“My name is Tony Magee and I’m the founder of Lagunitas and I wake and bake every morning.”

Okay, not exactly shocking news that the founder of Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing is an avowed stoner (along with at least half of his staff, he admits). Most of us from around here remember that in the earlier days of the brewery, (circa 2005) Lagunitas was notorious for its weekly anything-goes 420 parties and faced a suspension of its brewers license after a member of the management was cuffed for smoking a giant doobie rolled by the staff.

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And though that youthful devil-may-care attitude has matured, Magee is still a proud pot smoker, and the subject of a 5-minute video on Snoop Dogg’s 420 lifestyle blog, Merry JaneThe video is the first in a series called “Highly Productive”, an original Merry Jane series “debunking the stoner stereotype”.

Before you get all judgy, keep in mind that Magee is head of a company that was instrumental in rise of craft brewing and recently sold a 50% stake in the company to Heineken for an undisclosed (read boatload) amount of money. Not exactly a guy suffering from terminal couch-lock.

Here are a couple of choice nugs from the surprisingly endearing video. But you should seriously watch it.

“People think that drugs make you more creative, they don’t. But if you get it just right, you know, it helps you listen. If I’m trying to think of what the business needs to do next, you gotta listen. That’s my approach.” – Tony Magee

“I’m baked now, too.” – Tony Magee

“The brewery kind of devides right down the middle – burners and non-burners. But there’s no space between us, that’s the funniest thing.” – Tony Magee

“Beer and cannabis have a strong tie.” – Jeremy Marshall, Brewmaster

“Had we not been stoners, we wouldn’t have thought to put hops in a vaporizer” – Jeremy Marshall, on releasing the oils and odors in hops and gathering “imperical data” about smell profiles according to Merry Jane. As someone who can’t spell to save her life, I’m not judging. Much.

marshaallIt’s a great watch, with lots of views of the brewery and the people behind it. Along with the ironic twist that the video production team spelled Marshall’s name wrong. Hey, we can’t all be highly productive.

 

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