This summer, we posed a simple yet serious question via our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ accounts—If Stone could brew ANY style of beer, what would you, our fans, want? Instantaneously, the interwebs started to buzz with ideas ranging from the outlandish to the ridiculous, straightforward to outrageous, adjunct-laced to style-stickling, best-drunk-fresh to barrel-aged. On Twitter and Google+ we were able to track responses using the #dreambeer hash-tag, which went crazy for the first 24 hours. After collecting all of the ideas that came through, we took some time to catalog them and do a bit of analysis. We discovered some things we already knew, like most of our fans crave IPAs and generally hop-forward beers, but we were surprised to find an overwhelming amount of interest in Stone brewing a hefeweizen or witbier (Not one, but two fans actually requested we bring back Stone Heat-Seeking Wheat?!?!). Actually, one of the coolest things that came out of the Stone #dreambeer experiment was seeing so many of our fans use their opportunity to have us make anything their mind could fathom to bring back beers we’ve already produced. Well, we listened and are bringing back one of our greatest hits!

Thanks to our fans’ vocal yearning, we are rebrewing and reissuing Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean. #dreambeer was the second time fans voiced their love for this beer, reconfirming the results of last year's head-to-head election wherein Stone Smoked Porter w/Vanilla Bean came out victorious over Stone Smoked Porter w/Chipotle Peppers. We heard you (twice, and now that dark, smoky, sultry beer will hit shelves in December, just in time for cozying up throughout the winter months—get your fireplaces, bear skin rugs and most appropriate ski lodge attire ready. As fans of this hearty yet elegant brew, we are happy to have such a brilliant reason to bring it back. So thank you, Stone fans, for taking the time to tell us what you want. We’re glad we can oblige! Other champions of the #dreambeer arena included Aleman/Two Brothers/Stone DayMan Coffee IPA, Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA and Baird/Ishii/Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA. It was rewarding to see how much these beers resonated with fans and, in some cases, pretty darn shocking to see how beloved some of our more envelope-pushing beers are among our devotees.

Then there were our fans’ many, many, many suggestions for brand new beers, many of which involved seldom-seen adjuncts and flavor enhancers. When reading through those submissions, we were sure to employ our own special ingredient—a grain of salt. It was obvious that some people were just joking around (it’s doubtful anyone really wants to see Stone New England Clam Chowder IPA), but for the most part, our fans took this hypothetical question seriously…even when suggesting ingredients like bacon, heather, avocado, saffron, Nutella and Sriracha. Each time we shared our #dreambeer results with our fans, we received yet more suggestions that we added to the master list. Almost every conceivable beer style and riff on our existing beers made it in. Triple Bastard Ale, anyone? Fans even named breweries they’d like to see us collaborate with, including Bell’s Brewery, Bootlegger's Brewery, and Russian River Brewing Company. Now that we’ve reached the end of the Stone #dreambeer process, we want to share some of the styles and unique ideas our fans dreamt up. This turned out to be an extremely worthwhile endeavor and one we’ll almost certainly embark on again. Thanks for chiming in. We’re in this craft beer thing together, and we’re thrilled to have opportunities like this that prove it!

Popular Styles: Doppelbock, Hefeweizen, IPA, Imperial Stout, Oyster Stout, Red Ale, Saison, Scotch Ale, Sour Ale, Stout, Wit
Interesting Suggestions Banana Chocolate Stout Dark Chocolate Stout w/Sea Salt Habanero Blood Orange IPA Horchata Milk Stout Mole Chocolate Porter Old Ale w/Black Strap Molasses & Pecans Persimmon Sour Ale PB&J Stout Samoa Stout w/Chocolate, Caramel & Coconut Sour Cherry Saison Tequila Barrel-Aged Amber Ale Triple Bastard Ale
Outlandish Ideas (that weren't jokes...we don't think) Barrel-Aged Blueberry IPA Bacon Cornbread Ale Cracked Pepper & Blackberry Nut Brown Ale Guacamole Beer Lemonade Double IPA Lobster Saffron Saison Mango-Peach Triple IPA Pickle IPA Root Beer Imperial Russian Stout Russian Indian Stout Sriracha Lager Tapatio IPA
Re-Release Requests Aleman/Two Brothers/Stone DayMan Coffee IPA Baird/Ishii/Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA Ballast Point/Kelsey McNair/Stone San Diego County Session Ale Bear Republic/Fat Head's/Stone TBA Crime Dogfish Head/Victory/Stone Saison du BUFF Green Flash/Pizza Port Carlsbad/Stone Highway 78 Scotch Ale Jason Fields & Kevin Sheppard/Tröegs/Stone Cherry Chocolate Stout Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Nut Porter Lukcy Basartd Ale Punishment Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic Ale Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale Stone 12.12.12 Vertical Epic Ale Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout Stone 13th Anniversary Ale Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA Stone Heat Seeking Wheat Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine aged in Bourbon Barrels Stone Smoked Porter w/Chipotle Peppers