The building at 1999 Citracado Parkway has never had a name out front. Since 2006, the sign has been a carved gargoyle face, and people found the place anyway. Looking back on that 2006 opening, Greg Koch told Axios San Diego this month, "MapQuest wouldn't even get you there correctly." On Friday, November 13, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens serves its last night under the Stone name.
The Stone name is what ends that night. The restaurant and the roughly one-acre gardens are set to continue as Quarry Escondido, run by the two people who built them. That works because Koch and co-founder Steve Wagner owned the property through both sales of the company. Two things are still unsettled: when Quarry opens, and what happens to the brewery on the other side of the building.
Two sales of Stone, and the land wasn't in either one
Koch and Wagner sold Stone Brewing to Sapporo in 2022. Axios put the price at $165 million. Earlier this year, Sapporo sold the Stone brand to Firestone Walker Brewing and Duvel Moortgat USA. Firestone Walker took over West Coast operations and moved Stone's West Coast production to Paso Robles. Four Stone locations carry on under the new owners: the Liberty Station bistro and the taprooms in Little Italy, Oceanside and Pasadena.
The Escondido bistro wasn't part of that deal. Koch told Axios that he and Wagner kept ownership of the Escondido real estate through both sales. Once the Firestone deal was announced without the Escondido site, the two started making plans. San Diego Magazine reported that Sapporo was left with a large property that no longer fit its plans, and in August it announced a November shutdown unless it could find the right operator.
That explains why the rescue happened so quickly. The people who built the stone entry wall and garden walls by hand, with small groups of volunteers on Sundays before the 2006 opening, still owned the property under them.
What is confirmed about Quarry Escondido
Koch ran an Instagram poll to name the new place. Quarry Escondido won. It beat entries like "Beery McBeerface" and "Stoney McStoneface," plus Koch's own favorite, "The Escondidian." Koch and Wagner plan to keep much of what works and to improve the dining, atmosphere and service. Koch told San Diego Beer News the menu updates will be "slight-versus-dramatic and move toward a somewhat more formal, entrée-focused direction." The 36 taps will reach past Stone to "celebrate the breadth and quality of the craft brewing community," though Koch told Axios that Stone beer will still be on. On staffing, a City of Escondido economic development analyst told CalMatters that the founders would keep most of the hospitality jobs.
The gardens are the main reason the place became a regional draw. San Diego Magazine describes them as big boulders, trees, winding paths and ponds, built mostly from reclaimed materials, and notes they won a national sustainability award. By 2016, Stone said the venue was the third-largest tourist attraction in North County, behind Legoland and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The gardens come with the restaurant in the handover.
Only one outlet has printed a reopening day
The final Stone service on November 13 comes from San Diego Beer News and Axios. How firmly Quarry's opening is pinned down depends on where you look.
| Source | Published | What it says about reopening |
|---|---|---|
| Quarry Escondido's website | Live site | "Opening late 2026 in the gardens of Escondido." |
| Axios San Diego | Oct. 20, 2026 | Stone will "close briefly and then reopen as Quarry." Koch is aiming for "before the holidays." |
| New York Post | Oct. 24, 2026 | Reports a planned November 14 opening. |
A November 14 opening would fit a brief closure, but it's the most specific claim of the three, and Quarry's own site still names only a season. Koch told San Diego Beer News that taking the restaurant back is "extraordinarily complex" and that his focus right now is getting it operational and reopened as fast as possible.
Quarry's site says reservations and event-booking details will go to people who sign up there. If you have a party, rehearsal dinner or group reservation booked at the Citracado Parkway address for a date after November 13, call now. The operator changes that night.
The brewery half of the building is still empty
The restaurant takes up only part of the complex. The U-T says the founders gave roughly a third of the building to the two-story restaurant. The rest was a production brewery, the largest in the county when it opened, plus offices. Reports put the whole facility at 56,000 to 57,000 square feet. Axios and San Diego Magazine put the bistro at 12,500 to 13,500 square feet, depending on whether back-of-house space is counted.
Sapporo is shutting down its Escondido operations in phases. The Union-Tribune quoted a state WARN notice listing 58 job cuts on October 19, out of 220 expected in total, with Stone production moving to Paso Robles and Kansas City. NBC 7 reported the layoffs coming in mid-October and mid-November. San Diego Magazine says the founders are "still trying to find a solution for the brewing part of the space."
From a builder's point of view, the restaurant is the easier half to bring back. It already has a kitchen, bars, patios and a garden designed for guests. A production brewery is a different kind of space. It's built around specialized equipment and one specific use, so filling it means finding a tenant who needs that setup. For now, Quarry pours other people's beer next to a brewhouse with no announced plan.
The beer culture Stone started has spread across town
Here's another reason losing the name matters less than it once would have. Over 20 years, Escondido picked up taprooms run by people who learned from Stone or opened nearby. The Union-Tribune's October 21 rundown by Brandon Hernández names them.
Backyard Brewery, 2229 Micro Place. Escondido native Bill Carter opened here in 2022, in an industrial area down the hill from Stone's headquarters. The tap list leans toward hoppy beers and Belgian ales, and the building also houses Wild West Homebrew Supply Co. for home brewers. Carter told the U-T that Stone "helped create an environment where other breweries and beer venues could thrive."
Burgeon Beer Co. at the Oasis, 649 Rock Springs Road. This all-outdoor spot sits at Escondido Feed & Pet Supply and releases two new beers every other week. Co-founder and head brewer Anthony Tallman worked at Stone before starting Burgeon.
Barley & Sword Brewing, "The Tavern," 800 W. Grand Ave. Open since March, it brews mostly U.K., Irish, Czech, Belgian and German styles. It has two patios and a stage for local bands.
Escondido Social Taproom, 132 N. Kalmia St. Escondido residents Aldo Barbosa and Matthew Holden opened it in October in the former Little Miss Brewing space, just off Grand. Everything it pours is made in San Diego: beer, wine, hard seltzer and nonalcoholic drinks.
Made Wright Beer Co., 136 S. Juniper St. Jake and Nicole Wright are turning a former collectibles shop into a nanobrewery with a 60-seat tasting room. They're aiming to open early next year.
Three of those five are downtown, within a few blocks of Grand Avenue, which has had a lot of new tenants this year. If you missed the summer openings, our fall guide to Grand Avenue covers them. Holden told the U-T that downtown "is experiencing an incredible resurgence with new craft restaurants, maker spaces and small businesses coming in." When Quarry reopens, it will be one Escondido option among many.
If you want one last Stone-branded evening in the gardens, you have through dinner on Friday, November 13. After that, the gargoyle face stays put at 1999 Citracado Parkway, and the next opening date comes from quarryescondido.com.
Lydia Buchanan has spent more than 35 years as a general contractor and developer, so she pays attention when a big Escondido building changes hands or sits empty. If changes like this have you wondering what your own Escondido home is worth, see your home's potential: request a free consultation and home valuation.
