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Stone Brewing: Berlin’s ‘Beer Jesus’ throws in the towel

Stone Brewing is giving up its brewery in Mariendorf; competitor Brewdog takes over

Stone Brewing
Stone Brewing is set to close its Mariendorf brewery (Photo: Stone Brewing)

Greg Koch couldn’t leave Berlin’s stage without making some noise. In a blog post, he who was once deemed ‚Beer Jesus from Mariendorf‘ in Berlin’s yellow press, railed against everyone. The slow German authorities, the slow German builders, and, most importantly, the slow German beer drinkers, who hadn’t quite fallen for craft beer the way he imagined. After that, it was clear that what had been rumoured in the past few weeks was true: Greg Koch’s Stone Brewing Company was to give up its brewery location at the gasometer in Mariendorf. A location that was rebuilt, according to reports, for 80 million euros.

Two days later the whole picture emerged: brewery and restaurant area aren’t going to be shut down. Instead, Stone Brewing’s British competitor Brewdog is going to take over. And they will also brew European Stone beers. This step makes sense. On the one hand, Brewdog has achieved what the flavourful and strong Stone Brewing beers failed to. Their Punk IPA is the first internationally successful craft beer: heck, it’s available on easyJet flights as well as in Spanish mountain huts.

On the other hand, it’s quite likely that with Brexit looming any of these days, Brewdog is interested in establishing a European brewing location outside the UK. And the Brits, who currently have a brew-pub on Ackerstraße in Mitte, also know a thing or two about experiential gastronomy. Brewdog already run a 17-hectare beer amusement park in the USA — craft beer’s spiritual home. On Lankwitzer Allee in Mariendorf, they expect to re-open the restaurant and beer garden at the end of May. But Stone Brewing aren’t totally giving up on Germany — or at least on their grand Berlin plans. Their tap room in Prenzlauer Berg will stay open.

Address: Im Marienpark 23, Mariendorf

Directions: U-Bahn station Alt-Mariendorf

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