Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, Calif., is launching its first crowd-participation campaign, which it describes as “the campaign for cross-planetary brewing,” on Indiegogo. Through Aug. 16, the campaign invites fans to join Stone Brewing in “a craft beer revolution” by purchasing special collaboration beers, the purchase of which will be used to expedite the construction of the restaurant and garden components of Stone Brewing’s new facilities in Berlin and east of the Mississippi. Each of the new locations will include a production brewery, packaging and distribution operations, farm-to-table restaurant, gardens, and a retail store.
During the course of the campaign, the craft brewer will announce new collaborative beers under the name Stone Groundbreaking Collaborations. Produced in collaboration with other craft brewers, the beers will be sold in 1.5-liter commemorative bottles for $50 each through the Indiegogo site. Because the beers will all be brewed at the Berlin location once it is operational, campaign contributors will receive a certificate of redemption, which they can use to pick up the beers at designated Stone Brewing locations once they are ready for consumption.
Three beers will be available in limited quantities at a time. At present, the available beers are the BrewDog plc/Stone Brewing collaboration Special bashah, the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Inc./Stone Brewing/Victory Brewing Co. collaboration Imperial Royal Imperial Saison du Buff, and the Baladin/Stone Brewing collaboration Super Duper Arrogant. Once one beer is sold out, a new one will be announced. In addition, Stone-style perks also will be available throughout the duration of the campaign. All contributors also will receive the distinction of becoming “Cross-Planetary Brewing Revolutionaries,” the company says.
“This is the era of the craft brewer,” said Greg Koch, Stone co-founder and chief executive officer, in a statement. “This is our time, and this is our place. But we need our fans and people who simply love and appreciate quality craft beer to join us, because this revolution isn’t about one person or one brewer. It’s about all of us. We’re going to make some amazing beers for those who join the fight — our Cross-Planetary Brewing Revolutionaries — and we’ll be doing it with some of our best friends in the industry. It’s a road less traveled, but that’s what we and our collaborators are all about. At Stone, we’ve been changing expectations and challenging the status quo for nearly 20 years. We welcome fans and are excited to have them join us in this new chapter, so they can be a part of the next phase of our quest for making the world safe for great craft beer.”
Stone Brewing chose to launch a crowd-participation campaign to help finance the construction of the new facilities because it says it would rather answer to craft-beer-loving fans than investment companies. In addition, the craft brewer has sworn to remain fiercely independent and “never sell out,” and instead prefers to collaborate with the consumers that helped propel the company into the position of 10th largest craft brewer in the United States, it says.
Stone Brewing notes that both facilities are planned for completion, but funds from this crowd-participation campaign will expedite the process. For more information, visit the company’s Indiegogo campaign page.
