Remember last month's surprising announcement that Lagunitas, one of the nation's fastest-growing breweries, would build a massive outpost in Chicago to furnish beer to the eastern half of the country?

Well, it's on. Lagunitas founder and owner Tony Magee said today he signed a lease that will put him in a space owned by film studio Cinespace, a former steel plant at 18th and Rockwell streets, for at least 20 years. (Initial reports, including ours, that the lease was signed, were premature.)

Magee said he hopes to have a taproom open here by November (yes — this November), with beer made at Lagunitas' current facility, in Petaluma, Calif. The plan is to have the Chicago brewery's 250 barrel system — which would be the largest in the city by far — operational by October 2013.

"The point of trying to get the taproom open early is to allow visitors to actually watch the whole darn brewery being built all around them," Magee said by email. "That seemed like fun to me."

He also offered a few more clues about what the taproom will look like: he hopes to place it on a 20-foot-high mezzanine above the brewery with clear walls on all sides. Three will look onto the brewery and one will face the kitchen.

Magee has been traveling regularly to Chicago to bring the brewery to life, and in a recent visit, was asked to meet with Gov. Pat Quinn.

"He just really wanted to talk, and not even about beer," Magee said. "He thought it was great we're coming to Chicago and just wanted to meet."

Apparently that's what happens when you bring one of the nation's fastest-growing breweries and up to 100 jobs to a state absorbing repeated economic black eyes.

jbnoel@tribune.com

Twitter @traveljosh