Stone Brewing Berlin will be celebrating their grand opening this week with an exclusive, invitation-only event. The Berlin brewery became fully operational on July 28th and the Stone Brewing Berlin World Bistro & Gardens official opening took place on August 29th. Stone Brewing Berlin’s opening is historic – with Stone becoming the first U.S. craft brewery to independently build, own and operate a brewery in Europe. The team at FirkinBeer.com visited Stone Brewing Berlin on August 25th and 26th to tour the Stone Berlin facility, gain a first-hand impression of this historic opening and the cultural environment, and sample Stone Berlin’s craft beers and food.

We’re excited to be visiting Stone Brewing Berlin!

 

Stone Brewing Berlin Overview

As noted in Stone’s press release, Stone Brewing Berlin is “housed in an expansive 1901 historic gasworks building, two bars welcome fans to Germany’s largest draft selection with 65 beers on tap, featuring Stone and a wide array of guest craft and artisanal ales and lagers. The bistro follows Stone’s food philosophy, focusing on small-farm organic produce and advocating for environmental responsibility and the Slow Food movement.”

Stone CEO and co-founder Greg Koch announced plans to develop Stone Berlin on 19 July 2014 with the bold vision to reinvigorate craft and artisanal brewing in Europe and create a world-class beer and food destination. Our team at FirkinBeer.com is excited to have been one of the first visitors to experience the completed operation of this bold and historic undertaking.

“It’s been an incredible undertaking to restore this historic property and turn it into something we’ve dreamed of for years,” said Greg Koch. “What we have here is a world-class destination for relaxing in a creatively designed, eco-friendly environment. The beers, the food and the atmosphere are all far from typical. Welcome to Stone. Expect different. We think you’ll be wowed!”

 

Getting to Stone Brewing Berlin

Located at Im Marienpark 23, 12107 Berlin, the Stone Brewing Berlin facility is located about 6 miles south of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. To get there from downtown Berlin you can either drive, take a taxi, or take a train. The nearest train station is about a 10 to 15 minute walk from Stone Berlin’s facility. Ample parking for bikes and motor vehicles is available on-site.

For the first visit, our team took a taxi. Our taxi trip pointed out one issue – Berlin taxi drivers don’t know the location (at least not yet) and their car navigation systems don’t recognize the address. Luckily, my cell phone had a navigation app (maps.me) and map of the location that allowed the taxi driver to take us there. While at Stone Berlin, we met two people from Los Angeles that had taken the train and walked to the site without any problem.

For the second visit, our team drove a rental car to the site. Once again, the car navigation system did not recognize the address but my cell phone app guided us there without issue.

When you arrive at the Stone Brewing Berlin location, don’t expect to see the iconic facade depicted in my photograph above with circular window and gargoyle as this facade is actually in the back.  What you will see are some brick industrial buildings and a stand-alone tower.  The large, circular metal framework for the old gas storage system is also visible.

If you see this tower, you know you are at the right place.

 

Our Visit

Upon our outdoor arrival at Stone Berlin, we were immediately greeted by a server/host named Kai. Kai gave us an initial tour of the outdoor garden which provides plenty of seating options. The garden employs changes in levels, plants, mounds, logs, boulders, and re-purposed construction materials to create lots of nooks, crannies, and gathering areas for relaxation, personalized seating, and intimate conversation. Overall, the garden area can seat about 600 people and a nearby, historic train repair building is used to host special events.

Lots of nooks and crannies help to create intimate areas for a more personal drinking and conversation experience.

 

Once inside, we met with Flo Gruber, one of Stone Berlin’s bar managers. Flo provided our team with a comprehensive tour of the entire Stone Berlin complex. During our tour we also met Matthew Sweetwood, from Sweetwood Films, who has been video documenting the creation of Stone Brewing Berlin from Day 1.

The main building is about 3,200 square meters (34,445 square feet) and houses the two bars, bistro indoor seating, merchandise store, and brewery. There are lower and upper tiered levels for seating. Overall, there is expansive indoor seating for about 600 people. Interior work was still ongoing during our visit. A glass wall separates the brewery area from the bars/bistro area. The interior design includes boulders and water elements that are iconic to all Stone World Bistro & Garden locations. The main hall also includes an inside winter forest of real lichen-covered trees alongside rolling “grass” hills and giant stone boulders.

One of my favorite aspects of Stone Berlin is how the architecture, interior design and landscaping combine industrial and organic elements that unite the indoor and outdoor seating areas to create a unique aesthetic.

Partial view of the lower level seating.

A wide stairway to the second floor offers seating and resting spaces along the way.

A mezzanine provides a tree house-like environment for private parties or a more intimate setting for diners.

The root systems of trees above become chandeliers for dining below.

Intimate seating areas provide relaxing and private settings for small groups.

A massive salvaged tree and its full root system found near the Berlin Wall was in the process of being transformed into an art piece and table. The tree, referred to by staff as the “Crossing Borders Tree”, symbolizes the crossing of borders from west to east – including U.S. craft beer crossing the Atlantic to Germany/Europe.

Crossing Borders Tree

The “Main Bar” includes two sets of 50 taps (one for each side) and offered beers from Stone Berlin, Stone Brewing in the U.S., and several other craft/artisanal breweries throughout the world.

Main bar

Nine beers by Stone Brewing Berlin were available on draft and four beers were also available in cans.

My first beer was Stone Berlin IPA.

The “Library Bar” is a separate room with 25 of its own taps and highlights the building’s historic ambiance in a cozy setting.

The Library Bar provides comfy furniture and its own fireplace.

From the Bistro, we continued on to the brewery where we met Thomas Tyrell, Director of Brewing Operations for Stone Brewing Berlin. A 25-year veteran of the international beer community, Thomas Tyrell manages all aspects of the production department, including brewing and packaging operations, production scheduling, incoming ingredients and materials, utilities, maintenance and, most importantly, beer quality. He is celebrated for his research on yeast strains, fermentation and beer flavor stability. Before joining Stone Berlin, he most recently spent eight years as an instructor and brewing engineer at VLB Berlin, where he led research and development projects and served as a technological consultant for breweries big and small across the world.

Thrilled to spend some time with Thomas Tyrell.

Thomas explained to us that the main brewery consisted of a 100 hectoliter custom stainless steel system (~ 62 bbl). In addition, there is an experimental brewery consisting of a 10 hectoliter brewing system (~ 6.2 bbl). An adjacent, 2000 square meter building is used for packaging and distribution.

High hoppin’ it at the Stone Berlin Brewery!

As we completed the tour, our excellent guide and new friend Flo Gruber sat with us to toast this historic craft brewery opening.

Prost!

As Flo left, we ordered appetizers and dinner (and more beers!). Executive Chef Robert Hilges leads the kitchen team. Hilges worked previously for Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Berlin, where he garnered extensive experience in fine dining serving groups of two to 3,500. “We spent months developing the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Berlin menu,” said Hilges. “The world bistro concept gave us incredible options when developing the menu, but our commitment to the highest quality ingredients guided our decisions. We’ve sourced meats and produce from local farmers such as LandWert and ECF Farmer’s Market and developed special recipes to create everything in-house from our venison pâté and breads to our kimchi and soups. We hope the eclectic menu combined with an impressive selection of 65 beers on tap will really impress everyone who walks through our doors.”

Final Impressions

To call the opening of Stone Brewing Berlin historic is not hyperbole. Stone Brewing has become the first U.S. craft brewery to independently build, own and operate a brewery in Europe.

The success of Stone Berlin faces many challenges, including:

• changing the view of a vast array of German and European consumers of beer as more than just a cheap commodity,
• increasing consumer education and awareness about the wide array of aromas and flavors that craft and artisanal beers can offer, and
• fighting against the established, industrial beer institutions that dominate Germany and other parts of Europe.

In some ways, these challenges are similar to those faced by small, start-up craft brewers in the U.S. back in the 1970’s and 80’s. Stone Brewing and Greg Koch was a leader then and now in Europe. Stone Brewing’s efforts can help to invigorate and catalyze the ongoing efforts of new and existing small craft and artisanal “grass-roots” breweries already in Germany as well as throughout Europe.  For the benefit of craft beer drinkers worldwide, let’s hope Stone Brewing Berlin succeeds.

We enjoyed our visit so much on August 25th that we returned the next evening for more craft beer and food. A large group of customers were present so maybe Greg Koch’s pioneering vision is already taking off.

A huge thank you to Stone Brewing Company and Lizzie Younkin for supporting our tour. Also, thanks to Flo Gruber and all the Stone Brewing Berlin staff for being such wonderful and attentive hosts.

 

About Stone Brewing

Founded by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner in 1996, San Diego-based Stone Brewing is the 10th largest craft brewer in the United States. Stone has been listed on the Inc. 500 | 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies list 11 times, and has been called the “All-time Top Brewery on Planet Earth” by BeerAdvocate magazine twice. The multifaceted company will be the first American craft brewer to independently build, own and operate their own brewery in Europe (Berlin, Germany), and is also building a production brewery and destination restaurant in Richmond, Virginia. Known for its bold, flavorful and largely hop-centric beers, Stone has earned a reputation for brewing outstanding, unique beers while maintaining an unwavering commitment to sustainability, business ethics, philanthropy and the art of brewing. For more information on Stone Brewing, please visit stonebrewing.com or the company’s social media sites: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and The Stone Blog.