Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Stone to Rogue Beer Tour Companies: You're Cut Off!

Many brewery tasting room visitors will recognize this scene. A placid space filled with craft beer fanatics and newcomers alike. Pleasant conversations between both factions over a few brews. Sometimes, the brewhouse staff who created them get in on the chitchat, talking about the beer’s make-up or offering up interesting stories about how it came to be, how they named it, or any other fun topic.

Then...bedlam.

A party bus overflowing with sloshed partyers pulls up and dumps out right at the front door. Next thing you know, a leisurely, civilized experience is reduced into an unmanageable clusterf*** brought on by drunks who cram in, push, shove, stumble, holler, and generally wreck everything for a half-hour, before crookedly moseying out, taking their shit show to the next unsuspecting tasting room.

This phenomenon has been a big concern for many local breweries with tasting rooms. On one hand, they appreciate people wanting to visit and the fact that touring companies that do right by them and their patrons exist to bring business in. On the other hand, they despise the companies that break all the rules — don’t call ahead, promise things they can’t deliver (free beer, a tour, etc.), show up at or after closing time, fail to monitor their patrons’ sobriety level to keep it at a socially acceptable level.

One company, the county’s largest, is completely fed up. Starting today, May 1, Stone Brewing Co. will no longer allow any unregistered tour companies, party buses, or barge limousines on their premises.

CEO Greg Koch acknowledges there are good companies out there, citing BrewHop and Brewery Tours of San Diego as two viable service providers, and they will still be allowed to bring their clients in. It’s the companies that load tourers up with a complimentary, in-vehicle bottle of vodka, don’t control their unruly clientele, and fail to work within the regulatory framework of the breweries that Stone is looking to shut the door on.

It will be extremely interesting to see if this starts a trend. Certainly, having a company as big as Stone institute such a policy gives smaller companies that felt too minuscule to have much control over the situation a model to follow.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Many brewery tasting room visitors will recognize this scene. A placid space filled with craft beer fanatics and newcomers alike. Pleasant conversations between both factions over a few brews. Sometimes, the brewhouse staff who created them get in on the chitchat, talking about the beer’s make-up or offering up interesting stories about how it came to be, how they named it, or any other fun topic.

Then...bedlam.

A party bus overflowing with sloshed partyers pulls up and dumps out right at the front door. Next thing you know, a leisurely, civilized experience is reduced into an unmanageable clusterf*** brought on by drunks who cram in, push, shove, stumble, holler, and generally wreck everything for a half-hour, before crookedly moseying out, taking their shit show to the next unsuspecting tasting room.

This phenomenon has been a big concern for many local breweries with tasting rooms. On one hand, they appreciate people wanting to visit and the fact that touring companies that do right by them and their patrons exist to bring business in. On the other hand, they despise the companies that break all the rules — don’t call ahead, promise things they can’t deliver (free beer, a tour, etc.), show up at or after closing time, fail to monitor their patrons’ sobriety level to keep it at a socially acceptable level.

One company, the county’s largest, is completely fed up. Starting today, May 1, Stone Brewing Co. will no longer allow any unregistered tour companies, party buses, or barge limousines on their premises.

CEO Greg Koch acknowledges there are good companies out there, citing BrewHop and Brewery Tours of San Diego as two viable service providers, and they will still be allowed to bring their clients in. It’s the companies that load tourers up with a complimentary, in-vehicle bottle of vodka, don’t control their unruly clientele, and fail to work within the regulatory framework of the breweries that Stone is looking to shut the door on.

It will be extremely interesting to see if this starts a trend. Certainly, having a company as big as Stone institute such a policy gives smaller companies that felt too minuscule to have much control over the situation a model to follow.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Beer Touring: Rip Current Brewing

Next Article

33 on 3/3

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader