2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Left Hand Brewing Company, Longmont Colorado (June 26, Brewery Stop #6)
The sixth brewery on our cross country beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip) was Left Hand Brewing Company in Longmont CO, June 26th. We drove up from Denver after sleeping in a bit that morning (having had a rough day of drinking prior) and enjoying a great breakfast at a local joint next to our hotel downtown. Longmont CO is a great historic town north of Denver about 1/2 an hour by freeway with a great little downtown and easily traversed layout and the brewery is located SW of the main downtown corridor.
We were excited to make it to Left Hand as all of us had consumed some of their more widely distributed beers and wanted to try it at the source. We definately were not dissappointed when we got there. The brewery building and production facility share the same parking lot, with a large outdoor patio on the street facing side of the taproom. The inside of the taproom has some swag, memoriabilia, and a number of tables and large bar you can sit at. We plopped down on the end of the bar and the server was excited to see us.
Be it that it was a week day (Friday), before lunch, they tend to not be terribly busy but today they had a number of visitors from other countries and parts of the US. We struck up a conversation with the couple next to us that were from the from the east coast (Fairfax Virginia), doing the same thing we were, traveling around, sampling beers. The server was sure to chat us up about their beers and our thoughts, as well as providing us with recommendations for where to go for lunch. Best drafts were the Milk Stout on Nitro (for the awesomeness) and the MS Gose Away! (for the unique fruit-sour profile).
As you can see below, we tried three sets of samplers plus a couple of one-offs, totaling 14 samples – starting from left to right on the sampler trays. The main set of beers are distributed, but some were only available at the brewery or locally in bottles. Overall the vibe of the brewery is really ‘local’ in nature, the staff are super friendly and want to make sure you are enjoying yourself and their beers. The server provided us a couple of special beers (the single samplers below) to show off the range of beers they do. We all agreed that this was a great line up and the quality of beers are top notch. They do a great job, and I can say that if you’re ever in the Denver area and can make it up to Longmont, you will not be disappointed.
Left Hand Brewing Company
1265 Boston Ave.
Longmont, CO 80501
Phone:(303) 772-0258
E: TastingRoom@lefthandbrewing.com
Web: http://lefthandbrewing.com/
Face: https://www.facebook.com/LeftHandBrewing
 Polestar PilsnerLeft Hand Brewing Co. • Pilsner Lager • IBU: 33 • ABV: 5.5% • 4 SRM Malt: Pilsner Malt and Pale 2-row Hops: Magnum, Mt Hood and Sterling Slightly over-carbonated, full two finger clingy head that had great retention with a bright yellow hue. The nose is grassy, slight lemony, slight herbal/acidic metallic, with hints of yeast. The front mouth is a bit sharp with the lemongrass and malts come through with a clean crisp approach and almost floral mid. The fruity hop and present malt make this a good beer, but the harsh bitters are a bit much for standard Pils. |
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| Sawtooth Amber Left Hand Brewing Co. • English Bitter • IBU: 27 • ABV: 5.3% • 16 SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich Wheat and Black Malt Hops: Magnum, US Goldings, Willamette and Cascade The reddish-brown colored draft had little to no head, slight lacing on the rim. The nose is malty and forward with some spice. The front to mid mouth is solid, full bodied, slight spicy and a hint of citrus hops. There is a spicy character with the malts on the back that lingers into a little dry finish. Complex for an English Bitter. |
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| Introvert Session IPA Left Hand Brewing Co. • American IPA • IBU: 55 • ABV: 4.8% • 8 SRM Malt: 2-row, Munich, Vienna, CaraAroma, Crystal Hops: CTZ, Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Sterling, Comet Clean bright yellow draft with a slight foamy head that dropped quickly, leaving a little lacing on the rim. The nose is slight lemon zest, floral notes, sharp hops. The front mouth is a little thin in character (watery?), with low carbonation and the hops coming into play on the mid to back. The acidic lemon grassy and pine resin attributes are strong, leaving a sharp hop profile on the dry back. |
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| Good Juju Left Hand Brewing Co. • Herbed / Spiced Beer • IBU: 20 • ABV: 4.5% • 10 SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Munich, Crystal and Flaked Barley Hops: Centennial, US Goldings and Sterling Draft has a amber-orange hue, creamy head that dropped to a sheen quickly, slight lacing. This is somewhat of a alcoholic ginger beer, but less carbonation. It’s got a subtle spice and thinner body with a mild ginger approach. Clean, dry, hints of lemon-zest on the mid-back with the yeast. |
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| 400 Pound Monkey Left Hand Brewing Co. • English India Pale Ale (IPA) • IBU: 65 • ABV: 6.8% • 10 SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich and Malted Wheat Hops: Magnum, Boadicea and Sovereign Two finger slight off-white foamy head that had good retention, nice yellow-orange body. Nose is honey, sweet malts, yeasty notes. The hops really shine on this beer with a mix of tropical and floral notes with citrus (lemon and mangos) to hints of clover and spice with the solid malt profile. The crisp finish and broad range of hop notes makes this a great English style IPA. |
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| Twin Sisters Left Hand Brewing Co. • Double/Imperial IPA • IBU: 77 • ABV: 9.6% • 15 SRM Malt: Pale 2-Row, Munich, Malted Rye, Flaked Barley and Crystal Rye Hops: CO2 Extract, Cascade, Willamette and Glacier Slight darker orange to brass colored draft with a slight egg-shell white head that lingered a bit then dropped. Left just a little bit of large bubbly lacing. The nose is sweet, floral, and hints of tropical fruit. Front mouth is sharp with a front driven pine to grassy hop profile and malt backed body. The mid to back has a mild carbonation and the higher ABV is present on the mid to back with a linger alcohol feel. |
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| Great JuJu Imperial Ginger Pale Ale Left Hand Brewing Co. • Herbed / Spiced Beer • IBU: 54 • ABV: 7.2% • 24 SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Munich, CaraAmber and Flaked Barley Hops: Columbus, Cascade, Mt. Hood Other: Peruvian Ginger Juice Clear darker red/orange hue with a slight fluffy khaki/tan head that left some lacing on the rim. The nose is a mix of soft ginger fruit/sweet/sugary notes with some roasted malts. The front mouth is a bit stronger with an earthy/acidic character backed with a solid malt and slight bittered hoppy (green/fresh) hop spice. |
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| MS GOSE Away! Left Hand Brewing Co. • Sour/Gose • IBU: ?? • ABV: 4.5% • ?? SRM (Mid-Opaque Red) This unfiltered red-pink draft has a slight pink head that dropped to a sheen on the top. The nose is sweet with subtle lemon tarts and blueberry sweetness. The front mouth is odd with a hit of salt, acidity, and yeasty notes. This gose is really pucker worthy and strong. One-off, only available at the bar in limited quantities for the MS Bike Team fund raiser. |
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| Black Jack Left Hand Brewing Co. • English Style Porter • IBU: 35 • ABV: 6.8% • 40+ SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Chocolate, Munich and Wheat Hops: Magnum and US Goldings Solid dark-brown pour with a off-white small head. The nose is really roasted with burned sugars/caramel, toffee, and some cacao bitter notes. The front mouth is a bit sweet with toasted grains and caramelized sugars, dark-grain cracker malts, some hints of bitters. The mid to back has some slight alcohol notes with a decent amount of carbonation that lasted well through to the end of the sample. Good, solid English porter. |
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| Milk Stout Left Hand Brewing Co. • English Sweet Stout/Cream Stout • IBU: 25 • ABV: 6% • 40+ SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich, Roasted Barley, Flaked Oats, Flaked Barley and Chocolate Hops: Magnum and US Goldings Other: Lactose This solid black draft has slight brown rimming, bubbly off-white/tan head that dropped quickly leaving some lacing. Nose is all coffee, some milky sweetness, toasted bread, chocolates. The front mout is creamy, coffee and espresso sharper notes and a solid body. The mid and back have some hints of roasted/burned malts and smoke. |
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| Milk Stout – Nitro Left Hand Brewing Co. • English Sweet Stout/Cream Stout • IBU: 25 • ABV: 6% • 40+ SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich, Roasted Barley, Flaked Oats, Flaked Barley and Chocolate Hops: Magnum and US Goldings Other: Lactose The solid black body has a beautiful tan and creamy head that lingers and leaves a LOT of lacing on the rim. The nose is a lot of sweet brown sugar, coffee bitters, burned cocao, with a hint of vanilla. The front to mid mouth is super creamy, silky smooth, hits of coffee and vanilla cream. The roasted grains provide a nice bittering, with the hop profile secondary to the back and the finish is really nice. |
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| Wake Up Dead Nitro Left Hand Brewing Co. • Russian Imperial Stout • IBU: 45 • ABV: 10.2% • 40+ SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Munich, Crystal, Chocolate, Roasted Barley, Black Barley and Flaked Oats Hops: Magnum and US Goldings Solid black body, tan two-fingered head that lasted well into the sip, leaving lots of bubbly froth on the rim. The nose is somewhat sweet with hints of dried fruit (raisins), notes of black licorice and coffee. The front to mid mouth is smooth, thin, and dried/bitter coffee hits. There is a bit of sweet dried fruit and grains present to balance the bitters. This is a smooth fully nitro pour. |
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| Sawtooth – Nitro Left Hand Brewing Co. • Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB) • IBU: 27 • ABV: 5.3% • 16 SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich Wheat and Black Malt Hops: Magnum, US Goldings, Willamette and Cascade Darker amber hue draft with a lite tan foamy head, minimal lacing left as sipped. The nose is really forward with the grain build. Sweet malts on the mid, slight watery mouth-feel that is somewhat odd with the nitro carbonation. The bitters are really on the back and not supporting of the malt forward body that has hints of woody spice to burned bread with the dry after-taste. |
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| Black Jack – Coffee Randall Left Hand Brewing Co. • English Style Porter • IBU: 35 • ABV: 6.8% • 40+ SRM Malt: Pale 2-row, Crystal, Chocolate, Munich and Wheat Hops: Magnum and US Goldings Other: Sumatra Manhelding coffee and vanilla beans On Fridays, they use a randall to ‘push’ the beer through something, this time around it was bitter coffee and vanilla beans. This really pushes the quality and style of the beer. Solid black body with a brown sticky foamy head with nice lacing and retention. The nose is super coffee forward (shot of espresso) and bitter from the roasted nature of the beans. The front to back is like drinking a mug of cold coffee. The burned/roasted coffee profile overpowered everything in the original beer that made it a great English style. |