Aug 18, 2017 4 min read

MEADOW LANDS – Amidst a long and continually growing trend toward microbrews, Stoney’s Brewing Co. Chief Executive Officer John LaCarte considers himself a contrarian.

LaCarte and his partner and longtime friend and business associate, Stoney’s President Jon King, officially rolled out a rebranded Stoney’s beer Thursday at Headliners Lounge at The Meadows Casino before about 300 distributors, bar owners and friends.

The two men purchased the 110-year-old Westmoreland County brewery earlier this year, returning ownership to descendants of the man who created the brand.

During his remarks, LaCarte was adamant about the positioning of the legacy beer.

“We’re not going to make an IPA,” he said in reference to the India Pale Ale that usually forms the epicenter of microbrewers’ universe of taste profiles.

“We are positioning this as a retro beer, not a craft beer,” LaCarte said of Stoney’s, an Old World-style lager with a century of appearances at weddings, parties and other family get-togethers across the Mon Valley.

Now brewed at the former Latrobe Brewing Co. in Ligioner, and headquartered in Charleroi, the brew retains its stature as an everyday favorite.

“It’s the beer you drink after cutting the grass,” LaCarte said.

Longtime family ties created the impetus for LaCarte and King to join forces to purchase the Smithton-based brewery in early April. It was King’s great-grandfather William B. “Stoney” Jones who founded the company in Smithton. King also is a cousin of Oscar-winning actress Shirley Jones, who was raised in Smithton.

LaCarte’s great-grandfather, Joseph Ferrando, hauled kegs of beer for “Stoney” Jones, using horses and wagons from his livery business. LaCarte’s great-uncle worked at Jones Brewery in the 1930s, and his grandmother babysat Shirley Jones when she was a child.

The families intertwined again through a banking relationship between King and LaCarte, which led to a conversation over lunch about partnering to buy Jones Brewing from the Podlucky family, which had operated it since 1988.

King’s brother, Greg King, has returned to Stoney’s as brewmaster, a position he held earlier under the Jones family ownership. During his first tenure, the Stoney’s family of beers won multiple national and international industry beer awards.

Greg King acknowledged Thursday he was skeptical when his brother approached him about returning to the new Stoney’s.

“I said, ‘Stoney’s is for old-timers; your demographic is getting smaller.'”

That concern is being addressed in the rebranding by Melone Advertising Group, in which Stoney’s retro approach takes aim at millennials while continuing to appeal to earlier generations.

Thursday’s event featured decades-old radio ads telling customers to “Roll Out the Stoney’s,” sung with the backing of a polka band.

Coasters feature the Stoney’s tagline, “Pure Honest Beer,” above the throwback smiling, moustached cartoon character “Mr. Smoothie” holding a glass of beer.

For the younger customers, Melone also created the line “Get Some Stones,” which LaCarte said is a reference to his favorite rock band, The Rolling Stones.

After the owners spoke, a Rolling Stones tribute band played for the audience.

King explained the new Stoney’s labels and packaging feature the classic logo in red on a black background for the classic premium lager beer, while the light beer version’s bottles and packaging feature the red logo on a white background.

So far, the retro strategy appears to be working.

LaCarte reported Stoney’s, in stores and bars within a 20-mile radius of the Mon Valley since July, already has been through its initial 2,500-barrel run and recently produced another 1,000 barrels due to unexpected demand.

Thursday’s event actually marks the second rebranding of the beer.

Legend has it “Stoney” Jones won the brewery in a poker game in Suttersville near the turn of the 20th century. Then known as Eureka Brewing Co., it produced Eureka Gold Crown beer.

After Jones relocated it along the Youghiogheny River to Smithton in 1907, the largely blue-collar immigrant population in the area found it hard to pronounce “Eureka,” so they began asking for “Stoney’s” beer.