Two Stones Pub launches its own brewery

Delaware-based Two Stones Pub will begin brewing its own beer at a new Pennsylvania brewery starting by early summer and a high-profile brewer from Iron Hill Brewery is on board.

Bob Barrar, who brewed with Iron Hill since 2000 and earned 19 Great American Beer Festival medals along the way, will be head brewer and co-owner of the venture, called 2SP Brewing Company.

Expect a version of his trademark Imperial Stout, along with IPAs and lagers from Barrar, who recently left Iron Hill's Media, Pa. location.

Soon, his beers will flow at Two Stone's three locations in Newark, Brandywine Hundred and Kennett Square, Pa. They will also eventually be available at other restaurants and growler filling stations in the region. (A fourth Two Stones restaurant is slated to open this spring or summer in Hockessin's Lantana Square.)

The beers will be canned at the Aston, Pa. brewery starting next year and self-distributed in Pennsylvania.

"We're also currently looking for a distributor in Delaware," says Michael Contreras, director of sales and marketing and sales operations at the 20-barrel brewhouse. Contreras is a former Dogfish Head Brewery sales manager.

While Two Stones will still carry a wide variety of craft beers, about six to eight 2SP Brewing beers are expected to begin arriving at the restaurants as early as this spring. The brewery will also have a tasting room, which will open later this year.

Two Stones Pub co-founders Michael Stiglitz and Ben Muse are also co-owners. Muse will shift some of his focus from the restaurants to the brewery, but will still curate Two Stones' extensive craft beer lists.

Two Stones opened its first location in Newark in 2011 and opened a second restaurant in Brandywine Hundred a year later. Its Kennett Square, Pa. site poured its first beer in late 2013.

-- Ryan Cormier, The News Journal. Facebook: @ryancormier. Twitter: @ryancormier. Instagram: @ryancormier.