- Mendocino Brewing Company
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Mendocino Brewing Company 
Location Ukiah, California, USA Owner(s) Vijay Mallya, UB Group Year opened 1983 Active beers Name Type Red Tail Ale Amber ale Red Tail Lager Lager Eye of the Hawk Amber ale Blue Heron Pale Ale Pale ale Black Hawk Stout Stout Peregrine Golden Ale Ale White Hawk Select IPA India Pale Ale Mendocino Brewing Company (OTCBB: MENB), founded in 1983 as the Hopland Brewery in Hopland, California, is a brewery currently located in Ukiah, Mendocino County, California. The company runs a brewpub in Hopland at the location of its original brewery, but has since expanded into a larger facility in Ukiah.
The Hopland Brewery was founded in 1983 by homebrewers Michael Laybourn and Norman Franks, who purchased the brewing equipment of the recently closed New Albion Brewing Company, also hiring former New Albion brewers Jack McAuliffe and Don Barkley to operate the brewery.[1] The flagship beer was named Red Tail Ale, named after both the beer's color and also a local hymn titled "The Redtail Hawk".[1] The theme of naming all its beer varieties after birds continues to this day. Opened in August 14, 1983, the Hopland Brewery (now the Mendocino Brewing Company) was the first brewpub (brewery to sell beer and food on-premises) in California[1] and second in the United States.[2][3]
In 1994, the company went public in a "Direct Public Offering", advertising its share offering with flyers in six-packs of its beer.[4] In 1997, Vijay Mallya, owner of the UB Group, bought a significant portion of the company,[5] and today is the beneficial owner of approximately three-quarters of the company's stock.[6]
Its brews include Red Tail Ale, Blue Heron Pale Ale, Eye of the Hawk Select Ale, and Black Hawk Stout, as well as several other regular offerings, and various short-run seasonal offerings. Their products are all named for birds of prey, excepting Blue Heron, and feature images of the birds on their labels.
As part of the acquisition by UB Group, the company owns a brewery in Saratoga Springs, New York, and produces Kingfisher brand beers for the U.S. market.
The brewery is also the official sponsor of the Mendocino Steam Donkeys Rugby Football Club, a local men's DIII rugby union team.[7]
References and sources
- ^ a b c Ogle, Maureen (2006). Ambitious Brew: the story of American beer. Orlando: Harcourt. pp. 306–08. ISBN 0151010129.
- ^ Acitelli, Tom (2011). "New York's Beer Debt to California". New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/2011/slideshow/slideshow-new-yorks-beer-debt-california. Retrieved 2011-5-17.
- ^ Virgin, Bill (March 2, 2006). "Grant's brewpub leaves legacy to drink to". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://www.seattlepi.com/virgin/261383_virgin02.html. Retrieved 2011-5-17.
- ^ Client Summaries - Mendocino Brewing Company
- ^ Mendocino Brewing Company - Company History
- ^ SEC Info - Mendocino Brewing Co Inc - DEF 14A - For 10/4/02
- ^ http://www.mendorugby.com
See also
External links
- Official Site - website of the Mendocino Brewing Company
Categories:- Companies listed on the OTC Bulletin Board
- Beer brewing companies based in California
- Companies based in Mendocino County, California
- Microbreweries
- Companies established in 1983
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