On 12/12/12 I headed downtown to Blind Tiger Ale House for their Stone Vertical Epic series culmination event featuring eight of the series’ eleven vintages. While there I sat down with Dennis Flynn, the tristate area (NY,NJ,CT) Stone representative to capture a glimpse into what it’s like to work for Stone Brewing Company. As one of the most popular craft breweries he’s definitely kept quite busy; however the following quotes say it all about his pride for craft beer and Stone Brewing Company. “When I introduce myself to people I say that I’m first and foremost a craft beer enthusiast, then I just happen to work for Stone which is awesome” and “You know, a lot of people say I’m a lucky bastard  and I would have to agree.”

The following topics are covered in this episode:

• Denis’s history with Stone Brewing Company
• Growth of Stone’s number of employees
• Denis’s responsibilities as a sales representative
• Blind Tiger’s relationship with Stone Brewing Co.
• Description of the Blind Tiger Vertical Epic event
• What it takes to allocate special release beers for Stone events
• How Denis’s craft beer palate and passion have grown over the years
• Stone’s place in the NYC beer market – successes and challenges
• Not forgetting to revisit a brewery such as Stone’s core / year round line up while continuing your search for new and interesting craft beers
• Stone’s emphasis on the freshness of their hop forward beers – Enjoy By IPA and enjoy by dates on bottles
• What it takes to make sure that stores are selling the freshest hop forward beers
• The culture of Stone Brewing Co. – relationship between the brewery and its sales representatives
• The evolution of the Stone gargoyle – what it has come to represent over the years
• Looking towards the future of Stone Brewing Co. / each representative’s contribution to the growth of the brewery and craft beer as a whole.
• Stone’s culture outside its larger tristate markets

Note: My tasting notes of the Vertical Epic vintages that I tried will be posted in a separate blog post coming as soon as I finish typing them up.

Cheers!