Friends may think I have a Lagunita’s obsession, but it’s only becasue they’re IPA is delicious and the brewery is close to my newly purchased house. A few weeks ago, I went for my second visit. (Third if you count the IPA keg I got for my birthday housewarming party). On that visit I tried a cherry sour beer that I am still dreaming about. Full cherry flavor with a kick of sour to wash it down. It’s liquid candy for beer lovers. I must go again before it’s gone.
A little history on Lagunitas in Chicago. In April of 2012 it was announced that Lagunitas Brewery would build a huge facility on Chicago’s South West side and by June 2012, it was so. Pretty fast for a massive undertaking. The logic was to cut down on transportation costs. Now, the Chicago brewery supplies all the Lagunitas sold east of the Rocky Mountains.
So incredible is this place that you must visit if you’re in Chicago. You enter to a welcome booth and a walk down the hall of trippy lights set to Willie Wonka music. The place is mammoth and you take in its colossal size through windows, and living room decored tasting rooms, turn up a stair case (If it’s Saturday, maybe the tamale guy is working near the staircase.), and into the retail area “Swag Shop” and pub- all of which look over look the factory floor. All beers are $5 regardless, and there are no other alchoholic offerings besides beer.
On a sad note, doing research for this shows, according to Wikapedia, as of September 10, 2015, Lagunitas announced that Heineken International would acquire a 50% stake in the company to help it expand its operations globally.[9] As part of the deal Lagunitas will no longer be considered a craft brewery as Heineken’s stake is greater than 25%. *update Heineken bought all of Lagunitas in 2017 for “an undisclosed amount,” but damn the beer is still good.
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