Ray Gallenberg – Sapporo-Stone Brewing

Ray Gallenberg’s path to the top legal seat at Sapporo-Stone Brewing was never a straight line. It began with an eight-year-old who told people he wanted to be president, continued through years of high-pressure securities litigation, and eventually settled into the world of beer, a sector now facing one of the most turbulent periods in its history. Today, as the company’s general counsel, Gallenberg leads a lean legal team navigating everything from legal matters to optimizing the operational integration of the total Sapporo-Stone business, after Sapporo purchased Stone Brewing in 2022.

Ray Gallenberg | Sapporo-Stone Brewing | Interim General Counsel

Stone Brewing, founded in 1996 in San Diego, grew into one of the nation’s most influential craft brewers by embracing bold flavors, irreverent creativity, and a fiercely independent identity. Its West Coast IPA helped define an entire style of beer, and its powerful brand and US production capabilities made it a natural fit for Sapporo, the Japanese brand known for its 150-year heritage and premium imports. Together, the companies now operate as a unified U.S. business with brewing, distribution, and marketing functions working across a shared portfolio.

Early ambitions and formative years

Gallenberg’s legal aspirations began almost accidentally. As a child, he imagined a future in politics, but law quickly became the professional path he understood best (and a more realistic ambition than president—his initial aspiration). That clarity guided him from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly, UC-Hastings College of the Law). It also set him on a trajectory into private practice that shaped his analytical approach and problem-solving instincts.

His early career began at Latham and Watkins as a securities litigator, joining during the height of the stock option backdating wave. Working for one of the largest (and he would say, best) law firms in the world, he defended companies, corporate officers, and directors accused of stock fraud and misleading the market and investors. The intensity, pace, and complexity of the work fit him well.

“I loved it, and it felt important to do that work,” he says.

Still, the experience prompted reflection. Representing Fortune 500 boards and officers against fraud and derivative claims shifted his perspective over time. He ultimately moved to Seyfarth to bolster its burgeoning Securities Litigation practice in Los Angeles, before pivoting entirely and switching sides to begin representing employees in employment law, wage-and-hour class actions, and discrimination and harassment cases. That work, he recalls, felt fundamentally different.

“Employment law is very different, representing employees who went through horrendous discrimination and harassment. It is more personal, and it’s clear who you are directly helping and for what cause,” he says.

That experience deepened his understanding of workplace culture, employee morale, and risk management. It would later become one of the foundations of his effectiveness as in-house counsel.

Finding a home in beer

A combination of timing, expertise, and a long-standing friendship drove the move to Sapporo-Stone Brewing. Gallenberg had known Josh Weiss, then the general counsel at Stone, since law school. When the company faced a pending trademark infringement case against MillerCoors (which later became Molson Coors) and needed a litigator (with employment law experience as a bonus), Weiss recruited him.

The craft beer industry was at a very different place then. Stone was regarded as an anchor tenant of the craft movement, known for pushing boundaries and expanding market expectations for flavor and identity. Gallenberg’s personal passion for craft beer made the decision even easier.

His early responsibilities included litigation management, employment matters, HR support, and oversight of the company’s intellectual property strategy. The MillerCoors case, centered on the use of the word “Stone” in MillerCoors’ Keystone marketing, became a defining moment. The jury ultimately awarded Stone Brewing $56 million, the third-largest trademark verdict in U.S. history.

The win underscored the strategic importance of in-house IP management, something Gallenberg continues to oversee today. By bringing trademark work in-house, Stone dramatically reduced external costs while sharpening its ability to monitor its name, product marks, and brand identity across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

After three years, Gallenberg was promoted to associate general counsel, taking on additional corporate and strategic responsibilities and supporting the integration work following Sapporo’s acquisition of Stone Brewing.

Navigating an industry in transition

Gallenberg’s transition to interim general counsel came after Weiss moved on, leaving what had been a three-person legal team with only two. Today, he and compliance manager Heidi Rovello manage the full range of legal responsibilities for a company operating in one of the most challenging moments the beer industry has ever faced.

While Sapporo-Stone Brewing has made considerable strides, the broader category has hit turbulence. Growth has slowed dramatically, with some breweries experiencing year-on-year declines—often for the first time in their history. Meanwhile, imports have done better, and Sapporo has surged. Sapporo is one of the few beer brands currently experiencing significant expansion in the U.S. market, offering a valuable counterweight to craft’s stagnation.

Gallenberg sees multiple factors driving the shift. Younger generations drink less alcohol, cannabis is increasingly substituting for beer in some markets, and intoxicating hemp beverages are challenging regulators to define new categories. Meanwhile, the sheer number of breweries creates competitive pressure far beyond what existed even a decade ago.

“The category is experiencing significant headwinds unlike what we’ve really seen before, and folks are really focused on figuring out what’s next and how to navigate what might be a new landscape or market correction,” he says.

With 11,000 breweries across the country, compared to fewer than 50 in the 1970s, the landscape is crowded. For Sapporo-Stone Brewing, that means strengthening operations, efficiency, safety, branding, distributor relationships, and consistency in both the craft and import markets.

The company itself has evolved significantly. Stone’s bold, disruptive identity now sits alongside Sapporo’s long-standing reputation as a refined global brand. Integrating the two cultures required careful work. At the same time, he has taken on a larger role engaging with Sapporo’s global legal department. That includes connecting with Japan headquarters to ensure legal alignment across the unique markets, particularly around litigation risk in California, which bears less resemblance to Japanese legal traditions and landscape.

That education is critical as the company balances international governance with U.S. operational demands.

Guiding the business forward

For Gallenberg, one of the legal department’s core roles is preventing avoidable problems. His approach and philosophy are built around safety and accountability. Sapporo-Stone’s operations and safety culture remain among its strongest qualities. The Richmond production facility is a high-efficiency operation that Gallenberg still sees as almost magical in its precision and processes.

The legal team also works closely with the business to find workable solutions, particularly for marketing collaborations and brand partnerships. Creative co-branding deals, such as the one with PlayStation’s Ghost of Yotei game and tattoo artist Tokyo Hiro, help Sapporo and Stone differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. Instead of a cosmetic skin in the game, Stone secured, with the aid of Gallenberg’s knowledge of video games, an exclusive unlimited ammo charm—a much more valuable in-game reward linked to its marketing campaign. This distinctive placement reflects the company’s growing creative reach.

Internally, Gallenberg emphasizes alignment with core values, especially around employee support and well-being. Happy and healthy teams, he notes, rarely sue their employers. His employment law background reinforces that perspective and informs his risk management approach.

Gallenberg’s goals include securing the permanent general counsel title and continuing to build credibility with both the CEO and Sapporo’s leadership in Japan. He hopes the interim is largely symbolic at this point. He is deeply integrated into the executive leadership team and fully embedded in decision-making.

He is also excited about the next phase of the business. Sapporo’s trajectory in the U.S. continues to soar, while Stone Brewing remains a powerful craft brand with loyal fans. Together, they form a portfolio poised for growth even as the market around them shifts.

What motivates Gallenberg most is the chance to keep solving the next complex problem, whether legal, strategic, or operational.

“There is always a next big project,” he says. “At Sapporo-Stone, the only constant is change,” he says, “and he’s here for it.”

And for Sapporo-Sapporo-Stone Brewing, he’s excited about the future and the opportunity to shape both brands.