"Stone is the largest independently owned brewery in Southern California - you just wouldn’t know it from their tiny Pasadena location. It’s a retail shop in a strip mall that does growler fills and beers by the glass, but in terms of selection and consistency, it’s among the best places in town to drink beer. They do $12 growler fills of their excellent flagship beers, and always have a unique selection of one-off experimental batches that are some of the best (and funkiest) beers you’ll ever have, like a sour that’s aged in tequila barrels with strawberry, or a high-alcohol oatmeal stout with chili peppers in it. They even age their kegs, so if you’re lucky, sometimes you’ll find a 6-year-old bourbon barrel barleywine that’s 18% ABV." - Brant Cox, Brett Keating
