Mendocino Brewing Company

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Mendocino Brewing Company
Industry Alcoholic beverage
Founded 1983
Headquarters Ukiah, California, US
Products Beer
Owner(s) Vijay Mallya, UB Group

Mendocino Brewing Company (OTCQBMENB) is a brewery founded in 1983 as the Hopland Brewery in the Mendocino County town of Hopland, California, USA. The brewery has since expanded and moved its operations to a larger Mendocino County facility located in Ukiah, California. Additionally, the company runs the Mendocino Brewing Ale House also located 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. Former New Albion brewers, Jack McAuliffe and Don Barkley, were hired 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 on August 14, 1983, the Hopland Brewery was the first California brewpub ‒ a brewery licensed to sell both its own beer and food at the same location ‒ as well as the second in the United States.[1][2][3]

Public offering[edit]

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 Division III rugby union team.[7]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b c Ogle, Maureen (2006). Ambitious Brew: the story of American beer. Orlando: Harcourt. pp. 306–08. ISBN 0-15-101012-9. 
  2. ^ Acitelli, Tom (2011). "New York's Beer Debt to California". New York Observer. Retrieved 2011-05-17. 
  3. ^ Virgin, Bill (March 2, 2006). "Grant's brewpub leaves legacy to drink to". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2011-05-17. 
  4. ^ Client Summaries - Mendocino Brewing Company
  5. ^ Mendocino Brewing Company - Company History
  6. ^ SEC Info - Mendocino Brewing Co Inc - DEF 14A - For 10/4/02
  7. ^

External links[edit]