UKIAH, CA., 11/11/26 — Mendocino Brewing Co., the business that made Red Tail Ale and opened California’s first brewpub after Prohibition, is in federal bankruptcy court. The company didn’t ask to be there.
A Los Angeles law firm that says the company owes it money filed the case Oct. 12, the court docket shows. A judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether to dismiss it.
The company’s brewery on Airport Road in Ukiah closed in 2018. The docket still lists that address, 1601 Airport Road, for the company.
The company didn’t file this case. It is called an involuntary bankruptcy. Someone who says a company owes them money asks a judge to open the case. The law firm, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, filed under Chapter 11, the part of bankruptcy law used to sort out a company’s debts.
The firm’s claim is about $60,000, according to a summary of the petition from S&P Capital IQ, a financial data service.
A second company wants the case dismissed. Kingfisher America Inc., which the docket lists as another business owed money, filed that request Oct. 22. If the judge keeps the case open, Kingfisher America wants permission to go ahead with an arbitration, the title of its motion says. A bankruptcy case puts most other legal actions against a company on hold.
The docket entries don’t say what the arbitration is about.
Kingfisher is the beer Mendocino Brewing made in Ukiah alongside its own brands. Kingfisher America gave Mendocino Brewing a license in 2001 to brew and sell beer under that name in the United States, according to Mendocino Brewing’s annual report for 2015, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The report describes Kingfisher America as a Delaware corporation affiliated with UB Limited.
The law firm asking for involuntary bankruptcy filed its answer to Kingfisher America’s request to dismiss Nov. 5. Kingfisher America replied Nov. 9. The docket shows nothing filed by Mendocino Brewing itself through Nov. 9.