DOUGLAS PARK — To celebrate the Chicago Cubs' historic World Series win, Lagunitas Brewery is flying the 'W.'
The Near West Side brewery has affixed 'W' labels on a limited number of IPA bottles meant to resemble the Cubs' Win Flag, the victory flag that is flown at Wrigley Field after every home win.
"We just did a W label on random IPA bottles when we bottled IPA last week," said Karen Hamilton, Lagunitas founder Tony Magee's sister and the company's director of communications.
A "very limited" number of the bottles are being sold in the Lagunitas Brewery taproom and some were hidden in six packs of Lagunitas IPA sold in stores, Willy Wonka-style. When the specially-labeled beers are gone, they're gone, Hamilton said.
In random six packs, the limited edition bottles are hiding among regularly-labeled IPAs.
"What people will find until it’s gone is likely a six pack of IPA with one, maybe two bottles that have the 'W' label," Hamilton said. "The rest will be labeled IPA."
Magee and Hamilton are lifelong Chicagoans, she said, and were excited to celebrate the team's epic win.
"Both my brother and I, along with our many employees, were lucky enough to grow up here when Harry Caray called the games," Hamilton said. "It may have taken 108 years, but it just goes to show... Life is uncertain, don't sip. Or in Harry's words, 'Live it up. The meter's running.'"
Lagunitas opened its Chicago brewery in February 2014 at West 17th Street and South Rockwell streets just east of Douglas Park. The brewery's taproom, next to film studio Cinespace Chicago, opened in June 2014.
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) November 4, 2016
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