Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Could Stone Brewing choose Charlotte for East Coast brewery?

Hold onto your frosted mugs, beer lovers. Local economic development officials are lobbying to make Charlotte the site for California-based Stone Brewing Co.'s new East Coast brewery. Stone is the maker of such popular (and colorfully titled) beers as "Arrogant Bastard Ale" and the "Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA. The Charlotte Regional Partnership has launched a web site and a social media campaign (#StoneGoToCUSA) to tout several sites around the region, from Rowan to Lincoln to Gaston, as well as several in Mecklenburg.

Local Stone lovers haven't been sitting on the sidelines. They've launched a Facebook site that's gotten more than 1,100 "likes" in hopes of showing the brewery that Charlotte should be its new East Coast home.

There is competition, however. Escondido, Calif.-based Stone is the 10th largest craft brewer in the nation and the biggest in southern California. According to this story, other communities from around the Carolinas, including Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, Asheville, Greensboro and Florence, S.C. are all in pursuit of the plant, which could bring an estimated 370 jobs with wages ranging from $12 to $48 an hour. Capital expenditures for the new brewery are projected to exceed $20 million for the initial phase of the brewer's business plan, with revenue projected to exceed $100 million by the fourth year, according to Sam Boykin, spokesman for the partnership.

The company is looking to pick a site and begin construction this year. Asked how many other communities have replied to the brewer's request for proposals, company spokeswoman Sabrina LoPiccolo declined to divulge a number. However, she added: "We definitely have seen quite a bit of interest and are pleased with the amount of proposals we've received."

According to the partnership, hundreds of other communities east of the Mississippi River have expressed interest. "It will take a special site to meet their requirements," Boykin wrote in an email, "and we're confident the Charlotte region is well-suited in terms of infrastructure, location and population density."



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't care

Anonymous said...

@Anon March 18, 2014 2:36 - Apparently you do because you bothered to read and comment on the article.

If the metro area can land Stone Brewing, it would be a huge boon to an already booming local craft beer scene in Charlotte.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 2:36 - you must not care about craft beers so I feel sorry for you.

Hopefully Charlotte gets this since it would build upon not only the local breweries but also the decisions by Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oscar Blues to build their East Coast breweries in NC. However, I would be shocked if they didn't pick the Asheville area over Charlotte where the other 3 national breweries decided to locate.

Anonymous said...

Stone makes a tasty beer as do dozens of other local micro breweries. Why is it so hard to find local beer at HT in Rock Hill? It's only 27 miles away. There is not one single local beer in that place. I don't know how they fare in Charlotte.

Anonymous said...

That would be exciting! Go get em gang!

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