and of course Ruthie) for a very funny live show…and thank you for allowing a great guest to run a little long.

In parting I should mention the beers of the week were Stone (

Sublimely Self-Righteous, Vertical 9-9-09 among others) but the tasting seemed to occur during the commercials because the interview ran a little long, so no real details there other than John loving them all.  I should also mention the photo above is from my most recent trip to Stone World Bistro Gardens, and as you can see, I was a little thirsty.  That’s one of every Stone beer they had on tap and yes of course I didn’t waste a drop.