Left Hand Brewing Company

History

Left Hand began in December 1990 with a homebrewing kit that founder Dick Doore received from his brother. According to Doore, "it was all downhill from there." By 1993, Doore had teamed up with college buddy Eric Wallace and they resolved to start a brewery.

On September 21, 1993, they incorporated as Indian Peaks Brewing Company, and purchased a former meat-packing plant next to the St. Vrain River outside downtown Longmont, Colorado. A few weeks after beginning production, it was discovered that the name Indian Peaks was already in use by another brewery, so the name was changed to Left Hand, in honor of Chief Niwot (the Arapahoe word for "left hand") whose tribe wintered in the local area.

Left Hand's doors opened for business on January 22, 1994. Their first batch of beer was Sawtooth Ale In October of that year. Left Hand took home two medals at the Great American Beer Festival, a gold medal in the bitter category for Sawtooth Ale, and a bronze medal in the Robust Porter category for Black Jack Porter. In 1995, the brewery was able to start putting its logo on bottle caps. But when it came down to shrinking down the original logo to put on a crown, the design was illegible. Left Hand created a small hand to be the logo. It morphed into a sticker, and eventually into the company logo used today.

In April 1998, Left Hand merged with Tabernash Brewing, and doubled the size of their brewery. In June, they began packaging 12 oz. bottles for 6 packs (up to that point they had been bottling 22 oz. bottles and kegs exclusively). In November, they started their own distribution business, Indian Peaks Distribution Company. Tabernash was phased out and Indian Peaks Distribution Company was sold, allowing Left Hand to focus and redirect their energy back to brewing.

In recent years, the brewery has experience significant growth. The brewery has added six 480 barrel fermenters, an additional 500 barrel bright tank, and a new KHS keg line. Left Hand has also expanded the brewery property, purchasing the warehouse across Boston Avenue to house offices as well as the site of a new 6,000 square foot cooler, bringing the total brewery acreage to 5.5 acres. In the fall of 2012, Left Hand opened a new bottling line that runs four times faster than their previous system and fills 200 bottles per minute.

On the first night of the 2011 Great American Beer Festival, Left Hand introduced Milk Stout Nitro in a bottle, which has become their most popular beer, making it both the first American and the first craft brewery to bottle a nitrogenated beer without a widget. Two years later, Left Hand expanded the bottled Nitro series with Sawtooth Nitro and Wake Up Dead Nitro.

Left Hand produced approximately 65,879 barrels in 2013.

Bottled Beers

Perennial Collection:

• Sawtooth Ale
• Travelin' Light
• Milk Stout
• Milk Stout Nitro
• Extrovert IPA
• Polestar Pilsner
• Black Jack Porter
• Introvert IPA
• Wake Up Dead Nitro Seasonal Collection:
• Good Juju
• Oktoberfest
• Fade to Black
• Hard Wired Nitro Coffee Porter
• Well Played Red IPA
• Braveheart Nitro Big Mo Series (all 22 oz):
• Oak Aged Wake Up Dead
• Chainsaw Double ESB
• Twin Sisters Double IPA
• Smokejumper Imperial Smoked Porter
• Warrior IPA
• St. Vrain Tripel
• Widdershins Oak Aged Barleywine
• Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout Ambidextrous Ale Series (Draft Only):
• Step One: Imperial Milk Stout
• Step Two: Smoked Doppelbock
• Step Three: Great Juju
• Step Four: Maibock
• Step Five: Sticke Alt Safety Round Series (Draft Only):
• Round One: Belgian Pale Ale
• Round Two: Copper Ale Collaborations (all 22 oz):
• TerraRye'ZD (2008)
• Depth Charge (2009)
• Oxymoron (2010)
• Peaotch (2011) Discontinued Beers:
• Motherlode Golden Ale
• Jackman's Pale Ale
• Haystack Wheat
• Deep Cover Brown Ale
• Snowbound Winter Ale
• XXXmas Ale
• Fade to Black Vol. 1 (Foreign Export Stout)
• Fade to Black Vol. 2 (Smoked Baltic Porter)
• Fade to Black Vol. 3 (Pepper Porter)
• Fade to Black Vol. 4 (Rocky Mountain Black Ale)
• TNT Weizen Doppelbock
• Rye Bock Lager
• Smoked Goosinator Doppelbock Note: all active beers are available in 6 packs of 12 oz bottles unless otherwise noted.

Awards

References

References

1. (27 May 2014). "Gardner tours Longmont brewery, says bill to protect brewers' 'spent grain' to reach committee soon". Longmont Times Call.
2. (2012-04-17). "Brewers Association Releases Top 50 Breweries". Brewers Association.
3. "Left Hand Brewing {{!}} Specialty Beverage of Virginia".
4. Ed Sealover. (2014-03-31). "Left Hand Brewing leaps onto list of 50 largest U.S. brewers". Denver Business Journal.
5. (7 May 2014). "Left Hand Brewing expands product presence to Western Pennsylvania". Drinks Business Review.
6. (2012). "World Beer Cup 1998 Winners List".
7. "1997 Great American Beer Festival Winners List".
8. (2012). "World Beer Cup 1996 Winners List".
9. "1995 Great American Beer Festival Winners List".
10. (2011). "1994 Great American Beer Festival Winners List".