On Wednesday night, as DRAFT’s editors were settling into our usual post-work beers, we received a somewhat cryptic email:

“Wanted to give you guys the heads up stone began the process of laying off roughly 50 of their longest tenured employees today. Many have been with the company over 10 years.” tweet

We were befuddled. Stone is currently the ninth-largest craft brewery in the U.S., having produced more than 325,000 barrels of beer last year, according to the Brewers Association, and it’s expanding at a rapid rate—the brewery opened production facilities in Berlin in mid-September and in Richmond, Virginia in March. Another location in Napa, California is slated to open next year. The timing for a mass layoff seemed … off.

But Thursday afternoon, reports of the dismissals—many of them from the former employees themselves—began to roll in. “Feeling shocked and incredibly sad for many of my friends at Stone Brewing Co. How did it come to this?” former Stone brewmaster Mitch Steele said in a Facebook post. “75+ layoffs. Some of the people that were such an integral part of Stone’s culture—a few of them pre-dated me. I can’t believe it.”

Denise Ratfield, Stone’s longtime receptionist, released her own Facebook post after learning she was being downsized:

“It’s a bellwether day, and one that I did not see coming. Today, along with dozens of others, I was laid off from Stone Brewing. Although it will be a challenging transition after 7 years with a legendary brewery, I know that new opportunities lay ahead. I’m excited to start a new chapter in my career and so very lucky that I am in the best beer community on planet earth. Thanks to all the friends and family I made along the way at Stone that I hold in high regard. You made it wonderful. Let the new adventure begin!” tweet

Stone did not answer calls for comment, but the brewery did release the following statement (emphasis theirs):