USA, VA: Stone Brewing’s Richmond facility to begin brewing in late April

Stone Brewing Co. should begin brewing beer at its Richmond manufacturing plant in late April, Richmond.com reported on December 4.

Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard, two of the company’s popular year-round beers, should be ready for distribution in June, Stone brewmaster Mitch Steele said.

The update came on December 4 as company, city and state officials celebrated the construction progress of Stone’s East Coast production facility in Fulton, east of downtown Richmond.

Stone has begun installing its brewing system inside the 216,000-square-foot plant by lowering tanks and equipment through openings in the removable roofing panels.

The plant was designed so sections of the roof can be removed so tanks can be lowered into the plant by cranes.

On December 4, Stone held a “Raise the Roof” ceremony to mark that phase of the process.

Officials attending the event included Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Stone co-founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner.

After the event, McAuliffe, Haymore and others climbed to the roof to see the eight fermentation tanks and four brite tanks, visible from the road, and to see where the equipment will be lowered into the plant. The roof has space for a total of 40 tanks for later expansion.

“They’re not doing this in Maryland. They’re not doing this in Pennsylvania. And they’re not doing this in Ohio today,” McAuliffe told the crowd, referring to other locations that Stone considered for its East Coast plant.

Stone’s Richmond plant will have a 250-barrel brewhouse, with the capacity to brew 600,000 barrels of beer annually.

Stone’s Koch reminded the audience how Americans had few beer options before the craft beer movement.

“Every other country made fun of us, but now the tables have been turned … and we should be enormously proud,” he said.

The construction project is managed by Richmond-based Hourigan Construction, which fast-tracked the project for a 14-month completion. Hourigan is using 3-D Building Information Model software to allow virtual computer planning and facilitate communication among decision-makers.
Because of the weight of the brewing equipment and product, construction features include 3-foot-thick concrete and underground infrastructure as a foundation and for 2,500 feet of underground piping.

Also under construction is a bridge crossing Gillies Creek that will connect the parking lot with Stone’s production facility and tasting room for visitors.

09 December, 2015