“Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination. Take a look, and you’ll see into your imagination.” Those famous first lines from “Pure Imagination,” the song sung by Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” might be designed to invoke a sense of childhood bliss in relation to candy and sweet treats in the 1971 movie, but at Lagunitas Brewing Co.’s Chicago facility, the music is designed to welcome legal-drinking-age consumers into a more adult experience.
As one enters the brewery, which was completed in 2014, windows allow a person to look into some of the craft brewer’s operations. A walk down the entrance hallway features a lightshow coordinated to “Pure Imagination” as well as bold neon paint spelling out the word “Taproom.” Before one turns the corner at the end of the long hallway, a piece of artwork made out of bottle caps from various Lagunitas beers depicts the female icon from its Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale.