St. Stan's Brewery

St. Stan's Brewery is a microbrewery in Modesto, California. The company was established in 1984.

St. Stan's Brewery
IndustryAlcoholic beverage
PredecessorSt. Stans Brewery 1984
Foundedas corporation 2016
Founders
  • Rich Hodder
Headquarters
Modesto, California
,
U.S.
Area served
U.S.
Key people
Rich Hodder (president)
ProductsBeer
Websitewww.ststans.com

In 2017, St. Stan's reopened in downtown Modesto, with a taproom as well as offsite brewing of craft beers by their original brewmaster of 25 years, Bill Coffey, brewing originals such as Red Sky Ale, Whistlestop Pale Ale, Amber and Barley Wine, in addition to plans for some new styles.[1]

History

The brewery originally produced traditional German beer styles. St. Stan's was the first brewery in the United States to brew an Altbier style beer. The brewery was a leader in the microbrewery movement in the 1980s.

It was lead plaintiff in a 1997 class-action suit against Anheuser-Busch, which it accused of engaging in anti-competitive practices by coercing or bullying distributors to get them to stop distributing product for smaller breweries.[2][3] A Justice Department investigation was ended but the class-action lawsuit was unaffected.[4]

In 2008, Susan Little-Nell, a former owner of St. Stan's, was one of a number of craft breweries lobbying against an attempt by Anheuser-Busch to get California state law changed to allow it to give out free souvenirs up to $5 value rather than just $.25. She described the tough situation of small brewers in the face of "free-for-all promotional spending of international corporations."[5] The Nell's operations of St. Stans, both the brewery and the brewpub, closed on an unknown date, sometime in early 2015.[6]

References
  1. Rowland, Marijke (July 8, 2017). "You're about to be able to pour yourself a St. Stan's brew again, hallelujah". The Modesto Bee.
  2. Groves, Martha (July 30, 1997). "'Davids' Sue Beer Goliath". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  3. John R. Wilke and Bob Ortega (October 2, 1997). "Anheuser's Sales Practices Under Probe --- Justice Agency Investigates Charges Brewer Abuses Its Top Market Position". Wall Street Journal. p. A3.
  4. "Food: Vendor news". Discount Store News. Nov 23, 1998. p. 23.
  5. Hecht, Peter (July 22, 2008). "Battle brews between beer giant, small makers over free swag". McClatchy - Tribune Business News.
  6. Guerra, Patty (February 7, 2015). "Biz Beat: Modesto brewpub closes, but owner plans 'better-than-ever' future". The Modesto Bee.
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