Napa Valley man buys Lagunitas’ stake in Santa Rosa’s Moonlight Brewing
A craft beer innovator from Napa Valley has purchased the half stake in Moonlight Brewing that The Lagunitas Brewing Co. acquired six years ago, soon after the Petaluma-based operation was acquired by Heineken.
Patrick Rue’s acquisition returns the 30-year-old Santa Rosa brewery, known for Death & Taxes dark lager and Reality Czeck pilsner, back to full local ownership, according to Moonlight’s announcement Friday. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.
Brian Hunt, who started the brewery in 1992, retained 50% ownership when the deal was struck with Lagunitas founder and then-CEO Tony Magee in 2016.
“We’ve been looking for someone to be a comfortable long-term fit,” Hunt told the Business Journal. “At some point, I was going to need to have a younger person take over and bring their strong back to this.”
Hunt, who just turned 65 and has been in brewing for 42 years, will remain actively involved in the brewery, the news release said. Brewmaster Zac Greenwood will remain in the role. His stepdaughter, Erin Latham-Ponneck, will remain general manager.
Lagunitas on Friday acknowledged the sale of its shares in Moonlight.
“We had a mutually enjoyable partnership but decided, with input from our national distributor partners, to focus on the potential of our core beer brands and new exciting innovations,” CEO Dennis Peek said in a statement.
Rue is known for founding The Bruery in Southern California in 2008 and later left that brewery. He recently started the Erosion brand of canned wine and beer, with a taproom in St. Helena. He will advise Moonlight and direct its oak barrel aging program.
At its current location in a northwest Santa Rosa business park, the 4,000-barrel-a-year brewery has space for one more fermenter, which would allow expansion by about 17%, Hunt told the Journal.
The change in ownership will allow for “patient growth, greater availability of its coveted beers to its fans and wholesale partners,” the company said.
Moonlight, started in 1992, has been run independently from Lagunitas, according to the announcement. Magee told The Press Democrat at the time of the half-stake deal in 2016 that the investment in Moonlight and two other craft breweries across the country was to learn about local tastes in the brewers’ markets.
“These aren’t conquests ... It’s not for scale,” Magee said.
The Netherlands-based Heineken in 2015 acquired a half-stake in Lagunitas in a deal valued at up to $1 billion, then acquired full ownership in 2017. Since then, Lagunitas has been caught in an upheaval in the beer industry, where sales have been slowing for mainstream brands and some craft brews.
Lagunitas has had two rounds of layoffs since 2018 and replaced its CEO once since Magee.
Heineken in its annual report in February noted that its Lagunitas business unit has been struggling.
“Although falling short of our internal ambitions in the USA, Lagunitas continued to grow internationally,” the report said.
For example, the brand group has been enjoying double-digit sales growth in Brazil, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
Moonlight Brewing’s taproom is located at 3350 Coffey Lane, Suite D, in Santa Rosa.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Before coming to the Business Journal in 1999, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.
This story has been updated with a statement from Lagunitas Brewing Co. CEO Dennis Peek, Heineken annual report comments about Lagunitas, and interview comments from Brian Hunt on annual production and Patrick Rue’s being no longer involved with The Bruery.
