Big Sumpin’ Sumpin: Lagunitas goes global with Heineken

Next time you visit Amsterdam, you might be able to order a Lagunitas IPA at a bar.

Lagunitas Beer Company, based in Petaluma, has sold out… sort of.

The Dutch beer behemoth, Heineken, is investing in a 50% stake in our beloved Sonoma County craft beer company.

The goal is to bring Lagunitas to wider markets, sharing the love of American craft beer with the world, which has been limited internationally. The press release is one of the funniest I have read in a long time (emphasis by me):

Lagunitas has breweries in Petaluma, California, and Chicago, Illinois, with a total capacity of 1.2 million barrels. A third brewery under construction is scheduled to open in Azusa, California, in 2017, which will help Lagunitas keep pace with current demand. HEINEKEN, on the other hand, has 180 of those buggers everywhere.

Humor aside, the primary goal is to distribute Lagunitas to a wider audience and to also share their processes with a more international community, according to Tony Magee, who founded Lagunitas. Magee will retain his leadership position at Lagunitas. It’ll be business as usual.

However, in the end, it’s all about money, and this is going to be a jackpot for Lagunitas, which launched in 1993, and has a happening brewery in Petaluma which is a home away from home for many Sonoma Valley residents. They also donate a lot of beer to events in Sonoma Valley non-profit events, which is awesome.

Check out the press release here, specifically taking note of where Lagunitas is from in the opening paragraph.