BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: The flip side of Stone's Berlin farewell.

I believe there are times when all of us can be found on both sides of a particular issue. Consequently, yesterday I made reference to Stone's withdrawal from its Berlin facility, to be replaced by BrewDog.

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: "Farewell Stone Brewing Berlin: Too Big, Too Bold, Too Soon."

I've never been a fan of BrewDog; not an enemy, either. Stone's a different story, and I retain a soft spot in my three-sizes-too-small heart for the San Diego brewery. I'll never forget Stone founder Greg Koch's visit to the Public House in August of 2007. There's a photo somewhere, but no matter.

As usual, Jeff "Bluegill" Gillenwater offered a clear-headed take.

Hmm... I appreciate Stone’s early efforts in the U.S. but I’m not sure I exactly jive with much of what Koch has to say here. Suffice to say, the list of long-standing German beers I would choose over a Stone IPA is long and typically pretty accessible in lots of parts of Germany.

For the remainder of the day yesterday, even before Bluegill commented, my thoughts kept returning to Stone's (and Koch's) German experience.

I'm a fan of Greg Koch, who with his Public House visit gave me a nice boost when I needed it most. I'm a fan of Stone's beers ... which I drink quite seldom these days, and there's the rub: I've long since boarded the pendulum swinging back to the traditional German (and British, and Belgium) way of drinking beer and thinking beer.

And, I don't want these traditional notions to disappear any time soon. We went to Munich and Bamberg last December and did/ate/drank almost nothing that wasn't old-school. That's a big part of why we went there in the first place. Do I like the idea of American-style "craft" beer flooding Europe? That's a hard question to answer.

Maybe I'd say yes insofar as a beer drinker in Berlin appreciates choice. Maybe no if it means Berlin becomes more like San Diego and less like Germany. Maybe my answer has changed over the years, and will again.

As such, I think Bluegill rightly looks to the points in Koch's explanation of Stone's retreat as a major source of dissonance. Here's an excellent take on the Stone situation, which riffs heavily on Bluegill's observation.

Pay especially close attention to the comments. It isn't so much that both sides of an issue are in play. There actually are multiple sides, multiple issues and something not entirely convincing as it pertains to Koch's reading of them. Thought-provoking, indeed -- and extending beyond beer into many more cultural considerations.

The Hubris of Stone Brewing, by Jeff Alworth (Beervana)

Who knows if Stone might have made the Berlin project a success by building a bridge between two cultures. But the failure to even try is surely the centerpiece of this story. BrewDog, which has modeled their business strategy on Stone, will take over the keys to the building. It will be fascinating to see what changes they make and whether they learn from Stone’s actual mistakes, or double down on the narrative of cocky disruption.

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: "Farewell Stone Brewing Berlin: Too Big, Too Bold, Too Soon."

BrewDog is taking over Stone's ambitious brewing operation in Berlin, Germany.

BrewDog's new brewery in Berlin

We are delighted to announce that we have completed a deal to acquire an amazing brewery & tap room in Berlin from our good friends at Stone Brewing. We will officially take ownership of our new brewery on May 1st. The brewery we have acquired is in the Mariendorf neighbourhood of Berlin was originally opened in 2016 in a beautiful and historic gasworks building which dates to 1901.

We get the keys to our new European home on May 1st. After a certain time for evaluation we will be closed for a little bit as we turn the building into a BrewDog space, similar to the vibe we have created at our Columbus brewery. Once we reopen, we are looking forward to holding a huge opening party, as well as hosting an epic European AGM for our Equity Punks there later in 2019 and also making Berlin the next destination for BrewDog Airlines ...

I've never been a fan of BrewDog; not an enemy, either. Stone's a different story, and I retain a soft spot in my three-sizes-too-small heart for the San Diego brewery. I'll never forget Stone founder Greg Koch's visit to the Public House in August of 2007. There's a photo somewhere, but no matter.

Here's Greg, explaining the Berlin experience.

Farewell Stone Brewing Berlin: Too Big, Too Bold, Too Soon

My heart is broken. It’ll mend, but I’m gonna let it be broke for a bit.

I love Berlin. And when you love something, it’s bound to frustrate you at times. Times like right about now.

Today we announce we are transferring the ownership of the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Berlin facility to our friends at Brewdog. Brewdog has agreed to adopt what we’ve built, and they will make it their own.

Since that day I first walked onto the historic gasworks property at the beginning of the decade, we accomplished some great things in Berlin. And we struggled greatly ...

THE BEER BEAT: BrewDog's private equity $$$ bonanza: "Not bad for ten years of being rude about the rest of the UK brewing industry."

For those who are unaware, Martyn Cornell's web page is a great source of beer information from a British perspective.

"I am sure Alastair Hook and the guys at Meantime, whose beers BrewDog withdrew from its bars after the Greenwich brewer was bought by SAB Miller, are smiling sardonically."

BrewDog's antics have entertained me for a long time. The company's success reminds us that while P.T. Barnum may have been an American, hucksterism never has been confined to just one country. I hope the founders of BrewDog make a mint, whether in dollars, Euros or pounds sterling.

I'll be at a local establishment somewhere, drinking myself to sleep.

The REAL story behind BrewDog’s ‘sellout’ is that crowdfunding will only get you so far, by Martyn Cornell (Zythophile)

The real story behind the news that BrewDog is copping more than £200 million from the private equity firm that also part-owns Pabst Blue Ribbon, is not, despite the howls of “hypocrisy!”, that nobody can resist a big juicy cheque, no matter how punk they claim to be. It is, rather more sadly, that crowdfunding will only get you so far, and if you have really big ambitions, you’re going to have to get in bed eventually with The Man.

The deal with TSG Consumer Partners, the $5bn 30-year-old San Francisco-based private equity sees TSG acquire “approximately” 22 per cent of BrewDog for what the Sunday Times says is £213 million, split between a £100 million investment in the firm and £113 million paid to existing shareholders.

Of the two founders, James Watt is seeing his stake in the firm drop from 35 per cent to 25 per cent and Martin Dickie’s slice goes down from 30 per cent to 22. It’s not clear (to me, anyway) if that dilution is because the pair are selling 18 per cent of the firm between them to TSG, or some of the fall in their percentage ownership comes from new shares being issued: the Sunday Times says one of the motions passed at last month’s BrewDog AGM in Aberdeen saw the creation of a new class of preferred shares, which would guarantee TSG a minimum compound annual return of 18 per cent if the company is bought or floated. There’s a fair bit of dilution, I reckon, or the figures for how much existing shareholders are getting out of the deal don’t add up.

But even so, I’d say James is receiving north of £50 million and Martin more than £40 million. Not bad for ten years of being rude about the rest of the UK brewing industry and winding up the Portman Group. Looks like Dr Johnson’s comment more than 230 years ago about selling a brewery being the way to become rich beyond the dreams of avarice is still true ...