It seems that despite the announcement that Stone beers are to be legitimately imported to Australia for the first time, we will continue to go Stoneless.
Importer ExperienceIT announced in January that it had secured the import rights to Stone’s beers, an announcement that was soon denied on Twitter by founder Greg Koch.
Huh? Sorry no, NOT legit. “@ptidsy: @StoneGreg Stoked that we’ll soon be able to buy Stone in Aus, legit. Some thirsty folks over here.”
— Greg Koch (@StoneGreg) January 30, 2014
After some back and forth, Greg announced that there had been internal miscommunication at Stone.
@birraitaliana1 There has, apparently, been an internal miscommunication here at Stone. You have our sincere apologies. We’re reviewing.
— Greg Koch (@StoneGreg) January 30, 2014
Australian Brews News exchanged emails with Greg last week to clarify the situation. Greg advised:
It appears that Experience IT are not at fault here, and that there was an unfortunate internal miscommunication. When wrote [sic] that tweet, I had not been privy to discussions between some of our folks and Johnny, so my initial thought was that it was not legit.
This is an embarrassing example of our left hand not knowing what our right hand was doing. It’s a pretty unusual occurrence for us, but possibly putting Experience IT in an awkward position. I owe Johnny a sincere apology if that has been the case.
It sounds like Johnny and his team are doing great things and carrying forward the cause of great craft beer in Australia, and I laud their efforts…and look forward to learning more about what they’ve been able to accomplish and where they’re going.
Our reality is that we’re simply not yet ready to export to Australia.
After a week’s discussion, John Latta from ExperienceIT has announced that he won’t be able to bring Stone in, for now.
John advised:
Over the last several years, we have invested a significant amount of time and effort into developing our model and discussing our approach with Stone. Our focus is on quality and the freshest product, as it always has been. After discussions with folks on the Stone team and the green light being given that we would move forward, it came to light that internally some of their communication had broken down which had then flowed through to us. Stone is extremely embarrassed as such an internal communication gaff of this sort has never happened before, and they have sent us their sincere apologies for their miscommunication. As a result they are now working internally to get back up to speed so everyone is on the same page, and ensure that no damage is done to anyone’s businesses or reputation. We have the greatest respect for Stone, the people we have worked with to date have been fantastic and unfortunately from time to time these things happen, its just a shame that it’s so high profile, but we will jointly get clarity and put it all straight. Please note that it may take some time to get it all sorted, and for Stone to determine their course forward in regards to Australia. It remains our position, and Stone Brewing’s that grey market imports do not respect their brand, nor the consumer’s right to quality.
It’s an unfortunate error, though as Greg has explained to Australian Brews News before, he has concerns about sending his beers to Australia.
In one potential bonus for Australia – or a small segment of it – Greg announced last year he was going to take a mini-sabbatical from the business. This will see him travelling, potentially including Australia in his itinerary. If that comes of, Greg advises he may be looking to hold an event featuring a special import of his beers.
John Latta was very gracious in his reply given the obvious embarrassment caused by Koch.
Also, ABN- frankly to many it’s not a potential bonus, it’s an “avoid this guy at all costs “. I don’t care about his so-called rockstar brewer status, he is not beyond questioning just because of his place in the evolution of US craft. Hopefully Mr Koch’s leave will be permanent and Stone the company can run like an actual business not a whimsical plaything for an inflated ego.
Greg, you brew beer. It’s good beer but don’t tell us when/where/how to drink it.
Most people who seek out and pay the huge markup on the few Stone beers that make it here to Aust understand they roll the dice with grey, they are not fools.
Greg: once it has left your establishment you lose control of the supply and service chain, so does every craft brewer. We get you are a control freak but is your product so much better/more fragile than beer produced in the last 300 years that you are afraid that a slight reduction in quality due to transit renders your product a failure? Get over yourself.
I still suspect there is more to it that just “don’t drink my beer because I can’t guarantee quality” given the logistics (and costs) good importers like JL are prepared to accept and can’t help wonder if there’s something else behind Stone’s stonewalling.
He’s happy to ship his product to Japan and Singapore, what’s the difference?
Based on when I spoke to him a few years back, our market is so small the volumes it comes in make the beer very expensive so in addition to the time it takes to get here and the warm distribution channels once landed, the beer sits on shelves longer, all of which add to the length of time the beer is left to age.
Does Greg’s stance mean breweries like Deschutes and Southern Tier are happy to sell an inferior product here in Oz?
I don’t think that you can draw that conclusion. Each brewer will have a different view of it. The craft world would be a boring place if they all thought the same.
Maybe they are just waiting for a deal like Ballast Point have with Dan’s, they could then ship larger units?
I would be genuinely surprised.