Lagunitas Brewing Company
Encyclopedia
The Lagunitas Brewing Company is a brewery
founded in 1993 in Lagunitas, California
, USA. They are known for iconoclastic interpretations of traditional beer styles, and irreverent descriptive text and stories on their packaging. Lagunitas Brewing's flagship, IPA, is consistently the best-selling IPA in the state of California according to IRI, the widely cited consumer product reporting company.
and moved a year later to nearby Petaluma, California
when they quickly outgrew their original rural West Marin location.
Lagunitas has been one of the fastest-growing craft breweries in the United States, increasing from 27,000 barrels in 2004 to 106,000 barrels in 2010. As of March 2011, the company has 92 employees and sells its beer in 32 states.
The brewery announced a $9.5 million expansion slated to begin early 2012 which will increase its brewing capacity to 600,000 barrels.
. As of December, 2008, five beers have been released in the series, commemorating Zappa's albums from Freak Out!
to Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
.
On the bottle label: "Thanks for choosing to spend the next few minutes with this special homicidally hoppy ale. Savor the moment as the raging hop character engages the Imperial Qualities of the Malt Foundation in mortal combat on the battlefield of your palate!"
":
" 'Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail... those test tubes and the scale... just get 'em all outta here...' "
The lyrics were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD
chemist Owsley Stanley
. Humorously modifying this fact, the label continues:
"He was referring to the complex super-critical-CO2 hop extraction equipment set up on the table in the lab across from the brewhouse. Hop extracts are for the BIG brewers, he thought - suitable only for crummy sub-standard and barely passable industrial lagers, not the subtle and elegant craft beer made here. But wrong he was. The New Brewer does not eschew any possible inputs. In this case the extract will replace the mountains of hop vegetative material in the kettle thus creating cleaner hop flavors and preventing the otherwise spinach-like mess of a kettle full of super-hopped wort from clogging up a pump or worse. The sensuous honey-like amber ooze was administered intravenously to the wort kettle and the sacrament was complete. Another kettle of Hop Stoopid is once again raised up and fermented on high. Call us @ 707-769-4495 Cheers!"
A "bigger" IPA than the flagship Lagunitas IPA. "More hops, more alcohol and more body... Similar hops of the IPA, just more of them... spicy finish with s lot of rose petal with just a increased emphasis on the hops. 8.2% ABV
(sic).".
On the label is the following:
We believe this Special Ale is Something Unique. Feeding Brown Cane Sugar to otherwise Cultured Brewery Yeast is a'kin to feeding Raw Shark to your Gerbil. It is unlikely to ever occur in nature without Human Intervention. And it looks weird besides. But it has happened and now it's too late.
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
founded in 1993 in Lagunitas, California
Lagunitas, California
Lagunitas is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located southwest of Novato, at an elevation of 217 feet . For census purposes, Lagunitas is aggregated with Forest Knolls into the census-designated place Lagunitas-Forest Knolls.The first post office at Lagunitas opened...
, USA. They are known for iconoclastic interpretations of traditional beer styles, and irreverent descriptive text and stories on their packaging. Lagunitas Brewing's flagship, IPA, is consistently the best-selling IPA in the state of California according to IRI, the widely cited consumer product reporting company.
History
The brewery was founded in 1993 by Tony Magee in Lagunitas, CaliforniaLagunitas-Forest Knolls, California
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is a census-designated place, composed of two unincorporated areas in the western half of the San Geronimo Valley in Marin County, California, United States. The population was 1,819 at the 2010 census....
and moved a year later to nearby Petaluma, California
Petaluma, California
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...
when they quickly outgrew their original rural West Marin location.
Lagunitas has been one of the fastest-growing craft breweries in the United States, increasing from 27,000 barrels in 2004 to 106,000 barrels in 2010. As of March 2011, the company has 92 employees and sells its beer in 32 states.
The brewery announced a $9.5 million expansion slated to begin early 2012 which will increase its brewing capacity to 600,000 barrels.
Beers
In 2006, Lagunitas began releasing a series of limited edition beers marking the 40th anniversary of each album by Frank ZappaFrank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
. As of December, 2008, five beers have been released in the series, commemorating Zappa's albums from Freak Out!
Freak Out!
Freak Out! is the debut album by American band The Mothers of Invention, released June 27, 1966 on Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, the album is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture...
to Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
Cruising With Ruben & The Jets is an album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, released in December 1968, and controversially reissued in an alternate mix with newly recorded bass and percussion in 1984.-Concept:...
.
IPA (India Pale Ale)
Lagunitas Brewing Company's flagship beer. Moderately hoppy and well balanced IPA. Copious Cascade and Centennial hops with Crystal malt. "An IPA built to make you want another sip."On the bottle label: "Thanks for choosing to spend the next few minutes with this special homicidally hoppy ale. Savor the moment as the raging hop character engages the Imperial Qualities of the Malt Foundation in mortal combat on the battlefield of your palate!"
PILS (Czech Style Pilsner)
On the bottle label: "Like Adam and Eve, Isaac and Ishmael, Mao and Confuscious [sic], Good and Evil, Day and Night, Hittites and Visigoths, John and Lorena, or Groucho and Moe, Ales and Lagers are as different as can be. Still, we must love each for who they are, separately but equally, with liberty, and justice, for all. Cheers!"ALE (Hop Stoopid)
The bottle label begins with lyrics from Steely Dan's 1976 single "Kid CharlemagneKid Charlemagne
"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam. It is notable as a fusion of a funk rhythm and jazz harmonies with rock and roll instrumentals and lyrical style, as well as a very famous guitar solo by jazz-fusion...
":
" 'Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail... those test tubes and the scale... just get 'em all outta here...' "
The lyrics were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
chemist Owsley Stanley
Owsley Stanley
Owsley Stanley also known as Bear, was an essential and transitional personality in the development of the San Francisco Bay counter-culture. Spanning the Beat-era years of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters scenes, he was equally pivotal to the explosion of 1960's Psychedelia culture...
. Humorously modifying this fact, the label continues:
"He was referring to the complex super-critical-CO2 hop extraction equipment set up on the table in the lab across from the brewhouse. Hop extracts are for the BIG brewers, he thought - suitable only for crummy sub-standard and barely passable industrial lagers, not the subtle and elegant craft beer made here. But wrong he was. The New Brewer does not eschew any possible inputs. In this case the extract will replace the mountains of hop vegetative material in the kettle thus creating cleaner hop flavors and preventing the otherwise spinach-like mess of a kettle full of super-hopped wort from clogging up a pump or worse. The sensuous honey-like amber ooze was administered intravenously to the wort kettle and the sacrament was complete. Another kettle of Hop Stoopid is once again raised up and fermented on high. Call us @ 707-769-4495 Cheers!"
Hop Stoopid
Lagunitas "Hop Stoopid" is an American Imperial (or Double) IPA. Hop Stoopid has an alcohol content (ABV) of 8% and comes in at 102 IBUs. It is made with hop extract and oils rather than flowers for stronger hop flavors.Maximus IPA
[70 IBUs]A "bigger" IPA than the flagship Lagunitas IPA. "More hops, more alcohol and more body... Similar hops of the IPA, just more of them... spicy finish with s lot of rose petal with just a increased emphasis on the hops. 8.2% ABV
(sic).".
Brown Shugga
Lagunitas "Brown Shugga" is an American Strong Ale. Brown Shugga has a alcohol content (ABV) of 9.99% and comes in at 51.1 IBUs.On the label is the following:
We believe this Special Ale is Something Unique. Feeding Brown Cane Sugar to otherwise Cultured Brewery Yeast is a'kin to feeding Raw Shark to your Gerbil. It is unlikely to ever occur in nature without Human Intervention. And it looks weird besides. But it has happened and now it's too late.