You know when it’s coming by barge, it’s big news. Last week, Stone Brewing announced some big expansion plans to its East Coast hub of Richmond, Va., which has only been around for about six years. One of those expansion items barged up the James River last week — four massive 1,000-bbl tanks — adding more East Coast capacity. This has happened before, but it’s always cool to see. Stone Brewing-Richmond sits right on the James River (photo above; property’s history here). The four new tanks will increase the brewery’s production capacity from 150,000 to 200,000 bbls.
But that’s not it: Stone is increasing both production and its destination brewery experience. For visitors to Stone Brewing-Richmond that means more fresh offerings unique to RVA via a 10-bbl pilot system — pumping out Richmond-centric beers through the taproom. It could be in operation as early as May 2022.
As Stone builds out new points of distribution and expands its beer — and now hard seltzer — it will mean increased capacity and increased flexibility. Stone’s East Coast brewery services nearly all states east of the Rockies and much of Stone’s international distribution, including all of Europe and the United Kingdom.
But there’s more! More beer usually means more food. Early this year, Stone added its Live Buena themed food trailer to the Stone Brewing Tap Room-Richmond. The Tap Room is now serving San Diego-inspired food in a nod to Stone’s flagship location just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Chicken Tinga nachos and tacos, jackfruit carnitas rice bowl and pretzel bites with beer cheese are among the offerings created by Kitchen Manager and RVA local Safiya Cortorreal. Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager and Buenavida Hard Seltzer served as inspiration for the Live Buena experience now open Wednesday-Sunday at the Stone Brewing Tap Room-Richmond. From the press release:
“Richmond is home to Stone and continues to support our growth in a really meaningful way,” stated Maria Stipp, Stone Brewing CEO. “We’ll continue to invest in our facility, the community and our talented team. I can’t wait to see that pilot system in action and what our awesome brewers have in store for us.”
Scott R Fincher says
Is there a local brewery with the word “stone” in their name that they can sue next?