Lagunitas Brewing: Lots of Sumpin’ in Petaluma #Visitsantarosa

Greetings fans and followers! This is the eighth in a multi- part series of reviews highlighting the breweries I visited during the Great Beer Now Roses, Rivers, and Peanuts Beer Tour 2018. My visit focused on Santa Rosa, California and surrounding areas, which happen to rank among the best locations in the United States for craft beer. Sit back, open a bottle or can of your favorite craft beer, and follow me along on my journey. Cheers!

 

America is home to thousands of local and regional breweries, most of which produce fewer than 10,000 barrels of beer annually. Many of the owners of these new and start- up operations can trace their decision to open a brewery to their experience with another brewery; one that struggled but ultimately persevered to become a household name and that, with their brewing expertise, ultimately turned these future brewery owners into craft beer converts. A prime example of this is Lagunitas Brewing, located at 1280 N McDowell Blvd, Petaluma, California.

West Coast Brewed

Lagunitas Brewing dates all the way back to 1993 when founder Tony Magee opened the brewery in Lagunitas, California. Quickly outgrowing the original location, the decision was made to relocate to the larger, nearby city of Petaluma, where Lagunitas still brews beer today. The brewery grew rapidly in its new location, but had sufficient space to expand, which it did many times as demand for the beer grew at a sizzling pace.

Finding Lagunitas Brewing doesn’t take much effort, as it is very difficult to miss such a massive operation. When you enter the brewery, you are greeted with a taproom, gift shop area, and often live entertainment. Tours are held regularly and last a fair amount of time. The tour covers a good deal of Lagunitas history and they do provide one serving of beer to drink as you listen.

Once the tour is complete, guests are free to return to the taproom, sample some beer, grab a bite to eat, and enjoy the live tunes. Only a small portion of the actual brewery is covered during the tour, due to the facility’s massive square footage.

Macro Brewed, Well Crafted

Lagunitas Brewing distributes its beers far and wide and most craft beer fans have already sampled a large number of them. Here is a summary of the beers I tried when I visited, listed alphabetically by name, followed by the style and my Untappd rating on a five point scale:

• IPA, American IPA, 4.25
• Little Sumpin’, Pale Wheat Ale, 4
• Brown Shugga, Strong Ale, 4
• 12^th of Never Ale, American pale Ale, 4
• Aunt Sally, Sour Ale, 4

Overall Average Rating: 4.05

I have always been a fan of Lagunitas beer and I devoted my visit to tasting many of my favorites. I have already sampled most of the Lagunitas portfolio so I decided to focus on the tried and true beers I have enjoyed for years. I loved everything and it tasted even fresher and better here at the brewery, just like I knew it would.

A Lot of Sumpin’

Lagunitas Brewing is one of the nation’s largest and best- known breweries and its beers are often cited as the craft beer that helped convert people from macro to micro. Well- crafted and memorable, most everyone I know who tries Lagunitas beer likes what they taste and the consistency and quality have helped propel the brewery to the widespread success it enjoys today.

I’ve been a Lagunitas Brewing fan for a long time and, like most people, I got my first taste of Lagunitas through a draft serving of its famous IPA. I didn’t know much about this brewery when I first tried its beer more than a decade ago, but I loved what I tasted and was immediately drawn to find out more about this ‘brewery with the dog on the label.’ It took time before I was able to get more Lagunitas beer because, living east of the Mississippi, the beer was not easy to come by. But it didn’t take long before other craft beer fans tasted Lagunitas beer and demand grew, eventually leading to the brewery establishing a second location in Chicago to meet the needs of so many thirsty drinkers.

I already knew much about the Lagunitas Brewing story, having read founder Tony Magee’s book, “So, You Want to Start a Brewery: The Lagunitas Story” and I knew much about the Petaluma facility from seeing pictures posted online. But being the fan that I am, I knew a visit to Lagunitas Brewing had to be part of my Northern California brewery tour plans. I was focused primarily on Santa Rosa when I visited the area, but I knew Petaluma was nearby and made sure to set aside a block of time to visit.

As I’ve stated before, Lagunitas Brewing is a massive beer production facility and if there is any doubt in your mind as to the size and influence of Lagunitas, your uncertainties will vanish once you see and visit this gigantic operation. The capacity is something like 600,000 and I’ve been told that the Chicago location is even slightly larger. I also learned, during the tour, that Lagunitas Brewing is taking yet another step toward growth, opening an even larger brewery in Asuza, California, not far from San Diego. With three large breweries in operation, Lagunitas Brewing will have a capacity in the multi- million barrel range.

The Petaluma Brewery is impressive on many levels. I like the large taproom and it’s common to find dogs in the crowd, since dogs are an important influence to the brewery and its past. They serve food and there are multiple flight sampler options, if you want to try a wide variety of beer. And the beer, while certainly not brewed on a small scale like at other craft breweries, still maintains the quality one would find at a brewery that specializes in small batches.

Heineken fully owns Lagunitas Brewing now and this fact has turned some members of the craft beer faithful against them. I still love Lagunitas beer and I’m not about to cut them off, regardless of who owns them. Of course, I would have preferred if the brewery remained private, but I understand fully why Tony Magee made the decision to sell and I respect that. As long as they continue to churn out so many delicious and well- crafted suds, I can’t see any reason to turn my back.

America’s craft beer scene is mostly comprised of smaller brewing operations. Lagunitas Brewing is a behemoth in the brewing world and one of several older breweries responsible for turning the nation on to the world of craft brew. It’s a cool place and easily worthy of your time so pay a visit to Lagunitas Brewing the next time you’re in the Santa Rosa and Petaluma, California area. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.