Lagunitas Brewing Company

The Lagunitas Brewing Company, founded in 1993 in Lagunitas, California, is a subsidiary of Heineken International.[2] Before Heineken bought a 50% share of the company in 2015, the company met the definition of a craft brewery. Two years prior it ranked fifth top-selling craft brewery in the US.[3] Heineken purchased the remainder of the company in 2017.

Lagunitas Brewing Company
Lagunitas India Pale Ale
LocationPetaluma, California, United States
Coordinates38°16′21″N 122°39′45″W
Opened1993
Key peopleTony Magee
Annual production volume916,420 US beer barrels (1,075,400 hL)[1]
Owned byHeineken International
Websitelagunitas.com

History

The brewery was founded in 1993 by Tony Magee in Lagunitas, California, and moved a year later to nearby Petaluma, California, after they quickly outgrew their original rural West Marin location.[4]

Before being taken over by Heineken, Lagunitas was one of the fastest-growing craft breweries in the United States. Production increased from 27,000 US bbl (32,000 hL) in 2004[5] to 106,000 US bbl (124,000 hL) in 2010.[6] In March 2011, the company had 92 employees with distribution in 32 states.[5] The brewery announced a $9.5 million expansion slated to begin early 2012 which increased its brewing capacity to 600,000 US bbl (700,000 hL).[5]

On April 9, 2012, Lagunitas announced plans for a new Chicago-based brewery equipped with a 250 barrel brew house which will also have a 600,000 US bbl (700,000 hL) capacity.[7] In May 2012 it was announced that the company had signed a lease for a location in the city's Douglas Park neighborhood in North Lawndale, "that will put [it] in a space owned by film studio Cinespace...for at least 20 years."[8][9] The Chicago brewery started producing beer on April 18, 2014, and opened an on-premises taproom a few months thereafter.[10] A third brewery was planned to be built in Azusa, California, however the brewery has not become operational as the result of a slowdown in growth.[11]

In December 2014 Lagunitas filed a lawsuit against Sierra Nevada Brewing Company over the use and style of the letters IPA on their label. The lawsuit was dropped a month later after public outcry.[12]

On September 8, 2015, Heineken International acquired a 50% stake in the company to help it expand its operations globally.[13] As a result of the deal, Lagunitas was no longer considered a craft brewery under the Brewers Association definition of "craft", since Heineken's stake was greater than 25%. Less than two years later, on May 4, 2017, Heineken purchased the remaining portion of Lagunitas, making it the sole owner of the brewery.[14] Founder Tony Magee continued as CEO of Lagunitas, with the intention of expanding production and distribution of Lagunitas beers worldwide.[15]

Cannabis associations

The brewery has long-standing associations with cannabis, which have at times caused legal problems. Some beers have had names associated with the plant, in one case resulting in a name being banned,[lower-alpha 1] and using the number 420 in internal materials and external advertising.[lower-alpha 2]

On Saint Patrick's Day in 2005, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control raided a weekly tasting party at the brewery to investigate alleged cannabis dealing by employees.[16] Officers had staked out the brewery for two months to observe people consuming cannabis on the premises. No charges were filed. Magee admits "no one was willing to sell it to them, but everyone was willing to give it to them for free." Lagunitas was found in violation of Section 24200 of California's Business and Professions Code, better known as its "disorderly house" law. Lagunitas was eventually served a twenty-day suspension of operations and the ordeal was commemorated with a beer named Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale.[17]

Lagunitas dropped '420' from its labels in 2013 after a trademark claim by Sweetwater Brewing Company.[18]

In 2018, Lagunitas released a IPA-inspired sparkling water infused with THC and CBD. The beverage is called "Hi-Fi Hops" and is a collaboration with AbsoluteXtracts, a cannabis grower. It is currently only available in California. [19]

Nonalcoholic

In order to capture an edge in the North American market, Lagunitas released an IPA-inspired refreshment with zero alcohol, zero calories and zero carbohydrates called the Hoppy Refresher in 2019. Using a process called biotransformation, it takes the hops and yeast and metabolizes it into a sparkling beverage.

See also
  • California breweries

Notes
  1. Censored was original called "the Kronik", which was banned by the BATF as a cannabis reference (see The Chronic), while The Waldos' Special Ale is released on 4/20 and formerly featured 420 in its branding.
  2. Production numbers have ended in 420, rather than in an even thousand, since 2004.

References
  1. Marotti, Ally (2015-04-23). "Foreign beer drinkers are craving Chicago brew. Hard". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2015-10-28. Craft beer exports increased 35.7 percent to $99.7 million in 2014, according to the Brewers Association. That equals more than 383,000 barrels of exported beer in 2014. To put that into perspective, that's just more than half of the 640,000 barrels Lagunitas produces in its Douglas Park brewery each year.
  2. "Heineken Acquires Remaining Stake in Lagunitas Brewing Company" OTC Markets, May 04, 2015
  3. "Top Craft Breweries In America: Brewers Association Names 50 Best-Selling-Companies" (PDF).
  4. Cynthia Liu (2004-09-24). "Lagunitas Brewing Co. says pit bull label proving no dog". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
  5. Digitale, Robert. Lagunitas Brewing undertakes big expansion. The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa). March 20, 2011. Retrieved 2011-3-21.
  6. Quackenbush, Jeff. Lagunitas plans $9.5 million expansion The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa). March 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-5-18.
  7. Adam Nason (2012-04-09). "Lagunitas Brewing to open new brewery in Chicago". beerpulse.com. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  8. "Lagunitas to open brewery in Chicago". Chicago Tribune. 2012-04-11.
  9. Noel, Josh (22 May 2012). "Lagunitas signs Chicago lease, targets November taproom opening". Chicago Tribune Entertainment. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  10. Hirst, Ellen Jean (April 18, 2014). "Lagunitas Brewery Officially Opens Chicago Operation", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  11. Bill Swindell (2018-10-03). "Lagunitas Brewing Co. Cutting 12% of workforce". North Bay Business Journal. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  12. January 13, Jonathan Kauffman on; PM, 2015 at 12:43 (2015-01-13). "Lagunitas Brewing sues Sierra Nevada over IPA label [Update: Lagunitas drops suit after reactions]". Inside Scoop SF. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  13. John Kell, "Heineken buys 50% stake in craft brewer Lagunitas", Fortune, September 10, 2015
  14. Swindell, Bill (4 May 2017). "Heineken buys remaining 50 percent interest in Lagunitas Brewing Co". The Press Democrat. Sonoma Media Investments, LLC. Retrieved 5 May 2017. Heineken is buying Lagunitas in a deal to help propel the craft beer sector globally amid a rapidly changing industry.
  15. Mobley, Esther (4 May 2017). "Heineken deal could raise Lagunitas' global profile". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 5 May 2017. Growth in international markets, and a desire to start a new stage in his professional life, spurred Magee's decision to sell.
  16. Laird, Sam (March 8, 2015). "A song of beer and weed". Mashable. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  17. Callahan, Mary (15 May 2006). "State investigation leads Lagunitas to create new ale". Press Democrat. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  18. Scully, Sean (July 10, 2013). "Lagunitas Brewing Co. to drop '420' marijuana slang from labels in trademark dispute". Press Democrat.
  19. "Lagunitas sparks excitement with the first-ever THC, IPA-inspired sparkling water". 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
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