With a love of craft beer and an intense desire to join the craft brewing movement, Michael and Dave LaCross set out to start or purchase a brewery somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. In May 2014 they purchased the established and award-winning Schooner’s Grille and Brewery in Antioch, CA. They immediately supported their Brewmaster, Craig Cauwels, in entering craft beer competitions and started off with a bang by winning California Brewery of the Year at the California State Fair in 2014, going up against all the heavy hitters in California. 

Over the past twenty years, Craig has produced some of the very best craft beers in the country. He has racked up a slew of awards at major beer competitions including medals from the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), The World Beer Cup, The CA State Fair, and various other notorious competitions. 

With such a history, it was very puzzling that a brewery of that quality had never sought to distribute beyond a few local watering holes. The new owners joked that outside Antioch, Schooner’s had the best beer that nobody ever tasted. 

They decided to remedy that situation by focusing their attention on brewing great beer, significantly increasing manufacturing capacity, and to begin distributing as far and wide as practical. To that end, they acquired a large warehouse at 1885 N. MacArthur Drive in Tracy, CA, adapted it for brewing, added a beautiful tasting room, and re-branded as Morgan Territory Brewing. 

The space comes with the advantage of being able to grow to 25,000 barrels which meant the foundation had to be reinforced to accommodate the weight of 120 barrel fermenters, add a very large boiler and Cool Fit glycol system along with a reverse osmosis water treatment system and a gargantuan cool room, large enough to drive a fork lift in. 

Fast Forward to June 2023, 7 years after the opening of Morgan Territory Brewing, we opened our first satellite tasting room – Morgan Territory Brewing Pleasant Hill. From this expansion was a necessary adjustment and investment to keep up with the increased production demand. We acquired a large freight truck to streamline deliveries, an additional forklift, an upgrade to the canning line and new job position opportunities. 

Morgan Territory Brewing is taking on the Wild West. Named after a historic ranch located on the ‘morning side’ of Mount Diablo, Morgan Territory Brewing is dedicated to the rich, independent character of the early pioneers that made California great. We are committed to producing bold and diverse, high-quality craft beers, and continuing our award-winning legacy.