Stone Brewing (formerly Stone Brewing Co.) is a brewery headquartered in Escondido, California, USA. Founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, it is the largest brewery in Southern California. Based on 2020 sales volume it is the ninth largest craft brewery in the United States. The brewery's first beer was Stone Pale Ale, which was considered to be its flagship ale until it was retired in 2015. The company's best known brand is Arrogant Bastard Ale, which has been described as a "watershed beer" that "put San Diego on the craft brew map." Most of Stone's beers are characteristic of west-coast craft brews, meaning that they have a high hop content. Compared to the macro-produced lagers, many Stone brews feature alcohol percentages that are well above average, ranging from 4.8% to 13%. Stone Brewing is rated as a "world class brewery" by the two largest beer enthusiast websites, RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. Stone Brewing has been voted by the readers of Beer Advocate as the #1 "All Time Top Brewery on Planet Earth." In June 2022, Stone and Sapporo Breweries announced that they had reached an agreement for Sapporo to purchase Stone Brewing, with the purchase expected to close in August 2022. History Stone opened in San Marcos in 1996 at the location currently home to Port Brewing Company and The Lost Abbey. Local designer/illustrator Thomas K. Matthews created the original gargoyle in 1996. He also drew the Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Ruination IPA, and Stone Levitation Ale gargoyles, as well as barley and hops motifs. Since 1999, the company has also operated its own distribution arm called Stone Distributing Company which services Southern California and represents more than 40 craft beer, cider and kombucha brands. In 2006, Stone relocated from the original brewery to a new, custom-designed facility in Escondido. In 2013, the company opened a packaging hall just south of the brewery which houses the bottling and keg lines. The brewery in Escondido produced 325,645 US beer barrels in 2015. The site is also home to a restaurant, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Escondido, an restaurant with a large outdoor patio and of gardens. The brewery also houses a Stone Company Store which sells Stone merchandise as well as 1- and 2-liter growlers and 40-ounce and can that can be filled with Stone's year-round beers and special releases. In May 2013 a second Stone Brewing World Bistro