Lagunitas Azusa Sneaky Peek Party Event
This week started with fanfare and excitement for the City of Azusa, CA as the Lagunitas Brewing Company held a “Sneaky Peek” Party Event for city officials, media participants, and industry connections to celebrate the development of their Azusa brewery complex. The real theme of the day was Lagunitas embracing its newest community. Located in an industrial park (1223 W. 10th St. Azusa, CA 91702) that is nestled against the beautiful San Gabriel Mountain foothills, the Azusa facility will be Lagunitas’ 3rd brewery. The other two Lagunitas breweries are in Petaluma, CA and Chicago, IL.
The City of Azusa was founded in 1887 and incorporated on December 29, 1898. The City is located in the County of Los Angeles, situated 27 miles northeast of the City of Los Angeles. The San Gabriel Mountain foothills provide a beautiful backdrop for Azusa. Encompassing 9.13 square miles with a population of approximately 45,000, the City of Azusa boasts that you can find “everything from A to Z in the USA” in their community and I’m convinced they are right.
Lagunitas Azusa Brewery Concept Displays
The event started with Karen Hamilton, Lagunitas Director of Communications, providing a hearty greeting and an overview of the Lagunitas Azusa facility.
Karen Hamilton, Lagunitas Director of Communications
The Azusa facility includes three buildings and 178,000 square feet of new construction, with a built-out capacity for the space to support 1 million barrels of brewing production. The brewery will open in 2017 with an initial capacity of over 400,000 barrels per year with the expectation of increasing to 750,000 barrels per year in the near term. The brewery will employee about 200 personnel. Eventually the complex will include a TapRoom Restaurant, ‘Schwagshop’, and Amphitheater with Music Venue.
A look back inside one of the Lagunitas Azusa buildings at the estimated 60+ people attending the media presentation.
Maria Stipp, Lagunitas CEO, expressed her appreciation to City of Azusa officials for their support in facilitating the steps to make the new brewery implementation possible and a success. She noted that a major factor in the selection of Azusa was the city’s excellent water source that matches up nicely with Lagunitas’ other water supplies in Petaluma and Chicago.
Maria Stipp, Lagunitas CEO
Ron Lindenbusch, Lagunitas “Beer Weasel” and Cultural Ambassador, described the dedication that Lagunitas brings to becoming an active member and contributor to Azusa’s community and culture.
Ron Lindenbusch, Lagunitas “Beer Weasel” and Cultural Ambassador
Azusa City Manager Troy Butzlaff expressed excitement for Lagunitas’ presence and said Lagunitas will have access to more than enough water for its brewing process through Azusa Light & Water, the city’s water and power utility.
Troy Butzlaff, Azusa City Manager
Finally, Azusa Mayor Joseph Rocha welcomed Lagunitas to Azusa and looked forward to the resultant job creation and community benefits.
Joseph Rocha, Mayor of Azusa
Once the information formalities concluded, industry connections (including suppliers, distributors, resellers, and other peer breweries) were admitted and the celebration party started. Lagunitas Brewing certainly knows how to make people feel welcome, comfortable and engaged. Several hundred lucky invitees were treated to Lagunitas beers, music, food trucks, games, light shows, giveaways, and roller derby! Azusa’s very own Infinity Roller Derby team scrimmaged with the Beach Cities team. In addition, a raffle was held for a local community charity. What a blast!
Lucky Invitees Enter to Party
Lagunitas Craft Beer Flowed
Food Trucks for Every Taste Preference
Foot Stomping Music
Roller Derby Action Featuring Azusa’s Team Infinity
Even Mother Nature Put on a Show
Both Lagunitas and the City of Azusa will benefit greatly from this union. Lagunitas gains a great location for production and distribution, including distributing beer south of the border. They have already become an active and positive member of the Azusa community. Azusa gains jobs, a successful business asset, and a valuable community resource. Those types of mutual benefits definitely deserve a big party.
I’m glad I could be there to help celebrate and look forward to the Grand Opening in 2017.