A California Craft Beer Icon Found a Buyer. Its Home Brewery Is Still Shutting Down and Eliminating 220 Jobs

Stone Brewing production will leave Escondido and move to facilities operated by Firestone Walker and Duvel USA.

Brewmasters at the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido. Photo:

Stone Brewing will close all three of its Escondido locations as production shifts to Paso Robles, California, and Kansas City, Kansas. The move will cost hundreds of workers their jobs at one of the largest breweries in Southern California.

In the first phase of a rolling process, Sapporo, the beer giant that acquired Stone Brewing in 2022 but no longer owns the brand itself, will lay off 58 workers in late October. According to Capital Digest, upwards of 220 jobs are expected to be cut by the end of the transition.

Sapporo USA CEO Zach Keeling said the company

Sapporo USA CEO Zach Keeling said the company has “not yet found ato the layoffs, the company is also shuttering the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens

Stone Brewing launched in San Marcos in 1996 and relocated to Escondido a decade later. Riding the West Coast craft beer boom of the 2000s, it became the ninth-largest craft brewery in the U.S. at its peak.

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Sapporo sold the Stone Brewing brand in an April deal to Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Duvel USA. However, the Escondido production facilities weren’t part of that transaction, leaving Sapporo to operate that location separately.

While Stone Brewing beer will continue to be

While Stone Brewing beer will continue to be made, the production of it will now shift to Firestone Walker’s brewery in Paso Robles and Duvel USA’s Boulevard brewery in Kansas City.

Firestone Walker and Duvel USA said they plan to hire a “significant number” of Stone Brewing employees across hospitality, sales, and marketing.

Source: www.inc.com