{"id":505129,"date":"2026-10-23T06:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T06:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505129\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T06:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T06:38:09","slug":"stone-brewings-original-vision-gets-a-second-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505129\/","title":{"rendered":"Stone Brewing\u2019s Original Vision Gets a Second Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stone Brewing<\/a> helped change the way San Diego drinks beer. Now, two decades after opening its sprawling Escondido brewery and restaurant, cofounder Greg Koch is getting back into the business\u2014alongside longtime partner Steve Wagner\u2014to bring Stone World Bistro & Gardens back to life<\/a>. The original vision was bigger than a taproom with picnic tables: a destination where ambitious beer, serious food, and a sprawling outdoor space could coexist. At the time, Escondido\u2019s dining scene<\/a> didn\u2019t offer much beyond the usual chain restaurants, and craft beer was still fighting to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

On this week\u2019s Happy Half Hour<\/a>, host Troy Johnson talks with Koch about the early days of Stone, the years of grinding it out before anyone was paying attention, and the lonely, high-pressure reality of building a business around a dream. Koch recalls working 16-hour days, collecting stones on the beach to turn into beer tap handles, and trying to convince restaurants to give Stone\u2019s beer a chance. He also explains why craft beer helped push San Diego\u2019s food culture<\/a> forward, how Stone\u2019s gardens became part of the experience, and what he hopes to preserve\u2014and change\u2014as he and Wagner take the reins again. For Koch, the payoff isn\u2019t just the beer or the business. It\u2019s hearing the low roar of people eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves in a place he helped build.<\/p>\n

This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to Happy Half Hour wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stone Brewing helped change the way San Diego drinks beer. Now, two decades after opening its sprawling Escondido…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-505129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}