Lagunitas: A Brewery Like No Other

Chicago native and home brewer Tony Magee established Lagunitas Brewing Company 13 years ago in the small town of Forest Knolls, just east of Lagunitas in western Marin County. The brewery’s first incarnation was a very small-scale operation connected to a local market; Magee was forced to relocate because the septic system could not handle the amount of wastewater affluent that the growing brewery was producing. Lagunitas moved to an industrial park area just off of Highway 101 in Petaluma and has never looked back.

Warehouse and bottling line manager Sean O’Conner (left) and head brewer Jeremy Marshall take a break in the popular tasting room at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma. Photo by Joel Williams

Head brewer Jeremy Marshall also started as a home brewer, and soon learned that the popularity of his brew could be used to entice his friends into helping him produce it. Almost immediately, he had what he called an arsenal of slaves to help him with the tedious and messy process of home brewing.

As the beer improved, Marshall received a lot of encouragement from his minions to take this show on the road. In 2003, he did just that when he enrolled in UC Davis’ Master Brewers Program and moved to California to pursue a career in brewing. Marshall chose Davis partly because if its location. Any excuse to be in this area of California, I was willing to take, he said. It comes as no surprise that, after graduating, Marshall ended up at Lagunitas.

The most popular Lagunitas beer by far is the India Pale Ale (IPA), which can be found at countless local bars and stores. It is boldly hopped and has the familiar aroma that comes from the copious amounts of Cascade hops it contains. Lagunitas offers its IPA, Pils (Czech-style Pilsner), Pale Ale and Censored Rich Copper Ale—once called Kronik until the ATF nixed the name—in six-packs year-round. Some of the brewery’s more unique products, like the Cappuccino Stout and Olde Gnarly Wine, can be found seasonally in 22-ounce bottles.

Lagunitas will sometimes release beers that are not brewed to be any particular style. One such brew, the Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, commemorates an unsuccessful sting operation in which the government attempted to buy marijuana from Lagunitas employees by sending undercover operatives to the brewery’s then-popular Thursday night tastings. Although the agents were not successful in purchasing marijuana from an employee, there were several customers who offered it to them for free. According to Marshall, the beer is brewed to be bitter and angry as a response to the brewery being temporarily shut down by the government.

The brewery recently introduced a new product line, Sonoma Farmhouse by Lagunitas. One of the first beers to be launched under this moniker is a Saison, a style of beer from the French-speaking region of Belgium that was traditionally brewed for consumption in the summer months. (Saison is French for season.) This beer has all of the distinct spicy sour funkiness you would expect from a Belgian beer, but with a much lighter finish. Another beer released under the Farmhouse brand is Hop Stoopid Ale, basically a double IPA with over-the-top bitterness not intended for the beginner craft-beer drinker.

It is sometimes a crap shoot as to just what Lagunitas beers you might find on a store shelf at any point in time, but this adds to the mystique behind their unique madness. In fact, one thing that best distinguishes Lagunitas from other successful microbreweries is its tendency to buck tradition and make beers that just taste good. You won’t see a bunch of awards on the walls of the tasting room at the brewery, as their brews rarely fit the rigid style guidelines used to judge other beers. I suggest you just grab one of their wacky varieties off the shelf and roll the dice. Chances are you will be pleased—and you will also be entertained as you decide between the Hairy Eyeball, Olde Gnarly Wine or Brown Shugga.

Cheers.