Stone Brewing Co. - Press Release

WHO: Stone Brewing Co.
WHAT: BioDiesel Fuels Beer Trucks
WHEN: February 2007
WHERE: All Over Southern California

Escondido, San Diego County, CA --- It may sound like something from a science fiction movie, but the Stone Brewing Co. is now fueling its trucks with something that smells good and tastes good: Arrogant Bastard Ale Onion Rings! Perhaps, the onion rings are a little bit of a stretch—but not far off, since the decade old brewery is now using a biodiesel blend in all of its delivery trucks.

One of Stone Brewing Co’s eight truck fleet

John Egan, Stone Brewing Co. Lead Brewer, proudly showing off that his truck is fueled by biodiesel.

Co-founders Steve Wagner and Greg Koch have always been concerned about impacts on the environment, so a switch to using biodiesel makes perfect sense. “One of our brewers has been making biodiesel for his personal truck for some time, and it only made sense that if he could do it on his own, we owed it to the environment to do the same,” said President and Brewmaster Steve Wagner.

For its delivery trucks, Stone Brewing Co. currently uses a biodiesel blend called B-20 (a fuel with 20% biodiesel), which equates to approximately 2,000 gallons per month of pure bio fuel being used (Stone currently uses about 10,000 gallons of fuel monthly). Stone, however, hopes to completely switch over to a B99 or B100 (pure biodiesel) later this year.

Stone Lead Brewer John Egan began converting waste vegetable oil (wvo) into biodiesel approximately two years ago. Knowing that any diesel engine can run on biodiesel without any conversions, he was instantly enthused about the opportunity. “It’s renewable, it’s good for the environment, it’s good for American farmers, and eliminates my contribution to foreign oil,” said Egan. He now runs a 1980 Mercedes and a 1999 Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel on the biodiesel he converts himself. His source: Stone’s legendary Arrogant Bastard Ale Onion Rings.

For years, the public has come to love the Arrogant Bastard Ale onion rings served each and every year at the Stone Anniversary Celebrations. Now, with the opening of the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, fans can get these delicious onion rings every day. The byproduct of these incredible, doughnut-sized appetizers is waste vegetable oil. So, as more Bistro-goers order them, along with the Stone Spud Buds (deep fried garlicky mashed potatoes), more oil is available for conversion by Egan. And he couldn’t be happier. “I can eat them at lunch, then take the by-product home to run my vehicles, how cool is that!”

Founded in 1996, Stone Brewing Co. is located in Escondido, CA and is one of the fastest growing breweries in the country. Additionally, Stone Brewing is one of the highest rated breweries in the world according to both RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com. For more info go to www.stonebrewing.com, or call the brewery at 760.471.4999 x1500.