Stone Brewing, which prides itself with not only thinking outside the box but challenging the very definition of the box concept, is moving ahead with a plan that could see it opening a new brewery in Europe.

The San Diego-based brewery announced on Wednesday that it had completed a 40-page Request for Proposal (RFP) and would begin the process of seeing if there was a Eurpoean city that would want to host a Stone expansion.

“We took the standard RFP and poured sauce all over it,” said Jacob McKean, Social Media Coordinator for Stone. “Or, to put it literally, we designed and wrote our little hearts out in order to tell Stone’s story as powerfully as possible.”

The result, McKean wrote in a blog post on the brewery’s Web site, was an overview of the brewery, its history and what they are looking for in a European location.

“Turns out we’ve got some serious bad asses working here,” writes McKean. “Collectively, we’ve got smarts, looks, and talent.”

As previously reported on BeerConnoisseur.com, such a move would mark a dramatic shift in the brewing world, a reversal of brewing history that saw established European breweries coming over to a new America more than 200 years ago with their coveted recipes.

Currently distributed in 34 states and in limited quantities to Japan, Sweden and parts of England, Stone produced 99,000 barrels of beer last year, increasing their volume by 24 percent in the first half in 2009. A brewery in Europe would allow Stone to control the quality of pints poured across the pond.

For more on what Stone people call “this crazy project,” check out www.blog.stonebrew.com

-- by John Holl

John Holl writes about craft beer and the culture of drinking. He may be reached at johnholl@gmail.com.