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Left Hand Brewing Company

Industry	Alcoholic beverage
Founded	1993
Founder	Dick Doore Eric Wallace
Headquarters	Longmont, Colorado, United States
Area served	North America
Key people	Eric Wallace (CEO)
Products	Beer
Production output	78,000 US beer barrels (2016)
Website	http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/

Left Hand Brewing Company is a craft brewery located in Longmont, Colorado.

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. With over 30% growth in 2010, Left Hand has steadily increased its production, making the Brewers Association's Top 50 Craft Brewers list in 2012. 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

Note: all active beers are available in 6 packs of 12 oz bottles unless otherwise noted.

Awards

See also

• Barrel-aged beer

References

1. ^ Rochat, Scott (27 May 2014). "Gardner tours Longmont brewery, says bill to protect brewers' 'spent grain' to reach committee soon". The Longmont-based microbrewer. Longmont Times Call.
2. "Brewers Association Releases Top 50 Breweries". Brewers Association. Brewers Association. 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
3. "Left Hand Brewing | Specialty Beverage of Virginia". www.specialtybevva.com. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
4. Ed Sealover (2014-03-31). "Left Hand Brewing leaps onto list of 50 largest U.S. brewers". Denver Business Journal. Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
5. ^ Staff Writer (7 May 2014). "Left Hand Brewing expands product presence to Western Pennsylvania". Drinks Business Review.
6. ^ "World Beer Cup 1998 Winners List" (PDF). World Beer Cup. 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
7. ^ "1997 Great American Beer Festival Winners List" (PDF). Great American Beer Festival. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-06-17. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
8. ^ "World Beer Cup 1996 Winners List" (PDF). World Beer Cup. 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
9. "1995 Great American Beer Festival Winners List" (PDF). Great American Beer Festival. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
10. ^ "1994 Great American Beer Festival Winners List" (PDF). Great American Beer Festival. 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-06-19. Retrieved 2024-07-08.

External links

• Left Hand Official website
• Left Hand 2009 GABF Winner
• 'Friday Field Trip: Left Hand Brewing Company' video by Draft Magazine
• Fade to Black feat. in Denver Post
• Daily Camera Article

• Beer brewing companies based in Colorado
• Companies based in Colorado
• Longmont, Colorado