Is Stone Brewing Officially Coming To Richmond?

Sure, so it wasn’t Roanoke.

But according to all reports, the Star City did well in the running for Stone Brewing’s east coast brewery expansion project, making it well into the final rounds of the decision making process. And after Roanoke was dropped from consideration, for many craft curious in the area, the question then became something along the lines of… wouldn’t it be something if those Stone IPAs were being brewed just a few hours away? Because a few hour drive to Richmond – a city that has been actively named in the rumors also since the beginning – seems well worth it to land (very) freshly brewed batches of some of the most sought after craft beers in the country. Still, it seemed as if there were still at least a couple of other, non Virginia cities in the running, at least up until yesterday afternoon.

But just after 4pm Wednesday, the Richmond Times Dispatch posted a story on their website stating that Richmond city officials and Governor Terry McAuliffe were planning to make some sort of economic development statement on Thursday, and “sources” were saying that it involved the Escondido, California based company.

If you believe the action on Facebook and Twitter, Richmond has already landed the deal. Regardless of its exact nature, however, the announcement will hopefully shed some light on the rumors that began circulating on social media after those news reports came out.

With any luck, it’ll let us know that in the not so far off future, a relatively short, three hour drive to Richmond will not only mean we can visit the city’s own existing and eclectic mix of breweries in order to taste their beer, but also to perhaps taste some incredibly fresh Stone IPA that’s being brewed right just down the street from them as well.