• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Stone Brewing releases first beer in employee-inspired Stone Spotlight Series: Spröcketbier

April 23, 2014Keith Gribbins

Last year, the brew crew of Stone Brewing Co. participated in an intra-departmental competition dubbed the Stone Spotlight Series, in which teams of two competed for the opportunity to have a beer they devised brewed, packaged and distributed nationally. Stone wanted to “spotlight” the talented individuals that make up the Stone brewing team and encouraged them to explore what craft beer is truly about: ingenuity, creativity and … well, having fun.

Beginning today, the craft beer company is proud to unveil the inaugural prize-winning beer in the Stone Spotlight Series: Spröcketbier, a black rye Kölsch-style ale. Fans across the U.S. may purchase the limited-release beer in 22-ounce bottles and on draft at retailers, restaurants and bars in select markets nationwide.

Stone Quality Assurance Supervisor Rick Blankemeier and Production Warehouse Lead Robbie Chandler comprise the winning duo, Team Spröcket. Together, they gave birth to the champion beer recipe. Since both members of the brewing team regularly homebrew together, they used a previous recipe they had brewed for a rye Kölsch and added a Stone-like twist by adding more hops (naturally) and turned the traditionally golden beer dark by using black malt.

“We wanted to brew a low alcohol beer with lots of complex flavors and decided a Kölsch brewed with rye flakes and black malt would give us enough of a distinction to stand out in the competition,” explains Blankemeier in the press release. “Tasting it after it was brewed on the small batch brewing system, we recalled an old SNL skit called ‘Sprockets,’ which features Mike Myers as a West German expressionist. Robbie and I both felt our beer would be something the German character Dieter would enjoy and can imagine him saying it is ‘dark and easy to drink.’ Thus the beer got named, Spröcketbier.”

Despite its dark hue, the beer carries traditional Kölsch qualities — it’s light-bodied and refreshing, with relatively modest alcohol content. Typically a style that’s pale in appearance, Spröcketbier used carafa malt which lends the beer its onyx color and adds a subtle roast character. The use of a Kölsch yeast strain gives the beer an overall crisp flavor, while flaked rye malt adds complex spiciness. Late hop additions in the whirlpool also contribute slight citrus and spice aromatics to the beer. All of these traits make for a brew that’s unique, Stone-esque and definitely ahead of its time.

“Stone Co-founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, and I were very impressed with the beer submissions received from the 20 brewing teams,” said Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele. “The beers were all fantastic and it was a very tough decision, but Spröcketbier had a little bit of that extra Stone character that the three of us were ultimately looking for.”

Spröcketbier is intended to be enjoyed fresh within 120 days from its bottling or kegging date. Blankemeier and Chandler ’s brainchild brew will be available in very limited quantities, but fans may look forward to enjoying future beer releases from the Stone Spotlight Series that showcase Stone’s brewing talent.

Enter Night Stone Brewing
Watch Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch kick back beers with Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, discussing Enter Night Pilsner
Stone Brewing opens taproom in Shanghai (enjoy some photos)
Stone Brewing Richmond will have to demo future bistro building (1937 Terminal Warehouse)
Enjoy this video of Stone Berlin’s first anniversary party, which you missed like a total buster

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. crsimp01 says

    April 23, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    Stone Brewing Co.’s first beer in employee’s Stone Spotlight Series http://t.co/H4GiJiuPWw via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply
  2. cleveactbrew says

    April 23, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: Stone Brewing releases first beer in employee-inspired Stone Spotlight Series @StoneBrewing http://t.co/Un1A7dvFdB

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Craftpeak launches Square integration within its digital storefront
  • Why (and how) Cabarrus Brewing will stick with online sales post-lockdown
  • Marketing Idea of the Week: CraftHaus Brewery’s scratch ‘n sniff cans
  • Portland Cider Co. donates $12,500 to Hunger-Free Schools

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • libdib online beer distributorWhy (and how) Cabarrus Brewing will stick with online sales post-lockdown
    February 25, 2021
  • craft beer consumer tastesCraft Beer Consumer Habits in February 2021: Are on-site attitudes changing?
    February 24, 2021
  • No and low alcohol beer grew 30+ percent last year, now enjoy some big haps in the NA beer sector
    February 23, 2021
  • How to Seduce a Distributor: The importance of branding, common misconceptions and automatic disqualifiers
    February 22, 2021
  • I would totally sit in a hot tub of hops and drink chill pints at this new beer spa in Denver
    February 18, 2021
  • truly hard seltzer‘Truly’ crushing it: Boston Beer nets over $1.7 billion in 2020 revenue
    February 18, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by