A Culinary Journey through Europe

Exclusive Interview
© Stone Brewing Co
beer is actually not within that 0.001%. It
is actually within our nurture…the result
of how we’ve been raised and what we’ve
been exposed to. So, if people don’t think of
themselves as craft beer drinkers, it is mostly
because they have not been exposed to it.
When we opened in San Diego in 1996, people
were not really aware of craft beer. Most people
didn’t even like our beer. It was very strange for
them. It just takes time for people to get used
to the idea that beer can be more than the industrial
stuff in the television commercial.
EFJ: Do you think that the future belongs to microbreweries
like you?
Greg Koch: There is more and more of it. I travelled
the world early this year during a fourmonth
sabbatical. I went to New Zealand,
Australia, South-East Asia, Italy, Spain, Eastern
Europe and Germany, and found that small
brewers are growing like crazy everywhere. As
more and more people learn about craft beer,
more and more people are gravitating towards it!
EFJ: How do you comment on the fact that people
are drinking less beer in Germany?
Greg Koch: Well, that is not a new development.
Beer consumption has been declining there for
many decades. I am fine with people drinking
less beer.
EFJ: Why?
Greg Koch: Our beer is not about mass consumption.
We have been growing as a company by
greater than 45% each year on average for 18
years. I’ll repeat that: greater than 45% each
year for 18 years. I suppose that is an unusual
position in any business category anywhere in
the world. We have never advertised. And we
don’t make things that most people thing they
like. The people who do like what we do love
what we do – since we do it with passion, integrity
and character.
EFJ: At the production level, we are talking
about different hectoliter numbers. For in-
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