Lagunitas Chicago AKA Chicagunitas

Hannah Ransom
Aug 25, 2017 · 5 min read

The next morning I woke up and took a brief break from beer to visit the Jurassic World exhibit at The Field Museum. They basically recreate Jurassic Park with animatronic dinosaurs, it’s AMAZING and on exhibit through January 7, 2018. If you’re in Chicago, go and check it out. I’m 29 years old and was giddy through the entire experience.

OK, back to beer. After leaving the Field Museum I Lyfted over to Lagunitas in time for their 1pm tour. Lagunitas Chicago has always been one of my favorite breweries. Their beer is (of course) great and everyone who works there is seemingly a great human being, plus their taproom is gorgeous with great views of the brewing facility. Their tour starts in what I heard referred to as the “purple room” or “basement” but I would call it the eclectic “party room”. Upon entering the party room you get handed a taster of their Lagunitas Pils. Their tasting room is huge with lots of comfy furniture and a quirky collection of Lagunitas themed art to soak in.

The painting in the background is a replica of the Chicago flag with the Lagunitas dog instead of the standard red star.

After being given a few minutes to settle in and find a place to sit you are handed your second taster: their flagship IPA, which makes up about 55% of their annual sales and why they sometimes refer to the brewery as the “House that IPA built.” From there the beers just keep coming in rapid succession including tastes of Hop Stoopid and Wilco Tango Foxtrot. True to brand, Lagunitas definitely knows how to get the party started. In between the tastings, our tour guide, Burley, provided us with a history of Lagunitas, as well as eventually took us on a tour of the brewery via a catwalk.

Can you spot the viking hat?

Lagunitas was started in Lagunitas, CA (Hence the name) by Tony Magee in 1993. Tony started out home brewing on a 5 gallon system and was eventually able to establish a proper brewery in Petaluma, CA.

The Chicago brewery opened up in April 2014 in the Douglas Park neighborhood of Chicago. The brewery is a former film studio space, in which notably, the first season of Chicago Fire was shot as well as the scene from the Dark Knight in which the Joker lights cash on fire. Now they brew tasty beer.

A key part of the Lagunitas branding is the dog as well as the red splash. Lagunitas Petaluma is notoriously dog friendly so I assumed that there was a story behind their dog logo. Turns out Tony was under a tight print deadline and had to very quickly decide on a logo so he turned to clip art. He found the dog on clipart and put on a patch around his eye and collar and sent it off to the printers.

The red splash that is displayed occasionally on their logo as well as the beer Lagunitas Sucks, is actually bird shit. Yes, you read the correctly. The story goes that Tony was driving from northern California to San Francisco when a bird shit on his window and it was the most beautiful bird shit he’d ever seen, so he quickly sketched it and now it graces their logo. I might chalk this anecdote up as a brewery myth, but ya never know.

Chicagunitas is definitely worth a visit, and I highly recommend their tour especially if you’re new to their beers and the beer world. You get a solid amount of education combined with a lot of fun, and free beer. It’s a win-win. If you miss the tours for the day head up to their taproom, grab a beer and a tasty bite to eat and in the evening you might even get to listen to some free live music. When I was there I was (sadly) just leaving as the band was starting up, but I did stop off at the magician’s table on my way out the door and Mike was kind enough to blow my mind with some close up magic.

Mike O’Donnel Professional close-up magician

This just goes to show you that you never where a night at Chicagunitas will take you, but it’s sure to be magical.

Much love and thanks to everyone on the Chicagunitas team!

Steal My Trip

Lagunitas Chicago

2607 W. 17th St. Chicago, Ill. 6060

https://lagunitas.com/taprooms/chicago

Tours: Offered every day and the times vary, check their website and show up 30 minutes before to nab a spot. No advance reservation needed.

Taproom hours: Wednesday — Sunday Noon to 9pm

Parking: Huge parking lot available, but once again, let’s be safe and responsible people consider taking a Lyft or Uber.

Beer Trip Across America

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Hannah Ransom

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Beer Trip Across America

Follow my journey on the ale trail as I travel across the U.S. in search of the best craft beer in America.

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