Lagunitas Is Still Eccentric and Irreverent but, Above All, Lovable
Monsters, Alien Abductions, and a Wormhole to Celebrate the Infamous Beer’s Roots
“I was having a panic attack,” says Max Bala between chuckles. “I think. Or maybe it was something else. I was working 18 hours a day. It was my biggest commercial commission, and I wasn’t even old enough to rent a car.”
Max is casually talking about his 2015 commission as if he were just shooting the breeze with his friends about a run-of-the-mill graffiti he was working on. But his commission was to travel to Las Vegas from Petaluma to paint the 130' wide by 30' high Lagunitas mural next to the Carroll Shelby Car Museum.
“So I skateboarded to and from the wall each day from my hotel, New York, New York, where I was staying on the strip, to the Lagunitas distribution center.”
There goes Max again with the understatements. The location of the mural was more than three miles away. The mural’s design was comprised of the company’s name in text and their character “Knock Out” punching an IPA through the concrete wall.
