(KGTV) — Stone Brewery's move on Berlin may have been too much, too soon.
The San Diego-based brewery has decided to sell their Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Berlin facility to Brewdog, a Scottish craft brewer that owns and operates a series of pubs around the world.
The decision was attributed to the cost of maintaining the 1901 gasworks property used as Stone's facility, as well as Germany's construction industry, Stone's co-founder Greg Koch wrote on the company's blog..
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"To feed a beast like Stone Berlin, we needed volume. The sheer cost of building and maintaining Stone Berlin to our standards didn’t let us grow it slowly," Koch wrote on the post titled, "Farewell Stone Brewing Berlin: Too Big, Too Bold, Too Soon."
He went on to say, "the truth is, the construction industry in Berlin is broken. Yes, there’s a lot of bureaucracy. The U.S. has more than a bit of that, so we were prepared for it."
And also in part to German taste buds.
"Amazing beer is being brewed by amazing brewers all over the country. Unfortunately, according to the stats, most Germans are still ignoring these wonderful beers and buying the cheap stuff," Koch wrote.
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The brewery said it will continue to distribute its beer throughout Germany, after making many "converts" in Europe. Some Stone beers will still be brewed at the Berlin location.
The facility, however, will be under Brewdog.
"We invested a significant portion of a decade and significant millions building Stone Berlin. And it didn’t work out. These things hurt and these things happen. This one happened. And this one hurts a lot," Koch wrote.
