Stone Brewing Co., founded 1996 in San Marcos, is a craft brewery now located in Escondido, San Diego County, California.

Stone is best known for the aggressive Arrogant Bastard Ale, although its Stone IPA and Stone Pale Ale are also top-sellers. Most of their beers are characteristic of west-coast craft brews; that is to say, emphasis is placed primarily on the recipes' hop character. Most Stone beers are purchased in 22 ounce bottles, but select beers are sold in traditional six packs, kegs, and 3 litre bottles.

The beers available in six-packs are the Stone Pale Ale, Stone IPA, Stone Levitation Ale, and Stone Ruination IPA. Stone uses 22oz bottles to feature their "bigger character" beers and Stone Special Releases. Compared to most brewers, Stone brews feature alcohol percentages that are well above average. The alcohol-by-volume content of Stone brews ranges from 4.4% to well over 11%.

Stone Brewing is consistently rated as one of the best brewers in the US, and world,
by the two largest beer enthusiast websites, RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com.

In 2006, Stone relocated from its original brewery in San Marcos to a new, custom-designed facility in Escondido. The new brewery currently has a capacity of 70,000 US beer barrels per year, with capacity expandable up to 250,000 barrels, and also includes an on-site bottling line. The site is also home to a restaurant, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, a 300+ seat restaurant which features interesting architecture, a large outdoor patio and one acre of gardens. The restaurant serves a rotating menu of food -- concentrating on organic, free-range and local ingredients -- and beer from Stone, local San Diego and regional California craft brewers, and other specialty breweries in the United States and abroad.

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Arrogant Bastard Ale
A bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale.Arrogant Bastard Ale is an American strong ale. It is marketed by warning potential consumers that they are "unworthy" of such a sophisticated beer, suggesting most people cannot appreciate a beer of such quality and depth. It is a popular beer among craft beer aficionados.

Local designer/illustrator Thomas K. Matthews created the original gargoyle in 1996. He also drew the arrogant bastard, the ruination and the levitation gargoyles, as well as many of the other icons associated with Stone.

A variety aged with oak chips is available as OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale, and has been produced in limited release 3Litre bottles with a lock, three times: November 2004, 2005 and 2006. The 2006 limited release saw the addition of six packs of 12 ounce bottles. In August 2007, Stone Announced that the OAKED would begin to be available year round. It has also been produced on draft from time to time under no set schedule since its first release in November 2004.

Double Bastard Ale is a more intense version of Stone's American strong ale, Arrogant Bastard, with an ABV of about 10%. It is a special release item and goes on sale every November in 22 ounce and 3 liter bottles.

India Pale Ales
Stone produces several highly-hopped examples of India Pale Ales. Stone Ruination IPA is a very highly hopped Double India Pale Ale. The bottle bears prodigious warnings of the high levels of bitterness (rated at over 100 IBUs) as well as its ruinous effect on the palate. Despite being touted as a supremely bitter beer, Stone Ruination IPA has a great depth of character for those who are attuned to hop flavors.

Stone IPA is a fruity, hoppy IPA featuring Amarillo hops.

Stone Vertical Epic Ale series
Since 2002, Stone has been releasing a series of eleven beers under the Stone Vertical Epic Ale header. Each one uses a different recipe and are designed, when the release is complete, to complement its partners in a tasting of all eleven, one after the other (a "vertical tasting"). Each is released one year, one month, and one day apart, beginning with the first on February 2, 2002 (02.02.02 in a common date format on the Gregorian calendar); thus, the second was released on March 3, 2003 (03.03.03), the fourth on April 4, 2004, and so on. The last in the series will be the Stone 12.12.12 Vertical Epic Ale.

Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens
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Stone has put the same creativity and craftsmanship into the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens as they’ve put into their award-winning brews – with a few new twists and surprises added!

The menu is as bold and refreshing as their famous ales, and features the finest in fresh, locally- and naturally-grown ingredients.

Not only are there plenty of fresh-from-the-brewery Stone ales on tap to go with the menu, but also an amazing selection of San Diego County beers from other breweries to complement the fare. A gourmet wine list featuring many San Diego County, regional and international selections is also available.

The indoor-outdoor setting features an “escape-from-reality” boulder garden (more than 250 boulders ranging from 1-ton to 35 tons) and a native and exotic plants that could only have been created by the minds that have turned Stone into such a great success story.

Escondido is a city located in northern San Diego County, California just north of the city of San Diego. The name means "hidden" in Spanish-- it occupies a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city has a mild climate, a diverse economy and a growing population of 140,766 [1], making it the fourth largest city in San Diego County in terms of population.

In 2006, Stone Brewing Company moved its headquarters and brewery from San Marcos, California to a new, much larger facility in the Quail Hills area of Escondido.

Stone Company Store
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The Stone Company Store has an assortment of Stone and Arrogant Bastard Ale wearables, pint glasses and other gifts.

They also sell growler jugs that one can have filled fresh off the tap with any of the year ’round releases to take home. Several times each month Stone has “Special Growler Fills” where they put on tap their Stone Special Releases or the latest inspired creation from their brewing team. They also have bottles, six-packs, and kegs available for purchase.

You can buy anything available at the Stone Company Store online (except for the beer!).

You can purchase the Stone Brewing Company: Uncut DVD at The Local Brew Store!