Stone & Wood (Lion/Kirin)

The Stone & Wood story is the closest you'll come to a fairy tale in the world of Australian brewing. It's the story of three friends who'd done rather well for themselves in the world of big league brewing and decided to head off and do it for themselves in one of the country's most beautiful spots. And do it rather well, as it turns out.

The three friends are Brad Rogers, Jamie Cook and Ross Jurisich, who worked together at Matilda Bay, CUB's craft beer arm, having come through the ranks at Foster's. During that time, Brad tweaked old recipes and introduced a number of impressive limited release beers at the Garage brewery before the trio decided to up sticks to Byron Bay and start their own brewery in 2008. As they stated on their website back then: "Our dream was to quit 'working for the man', shed the corporate garbage and get back to basics."

They kicked off with two core beers, a Pale Lager created in a subtle Germanic style, and a Draught Ale inspired by the beers made by European microbreweries that were designed to be drunk fresh within a few kilometres of the brewery. The latter – which was the best example of the qualities of the Galaxy hop – proved so popular when a few kegs were sent further afield that it had to be packaged to meet drinkers' demands. As a result, at the end of 2010 it was renamed Pacific Ale given it had left its draught roots well behind. Given it's inspired scores of imitators since and sells well over ten million litres a year, you've likely heard of it...

The range has evolved over times, with the likes of Cloud Catcher becoming a permanent release and many others – often created in collaboration with people from far outside the beer world – have followed, helping Stone & Wood pick up some major trophies along the way.

Such has been the phenomenal success of the Pacific Ale that they reached a point where it was physically impossible to fit any more fermenters into their Byron Bay home – or work any more hours in the day. So, in the first half of 2014 a second, larger site was opened in Murwillumbah to help meet the insatiable demand for Pacific Ale at which they keep adding more breweries and tanks.

With the opening of the new brewery, the original site in Byron became more of a hub for the public to come and experience what Stone & Wood is about, as well as the place they brew their limited run beers. And now that's been usurped too, with the brewery moving to a custom-built new site – complete with colourful venue – just around the corner.

Look out for the occasional special events there featuring new beer releases, local artists and the best of local produce, or join one of the brewery tours and enjoy samples at the tasting bar in front of the tanks. Brisbane's beer lovers can enjoy the Stone & Wood experience at source these days too, following the opening of a brewpub in Fortitude Valley.

Having blazed a remarkable trail for craft beer in Australia, in August 2021 the brewing company's founders agreed to sell the Fermentum Group, which includes other drinks brands such as Fixation, Two Birds and Forest For The Trees, to Lion/Kirin in a deal that sent shockwaves through the local beer industry.

Read our retrospective on ten years of Pacific Ale here

Name
Stone & Wood (Lion/Kirin)
Address

100 Centennial Circuit
Byron Bay
NSW 2481

Phone
(02) 6685 5173
Regular events

Stone & Wood Brewer Experience (fortnightly)
Details here
Join the Beer Club for exclusive news, videos, beers & more

Open Hours

Cellar Door
Mon to Fri: 10am to 5pm
Sat & Sun: midday to 6pm

Tasting room
Mon to Fri: 10am to 5pm
Sat & Sun – midday to 6pm

Tours

All week (except Tues)

$30 per person – book here


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

The Specials

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Disco Queen
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: After The Harvest
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Edge Of The Earth IPA
Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2022
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Who Really Is Wayne Dubois?
Stone & Wood & Afends Crop Circles
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Bloom Springs
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Dark Unicorn
Stone & Wood Tequila Queen & Sticky Nectar 2021
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Peachy Cheeks
Stone & Wood Counter Culture: The Holy Grain
Show 47 more

Stone & Wood (Lion/Kirin) Regulars

Stone & Wood Green Coast Crisp

Published September 8, 2021
“The official beer of the Wallabies” “A mid-strength lager in a clear glass bottle” Neither of those are phrases you’d be accustomed to finding on the pages of The Crafty Pint, particularly the latter, but it does highlight just how many different directions the beer world is turning. In September 2021, a couple of weeks on from releasing a Salted Choc Scotch Ale, Stone & Wood unveiled the newest member of their core range, Green Coast Lager 3.5% – since renamed Green Coast Crisp. Like… Read more
Style
Mid-strength Lager
ABV
3.5%

Stone & Wood Pacific Ale (Cans)

Published January 22, 2019
As Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale waltzes into its second decade, the beer that’s inspired countless other locally brewed, refreshingly tropical releases has made the permanent move into cans. The beer will still be available as a stubby but the beer’s latest evolution – one that plenty have clamoured for – shows how prevalent the can has become for craft brewers in Australia and seems particularly suitable considering this was always a beer designed for enjoying after hot days in the surf… Read more
Style
Pacific Ale
ABV
4.4%

Stone & Wood Green Coast Lager

Published September 4, 2015
Spring is usually a good time for a refresh. And that's what's happened at Stone & Wood in 2015. They took their Lager – their second biggest-selling beer – and gave it a makeover, including giving it a new name; just as the likes of Jasper and Pacific were chosen to conjure a feeling for the place in which they are brewed, the Lager is now Green Coast. Otherwise, however, it's been left as is: a malt-driven, European style lager with soft, herbal hops wafting by like a gentle sea breeze… Read more
Style
Kellerbier
ABV
4.7%
Stockists

Available nationwide

Stone & Wood Garden Ale

Published August 18, 2015
Stone & Wood's Garden Ale has been around in one form or another as an annual release for a few years now, originally featuring juniper berries before being tweaked steadily over time. If you lived close to the brewery, you could get it year round, however. And now, as of August 2015, so can everyone else. The beer – always a sub-four percent ABV beer inspired by summertime beer garden quaffing, has joined stablemates Pacific Ale, Jasper and Lager as a permanent nationwide release, available… Read more
Style
English Bitter
ABV
3.5%

Stone & Wood Cloud Catcher

Published July 8, 2014
To mark the opening of their second brewery in the Northern Rivers region of NSW (and presumably also marking the sense of relief that comes with being able to supply Pacific Ale to the many who've been craving it), Stone & Wood created a new beer. Taking its name from the Aboriginal name for Mt Warning, which stands over the new site in Murwillumbah, it's as much a celebration of what the brewery stands for too. In other words, it's bright and balanced and comes chockfull of Aussie hops. It… Read more
Style
Australian Pale Ale
ABV
5.0%

Stone & Wood Pale Lager – RETIRED

The first beer released by Stone & Wood is their recreation of the pale lagers favoured by German brewers, inspired by days enjoying steins in Munich's beer gardens. Using imported German grain and noble European hops, the former lends it honeyed and biscuity characteristics, the latter a subtle bitterness. Another refreshing quaffer borne of its surroundings.… Read more
Style
Pale Lager
ABV
4.7%

Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

In 2008, three mates traded careers in big beer for a move to the tranquility and beauty of Byron Bay. Their plan was to start a new brewery from the ground up and they had in their armoury a recipe for a beer they called Draught Ale, designed to be served fresh on tap within close range of the brewery. This was a beer made in Byron to be enjoyed in Byron. But it proved so popular it simply couldn’t be contained – as soon as a few kegs were sent further afield to test the waters, there was no… Read more
Style
Australian Ale
ABV
4.4%

Stone & Wood Jasper

Anyone paying close attention to goings on at Stone & Wood for the past couple of years, if asked to choose what style of beer they might next add to their roster, may well have plumped for a red-hued ale. Their beer for last year's inaugural Great Australasian Beer Spectapular was the Red Relief Ale, while they've been tweaking their annual Stone Beer release year-on-year too. And so it is, with the Jasper - inspired by the colour of the earth of the hinterland that borders their Byron Bay home… Read more
Style
Amber Ale
ABV
4.7%

Stone & Wood (Lion/Kirin) Specials

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Disco Queen

Published February 1, 2023
One more queen to go and Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series will have a full set of liquid playing cards to hand, with Disco Queen joining series debutant Killer Kween and spring 2020's Tequila Queen as their opening gambit of 2023. And in keeping with her predecessors, Disco Queen is a fruity affair. At a time when the boundaries between drinks categories have become increasingly blurred, and more people drink across different categories even in a single session, she's also a transgressive… Read more
Style
Pink Lemonade Sour
ABV
6.0%

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: After The Harvest

Published October 11, 2022
For the most part, Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series has focused on creating beers at the cutting edge of the contemporary craft beer scene, or at least nudging the envelope with tongue, if not always planted, then at least hovering close to cheek. There's been something of a switch with the last couple, however. They closed summer 2022 with a celebration of Tasmanian hops in a dank and in no little way bitter IPA; now they follow up with a beer celebrating harvest of another kind (or belatedly… Read more
Style
Imperial Yuzu Witbier
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Find your nearest After The Harvest stockist here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Edge Of The Earth IPA

Published August 29, 2022
Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series has flitted between flights of fancy and beers that might sit far from their core range in terms of concept and character yet are relatively sane by the standards of the wilder realms of today's beer world. Edge Of The Earth sounds like something from the former camp, but turns out to be more of the latter, its name a reference to Australia's southernmost state – or at least the hops that grow within the Derwent Valley. The brewers have chosen four of Hop… Read more
Style
Tasmanian IPA
ABV
6.6%
Stockists

Find stockists here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2022

Published June 18, 2022
It's a sign of the growing maturity (in some senses, at least) of the local craft beer industry that I've spent a fair bit of time over the past few days writing about beers that have many, many years under their belts. That includes Stone & Wood's Stone Beer, which started out as a bit of fun for the Byron Bay brewery's founders and has evolved a little over the years before settling upon "wood-fired porter". These days it comes with not only its own brew day celebration but a festival… Read more
Style
Wood-Fired Porter
ABV
6.4%
Stockists

Find Stone Beer 2022 here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Who Really Is Wayne Dubois?

Published May 5, 2022
The Crafty clan has a close family friend with whom we go camping several times each year. And she is the only person for whom I've yet to find a beer she enjoys. I've tried everything I can think of, all manner of styles and many an occasion, but she knows what she likes, and she's good at it too. For the most part, it's a pinot noir or a shiraz, either (or both) of which she'll happily sit on late into the night, only to rise the following morning as if she's not touched a drop – fresh as a daisy… Read more
Style
Sparkling Shiraz Sour
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood & Afends Crop Circles

Published January 31, 2022
A theme running through Stone & Wood's limited release beers from their early days has been a fondness for collaboration, but rarely with others from the beer industry. While there have been exceptions, for the most part those invited to join them on brew days have been drawn from elsewhere: artists, surfers, musicians, chefs and so on. With Crop Circles – which appears to be a Counter Culture release in all but name – they've again looked outside the beer bubble and partnered with Afends,… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale with Mango, Macadamia & Hemp Seed
ABV
5.0%
Stockists

Buy online

Or find Crop Circles here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Bloom Springs

Published November 4, 2021
Counter Culture is up to release number 14 already, eh? Well, I never. Doesn't seem that long since I was sneakily making tasting notes for Killer Kween in a mate's back garden, hoping nobody at the 50th birthday party would notice the imposition – or at least not cast me as some sort of beer weirdo given this was a family affair populated mostly by people well outside the beer bubble. The lengths we go to for our jobs, hey... It's also the first brewed since Stone & Wood's founders agreed… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.4%

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Dark Unicorn

Published August 26, 2021
Stone & Wood’s Counter Culture beers have included no shortage of very sweet items since launching – well, what do you expect when you turn French toast into a liquid – so it would be easy to assume the 13th in the limited release series would be among the sweetest. After all, when you call a beer Dark Unicorn and label it a Salted Choc Scotch Ale, it does all feel a bit like a special ice cream flavour more than a beer. Instead, what we have is a beer that's one of the closest, well,… Read more
Style
Salted Choc Scotch Ale
ABV
7.6%

Stone & Wood Tequila Queen & Sticky Nectar 2021

Published May 25, 2021
Ahead of an event at Good Beer Week 2021 (henceforth to be known as the festival that scraped through by the skin of its teeth), Stone & Wood held a public vote to see which of their Counter Culture releases should be brought back in cans. The public got it wrong, of course, as Killer Kween didn't make the cut, but it does mean fans of Sticky Nectar and Tequila Queen get to tuck in again. Tequila Queen is one of the more recent Counter Culture releases, debuting in August last year. If you missed… Read more
Style
Oak-Aged Margarita Sour & Mango Milkshake IPA
ABV
7.0% & 6.5%

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Peachy Cheeks

Published April 15, 2021
The eleventh release in Stone & Wood’s Culture Culture series is a collaboration between the brewery and Northern Rivers neighbours, the LGBTQIA+ organisation, Queer Family Inc. Peachy Cheeks is a Bellini-inspired peach sour that features artwork from Nina Hurr, with profits from the beer heading to the charity that works to build a community for LGBTQIA+ people in the Northern Rivers. The beer inside the glorious can pours with smooth layers of peach, mango and apricot, a combination that… Read more
Style
Peach Bellini Sour
ABV
6.69%

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: The Holy Grain

Published February 10, 2021
Given the era in which we live right now, I suspect most eyes will be drawn to the words "Hazy IPA" on the label of Stone & Wood's tenth Counter Culture release. In such cases, drinkers attuned to brekkie juice-like DIPAs might be a little surprised by the low level of opacity in The Holy Grail. In my case, I have to admit its appearance in the glass had me thinking of saisons; with hindsight, that could be down to the label directing my subconscious towards the Olde Worlde stylings… Read more
Style
Honey Toasted Hazy IPA
ABV
6.2%
Stockists

Find The Holy Grain here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: The Earl Of Swirl

Published November 3, 2020
Given vast swathes of the local brewing industry have decided to dedicate a significant portion – if not all – of their time in the brewery working out how to include anything but the traditional water, malt, hops and yeast in their beers, it must be increasingly challenging to make a standout statement when you only choose to do such things a few times a year. Thus, with Stone & Wood's Counter Culture offshoot, it increasingly feels like the liquid element of each project is just part of… Read more
Style
Berry Cream Sour
ABV
6.9%
Stockists

For more info and nearest stockists head here

Stone & Wood East Point – RETIRED

Published October 9, 2020
The past few years have seen mid-strengths become mainstays in many a brewery's lineup, with the growing popularity of fruity sours, which often sit in that sub-4 percent ABV space, giving drinkers wanting to keep a lid on things more options than ever before. What's more, as 2020 has progressed, despite it being the sort of year that might drive you to pick up the strongest drink in the fridge, we've seen non-alcoholic beers become very much part of the landscape. But what about the space in between:… Read more
Style
Lower Alcohol Mixed Ferment Beer
ABV
2.7%
Stockists

Find your nearest East Point here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Tequila Queen

Published August 19, 2020
The Queen is back. Not the Kween, mind you, rather a new Queen as Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series returns, sorta, to where it began: with a twisted playing card queen wrapped around a beer inspired by a non-beer. Whereas Killer Kween's imperial raspberry Berliner Weisse was reminiscent of a rosĂ©, Tequila Queen is, as you might guess, their malt, water, hops and yeast (and Arette Tequila, lime juice, Cointreau, salt and American oak) take on a margarita. And, while the titular queen sports… Read more
Style
Oak-Aged Margarita Sour
ABV
7.0%
Bitterness
9 to 12 IBU
Stockists

Find your Queen here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2020

Published July 15, 2020
One of the highlights of each year at Stone & Wood – both for their staff and invited guests – is the Stone Brew Day. It's a tradition stretching back a decade that sees them create a batch of beer into which is dropped a collection of rocks that have been heated in a fire on the brewery grounds throughout the day to aid caramelisation and pay tribute to an old brewing technique. Due to COVID-19, the brewery team was unable to host the brew day shindig, but the beer lives on. It's still tagged… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
6.6%

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: G3 Hazy DIPA

Published April 3, 2020
Stone & Wood define their Counter Culture releases as beers that "go against the grain". When you're looking at a fruity imperial Berliner Weisse, French toast in a glass or a Berocca-aping beer (not Hydralyte as I said in the write up...), you can see where they're coming from. But a hazy double IPA? Swimming with the tide, you might say. Although, in this case, maybe it's that the brewers have got something against the grain? After all, they are asking it to do some pretty heavy lifting,… Read more
Style
Hazy DIPA
ABV
7.6%
Bitterness
72 IBU
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: REINVIGAM8

Published February 5, 2020
HEXAGONS=SCIENCE. Brewed with all the important sounding compounds... Directions for use that include: "Lift can to pouted lips, set approximately 1cm apart." There's always been an element of fun and humour at play with Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series, whether in the concept or the way the beers are named and presented. Sure, the brewers take the process of meeting their brief and delivering quality beers seriously, but how can a beer called Killer Kween or one based on French… Read more
Style
Hydralyte Beer
ABV
2.7%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture Lovely Bubbly

Published December 15, 2019
Given the outrageous success they enjoyed with the first Counter Culture beer, Killer Kween, it's easy to see why Stone & Wood would return to such a place later in the series. Where the former was a big, rosĂ© like, raspberry Berliner Weisse, here they've homed in on summery bubbles in the shape of a beery spin on a Brut RosĂ©, one delivered in quite delightful Art Deco inspired tallboy tinnies. In attempting to reach their end goal, the brewers laid their hands on a few non-traditional beer… Read more
Style
Beer-Wine Hybrids
ABV
6.0%
Stockists

Find your nearest Bubbly here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: So Long Darkness..?

Published October 11, 2019
Well, thanks for putting Simon & Garfunkel in my head ever since I cracked a can, Stone & Wood. Ah well, nothing a burst of Bonnie "Prince" Billy can't remedy. Although... can I see a darkness? The fourth Counter Culture release from Stone & Wood is one that brings to mind both the wine world's Riedel blind tasting glassware and black IPAs, with So Long Darkness..? their attempt to create a mind-bender that isn't as it seems. It's a pale stout: a beer with a character at odds… Read more
Style
White Stout
ABV
5.9%
Bitterness
35 IBU
Stockists

Find your nearest So Long Darkness..? here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: It'd Be Rude Not To

Published August 1, 2019
Stone & Wood's Counter Culture series is proving rather popular and, following the imperial raspberry Berliner Weisse that topped our mid-year Best New Beers poll and the hazy mango IPA that followed, they're heading even further into artery-troubling territory with number three. It's called It'd Be Rude Not To and is tagged an imperial milk stout, yet is rather more than that: laden with maple syrup, vanilla beans and five kilos of cinnamon, it's the brewers' stab at recreating French toast… Read more
Style
Imperial Milk Stout
ABV
7.4%
Bitterness
40 IBU
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2019

Published June 10, 2019
For many people whose good beer awakenings were rooted in the early 2010s, Stone & Wood's Stone Beer would have been their first introduction to a true seasonal. As we approach the 2020s, in an age of beers brewed with bodily yeasts and fried chicken or inside amphorae and taxidermy roadkill, using mere red hot volcanic rocks certainly seems passĂ©. And compared to their most recent Counter Culture release, a sticky mango IPA, a wood-fired porter in 2019 feels positively wholesome. You probably… Read more
Style
Smoked Porter
ABV
7.2%
Stockists

Find yours from June 10 via Stone & Wood's beer finder

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Sticky Nectar

Published May 13, 2019
Stone & Wood launched their Counter Culture series of tallboy tinnies filled with beers a far cry from those upon which they've made their name and built a craft beer empire. Killer Kween was a 7 percent-plus raspberry Berliner Weisse of remarkable drinkability and now has a partner-in-fruity-crime. That said, release two is a beer that predates the Kween, with Sticky Nectar first appearing on taps in 2018 and subsequently appearing in our Best New NSW Beers Of 2018 list, picking up more individual… Read more
Style
Hazy Mango IPA
ABV
6.5%
Bitterness
45 IBU
Stockists

Join the team for the Sticky Nectar national launch at the Great Northern as part of Good Beer Week 2019

Then find the beer here

Stone & Wood Counter Culture: Killer Kween

Published March 18, 2019
Stone & Wood have released the first beer in an offshoot series focusing on far more experimental beers than you'd normally expect from the brewery – and it's one that's as alliterative as it is pop culturally apposite. Bearing both curly Cs and kicking Ks, not to mention a rather stern-looking ruler, Counter Culture volume one is, like the hit film of recent months, a Killer Kween. First, some stats. The beer – an imperial Berliner Weisse – features no less than 1.2 tonnes of raspberries.… Read more
Style
Imperial Raspberry Berliner Weisse
ABV
7.6%
Stockists

There's a launch party at The Mill as part of Brewsvegas 2019 on March 18.

Then the beer is on sale nationwide.

Stone & Wood SWX Imperial Stout

Published November 11, 2018
On November 28, Stone & Wood will mark ten years of beers. They've got all manner of plans in place – not to mention a new brewpub coming online in Brisbane – and among them is this beer. It couldn't be much further from the beer upon which the business has been built, but it's certainly the sort you pull out for a special occasion: an imperial stout aged for ten months in former Port barrels. The choice of fortified wine barrels rather than the bourbon or whisky more typically used for barrel… Read more
Style
Port Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
ABV
10.0%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Or order a limited edition pack direct from the brewery here

Stone & Wood Pilot Batch: Sticky Nectar Mango IPA

Published October 5, 2018
Stone & Wood might be known for one beer above all else but the brewery has always brewed plenty of limited release beers too, arguably never more than now. Rarely, though, do those make their way much beyond the Byron Bay tasting room. Thus, Sticky Nectar Mango IPA represents something of a shift for the brewery, not just because it’s been widely released on Australia’s East Coast but also because it's an IPA, a style the brewery has shied away from in the past, leaving it in the capable… Read more
Style
Mango IPA
ABV
6.5%
Bitterness
45 iBU
Stockists

Sticky Nectar was sent here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2018

Published June 14, 2018
Well, that'll teach us to make assumptions... When writing about the 2017 Stone Beer release from Stone & Wood, we said: "Yet, after changing the recipe around regularly in the early years, it would seem they've got the desired outcome pretty much locked in these days." Clearly not, as this year there's a new look, a new beer, higher alcohol content and they've even given it a style descriptor: wood fired porter. That said, the process remains the same: invite a bunch of mates to Byron… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
7.5%
Stockists

Find Stone Beer here

And the barrel aged version here

Stone & Wood The Prequel

Published May 4, 2018
You could argue that in the Australian craft beer industry there was the period BP and one AP – Before Pacific Ale and After Pacific Ale – such has been the impact of Stone & Wood's all-conquering flagship beer. Students of the local beer world will be aware that BP there was Draught Ale, the beer's original name. But it turns out that, even before that – at least in trial form – there was another beer, the "Father of Pacific Ale". So, as the brewery closes in on its tenth anniversary,… Read more
Style
Double Pacific Ale
ABV
6.8%
Bitterness
45 IBU
Stockists

August 2018 release stockists

Stone & Wood Pilot Batch: Wilderness Honey Cream Ale

Published March 15, 2018
It may come under the Pilot Batch tag but this autumn 2018 release from Stone & Wood bears all the hallmarks of the brewery's old Mash Collective project. There they would bring together people from outside the beer world to help create a beer: musicians, artists, craftspeople, surfers; chefs and so on. Here it's a trio made up of "wild chef" (referring to the source of her ingredients and inspiration rather than any coke 'n' fist fights behaviour in the kitchen) Sarah Glover, inventor… Read more
Style
Spiced Honey Cream Ale
ABV
5.3%
Bitterness
29 IBU
Stockists

Find Wilderness here

Stone & Wood & Brewsvegas & OzHarvest Hoppy Potato Ale

Published March 6, 2018
The humble spud gives us so many wonderful foods – chips, wedges, gems, hash browns, mash, loaded spuds, crisps... even vodka if, for some reason, that's your thing. And now it's given us the Hoppy Potato Ale. It's the official beer of Brewsvegas 2018, Brisbane’s weeklong, citywide celebration of good beer. Stone & Wood teamed up with Brewsvegas and food rescue organisation OzHarvest, which collects surplus food from businesses around the country and delivers nutritious meals to charities… Read more
Stockists

Find Hoppy Potato Ale here

Stone & Wood The Gatherer 2018

Published January 19, 2018
The latest in this series showcasing the native produce of Stone & Wood’s home region of Northern New South Wales is the most colourful to date – in every sense. To an American wheat beer base, the brewers this year added Northern Rivers finger limes and river mint along with sour cherries and the brewery's beloved Galaxy hops. We reckon it’s the finger limes that dominate the aroma first up, adding a lively citrus character to that of the hops, supported by a sherbety sweetness and something… Read more
Style
Spiced American Wheat Beer
ABV
4.6%
Stockists

Find stockists or buy it direct from the brewery here

Stone & Wood and Blair Hayden Forefathers 2017

Published August 22, 2017
One of the joys of travelling back to see family in the UK in the early years after moving to Australia was making one's way to the local pub and ordering a pint of cask conditioned English pale ale. The contrast between its refreshing subtleties and some of the bolder, highly carbonated craft beers that were starting to become popular Down Under was a welcome pleasure. And, after a few weeks when the palate was crying out for something more ballsy, we knew there would be plenty to do the trick once… Read more
Style
English Pale Ale
ABV
5.6%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Jasper Ale (2017 Onwards)

Published August 3, 2017
Jasper is the red ale that's been part of the Stone & Wood lineup for years. Yet we'd wager there are plenty of fans of the brewery who have little idea the beer exists. While Pacific Ale has led the way and many seasonals, not least the annual Stone Beer, have made waves, Jasper has tended to be the brewery's equivalent of Marlon in the Jackson 5. But Jasper, which took out Best British Style Ale at the 2017 Australian International Beer Awards, has been refurbished – inside and out. Starting… Read more
Style
Red Ale
ABV
5.4%
Stockists

Find the beer using the brewery's beer finder

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2017

Published June 14, 2017
By the very nature of its conception, each year's Stone Beer is a little different. After all, it's brewed as part of a celebration at Stone & Wood's Byron Bay home, to which friends and family are invited and can get involved in the almost ceremonial process of building a fire large and hot enough to heat the volcanic stones that will be lowered into the kettle to add an extra layer of caramelisation to the finished beer. Yet, after changing the recipe around regularly in the early years, it… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Find stockists here

Order online here

Stone & Wood The Gatherer 2017

Published January 18, 2017
Last year, Stone & Wood launched a new seasonal series celebrating the brewery's home region in Northern New South Wales. It went by the name The Forager and launched with a witbier spiced with locally sourced coriander and bitter orange. They've since discovered another local brewery had used the name Forager for a beer a while back, hence renaming theirs as The Gatherer from now on. Minor background tidy up over, what does it mean on the beer front? This time around, the base is an American… Read more
Style
American Wheat
ABV
5.0%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Or order it online from the brewery here

Stone & Wood 2016 Essentials Box

Published November 27, 2016
Another mixed pack for your consideration this Summer, this time from Stone & Wood. And there's nothing new or limited release here, instead a reminder of what the Northern Rivers brewery delivers for its fans year round. That means 500ml bottles of each of its four core beers, the hugely popular Pacific Ale, the unfiltered kellerbier style lager Green Coast, the delicately floral and peachy English beer garden style quaffer Garden Ale and the quiet one, Jasper the red ale. The four-packs are… Read more
Style
Various
Stockists

Find the Essentials Box here

Stone & Wood & Willie Simpson Forefathers 2016

Published August 22, 2016
In 2015, Stone & Wood decided to start paying tribute to the people without whom the local beer landscape would look very little like it does today. They did so by inviting Phil Sexton, a founder of the Sail & Anchor, Matilda Bay and Little Creatures (and much else besides) to brew with them. And now, for their second Forefathers release, they invited Willie Simpson up from Tasmania to join them at the brewery. For those who've not heard of Willie, he's a guy who, for some reason even he… Read more
Style
Doppelbock
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Find Forefathers 2016 from August 22 here

Stone & Wood Brewing Stone Beer 2016

Published May 21, 2016
Stone & Wood's Stone Beer has become more than an annual release that pays homage to an old brewing style (while making use of head brewer Brad Roger's collection of volcanic stones). These days, the brewery uses it as an excuse to bring friends from the beer world to its Byron Bay home for a day long celebration of what they do as a fire is built, rocks heated and then added to the beer in the kettle. One imagines there's plenty of celebration going on around the brewery now too, following their… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Find it here

Stone & Wood Big Scrub New Age Lager

Published April 21, 2016
When up in Byron Bay earlier this month, there were a few new, yet-to-come and probably-won't-be-seen-widely things to spy and sample along the way. There was Baltic porter on tap in the morning, a pilot batch Belgian tripel and new Fixation beer still in tank, the brewing of this year's Stone Beer and hints of new projects of a more physical nature. But they managed to keep Big Scrub quiet (unless we weren't listening at that point) despite the fact it was ready for release. It's the latest in their… Read more
Style
India Pale Lager
ABV
5.5%
Stockists

Find it here

Stone & Wood The Forager 2016

Published January 21, 2016
Stone & Wood has kicked off 2016 with a new beer that will be the first in an ongoing seasonal series. It's called The Forager and they say the inspiration, as for many of their beers, comes from their home turf in Northern New South Wales and "the search for wild food and a slower way of living". The intention is that each Forager will feature a different recipe that makes use of herbs and spices sourced locally. That said, while past releases – particularly under their Mash Collective… Read more
Style
Witbier
ABV
4.8%
Stockists

Find your nearest Forager here

Stone & Wood Mash Collective: Dead East Ale

Published October 19, 2015
The Mash Collective is Stone & Wood's side project that sees them unite their brewers with colourful, creative characters who call their part of the world home. For the fifth release – following last year's epic Heartbreaker – the guest collaborators were artist Paul McNeil, surfer Asher Pacey and restaurateur Jeff Bennett, who sat down with the brewers in Byron Bay, worked their way through a broad range of beers, decided what they'd like to encapsulate their brew, and ended up with Dead… Read more
Style
Amber Ale
ABV
5.0%
Bitterness
30-35 IBU
Stockists

Find stockists here

Stone & Wood Forefathers Phil Sexton English Brown

Published August 26, 2015
What better way to educate the new generation of beer drinkers about the past than via beer? That's what Stone & Wood is doing with its Forefathers series, annual releases they'll create in conjunction with people they acknowledge as pivotal in beer's renaissance in Australia. First to the oche is Phil Sexton, co-founder of the Sail & Anchor, Matilda Bay and Little Creatures (not to mention the creator of the first ever American IPA and founder of multiple wineries) with whom they've conceived… Read more
Style
English Brown
ABV
4.8%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Smoky Jasper 2015

Published July 8, 2015
Last year, the Stone & Wood brewers had a play with the red ale, Jasper, that probably gets the least attention of all beer in their core range from drinkers. Back then, the brewers – inspired fires in the local cane fields – gathered some local paperbark and set about smoking some malt, then added some traditional German smoked malt and worked it into the original Jasper recipe to which it added a "distinct smoldering character". This time around, the reworking has a similarly… Read more
Style
Smoked Red Ale
ABV
4.7%
Stockists

Find stockists nationwide here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2015

Published May 16, 2015
Earlier this year, Stone & Wood once again invited friends from inside and outside the beer world to their Byron Bay home for the annual brewing of their Stone Beer – the one that involves heating volcanic rocks from Fiji in a fire on the driveway before dropping them into the kettle then transferring the liquid to the fermenter. Matt King, our Crafty Pint SA, was there to ensure the brew went smoothly by drinking beer as it took place up, right up until the rocks were added not too long before… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
6.4%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Beers of the Earth

Published April 1, 2015
What is it they say about great minds thinking alike? In the same month, two of the country's biggest, most successful and fastest-growing breweries have released mixed six-packs and, not only that, the concepts behind them are eerily similar. As we've posted elsewhere on the site, Sydney's 4 Pines has released the Bastard Children of the British Empire, their attempt to tell the story of the evolution of pale ale from its first appearances in the UK through the US, New Zealand, Australia and Belgium.… Read more
Style
Various
ABV
Various
Bitterness
Various
Stockists

Find the beers here: http://stoneandwood.com.au/beers-of-the-earth/

Stone & Wood New Season Pacific Ale

Published March 21, 2015
Year round, it's the beer that showcases the Galaxy hop better than any other and now Stone & Wood is offering fans close to its Byron Bay / Northern River homes a chance to taste it with the freshest hops possible. A phalanx of young brewers and reps from the ever-expanding NSW brewery headed to the hop fields of Tasmania to see Galaxy (and its sisters) on home territory. According to one, Hugh Doyle: "I will never forget breaking apart the plucked Galaxy hop from the bine. The smell… Read more
Style
Wet Hop Pacific Ale
ABV
4.4%
Stockists

For availability, head here – http://stoneandwood.com.au/new-season-pacific-ale/

Stone & Wood Garden Ale

Published February 2, 2015
The masters of the session beer are back with the nationwide release of the Garden Ale that's available year round only in their home region. This year's release is the same as the tweaked version from 2014, with the Ella hop to the fore, used during the brew and for dry-hopping. The Garden refers to it being the sort of copper-coloured beer you'd quaff in a beer garden, quite probably a British one on of their few days of summer. There are floral, peach and faintly tropical hop aromas and a more… Read more
Style
Summer Ale
ABV
3.8%
Stockists

Find Garden Ale here

Stone & Wood Ale Pack

Published November 14, 2014
The story behind the arrival on bottleshop shelves of a new mixed, large bottle six-pack from Stone & Wood for summer starts with the Cloud Catcher. The beer originally released to mark the opening of a second brewery at Murrwillumbah – a delightful fruit salad explosion – proved so popular that the brewers were inundated with requests to bring it back. We can well understand this as when we were lucky enough to be given a pre-release sample at the brewery earlier this year we got about as… Read more
Style
Various
ABV
Various
Stockists

To find your nearest stockist, head here.

Stone & Wood Limited Release Lager

Published October 22, 2014
Making the most of the relative freedom before the summer onslaught demands both their breweries knock out nothing but Pacific Ale, the Stone & Wood team continues what's been, by their standards, a deluge of limited release beers. This one is something of a twist on their lager and sounds a little like past Kellerbier releases, albeit rather larger. The beer chosen to mark the arrival of Spring takes its inspiration from Germany – and its hops from there too. Coinciding with the Northern Hemisphere… Read more
Style
Unfiltered Lager
ABV
5.8%
Stockists

Check out the venues it's hitting taps here.

Stone & Wood Mash Collective 4: Heartbreaker

Published September 23, 2014
There must be something in the air. At the same time that The Crafty Pint’s younger brother was getting a sleeve tattoo based on the old pipe-smoking dude from the original Mash Collective beer, Amasia, on one side of the planet, Mash Collective number 4 was making its way into bottles and kegs here in Australia. For those new to the concept, this Stone & Wood side project sees them bring together eclectic groups of people to conceive, design and brew a beer, as well as providing its accompanying… Read more
Style
Spiced Red Ale
ABV
5.5%
Stockists

Find it in draught and bottle form at these stockists nationwide

Stone & Wood Limited Release Jasper

Published September 3, 2014
With the huge, self-inflicted obstacle that was Australia's insatiable desire for Pacific Ale just about cleared thanks to the opening of brewery number two, the brewers at the original Stone & Wood site in Byron Bay have a little more time to play around. Play around or, perhaps more accurately, "sit around in The Rails and talk about beer". Apparently it was one such evening that inspired this twist on Jasper, the red ale that is the third beer in their year round range. Rather poetically,… Read more
Style
Smoked Red Ale
ABV
4.7%
Stockists

Find it on tap here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2014

Published May 13, 2014
Hang around the beer world long enough and smile nicely for long enough and, chances are, at some point you may get the chance to become involved in a brew. Usually, this will take the form of adding some grain or hops, pushing the odd button or, most likely, being asked to shovel the spent grain out of the mash tun so the brewer doesn't have to. With Stone & Wood's Stone Beer, there's a chance to take things a little further. Each year, the brewery invites friends, family and peers to join them… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
6.9%
Stockists

Use the brewery's Beer Finder to locate your nearest drop

The Mash Collective Old Persuader

Published October 11, 2013
The first two beers created by Stone & Wood's impermanent Mash Collective side project pushed the style boundaries. Debut Amasia was a strong, dark, German style wheat beer brewed with molasses and rum; number two, Aureus Chrysalis, fused the Belgian Dubbel and smoky Scotch Ale styles. So where would they head with number three, particularly as the Collective this time around features the Sydney artists behind some of Dinosaur Jr's artwork, Sydney-based Swedish photographer Ingvar Kenne, an award-winning… Read more
Style
Strong Lager
ABV
6.6%
Stockists

FInd it here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer

Published May 16, 2013
For a bunch of brewers on the cutting edge of the modern Australian brewing scene, the guys at Stone & Wood don't mind taking inspiration from Marsellus Wallace once in a while. Well, once in a year, to be precise. As that's when they invite friends and family to their Byron Bay and "get Medieval on your arse". Well, not your arse so much as a bunch of volcanic rocks that co-founder and head brewer Brad Rogers has been lugging around since his days brewing in Fiji. They're heated in… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
7.2%
Stockists

Check out Stone & Wood's Beer Finder for your nearest stockist.

As well as the standard 500ml bottles, Stone & Wood are also selling 'vintage packs' which consist of a 500ml swing-top, ceramic bottle and a sta

Mash Collective Aureus Chrysalis

Published April 1, 2013
A chef, musician, furniture maker, engineer and tattoo artist walk into a brewery... and out pops the Aureas Chrysalis. It's the second release from Stone & Wood's occasional side project, the Mash Collective, which sees them bring together eclectic collections of creative people to concoct new beers. Having launched the first Mash Collective beer at the 2012 GABS, this time their select band included leading tattoo artist Trevor Bennett, home brewer Richard Grant who won a competition at last… Read more
Style
Belgian Dubbel / Scotch Ale
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Find the beer here

Stone & Wood Garden Ale

Published November 28, 2012
It's not too often that Stone & Wood release a short run beer, what with having to brew six million litres of Pacific Ale every day to meet demand. But in time for summer comes the Garden Ale, a sub-four per cent ale with its eyes firmly fixed on the post-lawnmower set. Like the Stone Beer, there's inspiration from the past, with juniper berries added to the boil in a nod to pre-hop days when brewers would raid their gardens for ingredients. According to Stone & Wood, the berries are said… Read more
Style
Session Ale
ABV
3.8%
Stockists

Get your thorn-pricked gloves on some here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer (2012)

Published July 23, 2012
This year saw a change in direction for the Byron brewers' annual stone beer. Sure, they still pulled out the same stones from Fiji and heated them in a wood fire on the driveway outside the brewery. And they still lifted them, when white hot, into a metal cage and lowered them into the brew to let them work their caramelising magic. But elsewhere, it was all change with an all new recipe that saw the beer become a much bigger affair. That it's a new beer is apparent from the moment it hits the glass:… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
7.2%
Stockists

Find it here

Stone & Wood Stone Beer (2011)

Published August 1, 2011
Given the runaway success of their Pacific Ale, the Stone & Wood team has little time to do anything but brew batch after batch of it these days (well, when not surfing or hanging out at the beach, anyway). But they do like to find time for their annual Stone Beer brew, the beer that involves head brewer Brad Rogers pulling out the rocks he's been lugging around since his days brewing in Fiji, superheating them over a fire and using them in the brewing process. It's a recreation of an ancient… Read more
Style
Stone Beer
ABV
5.3%

Stone & Wood Red Relief

Published February 12, 2011
Originally under construction for The Local Taphouse's Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular - and intended as a prototype for a potential third permanent member of the brewery's lineup - this beer became a fundraising tool when the floods hit Queensland early in 2011. Given it's a red beer and it was hoping to raise around $20,000 for the Flood Relief appeal, the name came easy. As for the beer, it's a darker beast than anything (except perhaps their occasional Stone Beer release) to come out of the… Read more
Style
Red Ale
ABV
4.7%