by Eli Raffeld Stone Brewing Co. has defined the landscape of American craft beer for the last 16 years and continues to do so. Founded in 1996, by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch, Stone’s bold brews have converted many fizzy yellow beer drinkers into hopheads worldwide. In 2011, Stone produced 150,000 barrels of beer (nearly…

(a condensed version of this interview appeared in Japan Beer Times #9) When did you become passionate about craft beer? It was a gradual process that began with German beer when I was 19. I was in college and living in a small apartment, and across the street was a small bar where the owner…