Roll Out The Stoney's

Half a century ago there were many old neighborhood breweries that dotted the landscape of western Pennsylvania. It was a family tradition to drink the local beers. In Westmoreland County, which is about 15 miles outside Pittsburgh, there were several choices, but one of the most popular came from the Jones Brewing Company in Smithton and their family of beers. The House of Jones, as it was referred to, produced four of the area's most popular brands. Esquire, the brewery's premium beer, Fort Pitt, Old Shay Ale and the main style named after its owner, Stoney's Beer. All four found their way into the refrigerators of local patrons and were enjoyed by local families for decades. The story of the House of Jones and their fabulous products is certainly very fascinating. The story goes that a brewery was won by William B. "Stoney" Jones in a poker game in Sutersville, Pa. and was originally named the Eureka Brewing Company. In 1907 he built a brewery in Smithton where the immigrants who settled in the area had a difficult time saying Eureka so they simply asked for one of "Stoney's" beers. After prohibition, the name of the company was changed to the Jones Brewing Company and its headline beer renamed after the owner. Stoney's Beer was now an official brand. Through the 20th century the story took many unimaginable twists and turns. Some of the highlights include the many championship baseball, soccer, football and bowling teams in the area that it sponsored. In 1934 the family welcomed Shirley Jones to Smithton, granddaughter of Stoney and one of this county's most celebrated actresses. Today she remains Smithton's most cherished and famous citizen. During the early part of the 1920s, Stoney had an embarrassing episode as he was slipped a "Mickey" (for those of you too young to know that's a drink someone laced with a drug that is intended to incapacitate another. It was named after a 19th century bar keeper in Chicago who allegedly drugged and robbed his patrons. The bar keeps name: Mickey Finn.) in Cincinnati and was swindled out of $50,000. In 1930 the government took over the brewery after they fined it for producing beer with alcohol during prohibition. It wasn't returned until the steep fines were paid. There were also tense labor negotiations with the workers, the sale of the brewery by the family, a push towards turning the brewery into a contract brewer, the tragic death of its new owner Gabby Podlucky and the scandalous trial of their son Greg Podlucky, owner of LeNature beverages, that not only rocked the family, but hurt the financial outlook of Stoney's itself. Finally, after the beer became irrelevant the story came full circle with the Jones family coming to the rescue in the name of Jon King, the great-grandson of Stoney, and his business partners John LaCarte, Rich Boyer, and Bob Matthews, who bought the rights to the iconic brand in 2017 with the hope of making Stoney's Beer a staple in this area once again. The tale may read like a soap opera at times, but in the end the beer meant a lot to the people of this area in the past and hopefully will in the future. This is the story of the path it took to get to this point.