Brewery's Tasting Room "Miraculously Spared" From Colorado Floods

LONGMONT, Colo.Left Hand Brewing Company happens to makeand serveSawtooth Ale, 400 Pound Monkey and other potent beers a stone's throw from the St. Vrain River.

Days of relentless rain, and a swollen St. Vrain, knocked out power, flooded Left Hand's loading docks and hop garden, and caused the basement of the administration building to leak. 

But Mother Nature was kind to Left Hand's Tasting Room, a popular indoor and outdoor social hangout for an eclectic group of locals. It was "miraculously spared" even though it sits the closest to the river, said Emily Armstrong, a spokesperson for the brewery. Before Left Hand staff evacuated last week, they laid down malt bags to protect the building.

Thanks to a flood of biblical proportions, the normally placid St. Vrain grew into a raging waterway that resembled the chocolate hue and ferocity of the Southwest's most famous river: the mighty Colorado. Floods over the last week have forced many Longmont residents to evacuate their homes, devoured public infrastructure, and transformed roads and fields into lakes. Although Longmontand Boulder Countywas spared a reprieve on Saturday with sunshine, it rained again on Sunday for several hours. 

"The greatest concern has been power," Armstrong said in an email Monday. "We lost power Thursday morning (and our email) and it was not restored till Saturday evening. The panel to production was soaked, so we will not be able to turn that back on till we have an electrician look over it."

Left Hand, though, had some sunny news to report. It planned to open the Tap Room on Monday for the first time since last Wednesday.

Armstrong said the brewery's quality control team spent Monday morning testing beer, and Left Hand is filling orders. 

"All beer in tanks is looking good," Armstrong said. "Trying to get back to normal, hopefully packaging tomorrow. Well be a little behind in some of those seasonal projects, but still in really good shape given the circumstances."

Left Hand is not the only brewery in Boulder County affected by the unforgiving floods. The fast-growing Oskar Blues operates a restaurant (with an old-school video arcade downstairs near the bar) in a small town west of Longmont: Lyons. Flooding from the St. Vrain has ravaged the normally picturesque community, which sits at the base of the foothills less than 30 miles away from Rocky Mountain National Park. The National Guard recently evacuated the town.

Dave Chichura, head brewer at Oskar Blues, told The Denver Post the restaurant survived.

"Our brewpub apparently is up high enough that we weren't affected," he said in the Post article. "We can't get into town, which is troubling There will be no brewing or any type of use of water until it is deemed safe."

Oskar Blues, which makes its beer (including Dale's Pale Ale and Old Chub) at its Longmont brewery, has set up a relief fund for flood victims. As of today, the company had raised nearly $10,000, according to a website. Benefactors from as far away as Alabama, Austin, Texas, Dartmouth, Mass. and New York City donated funds.

"At Oskar Blues, our staff and customers are our family, and the recent massive flooding along the Front Range left a lot of our family and friends without homes, without a town, and with badly damaged vehicles and belongings," the company states on the website. "Donations collected through this page will be used to provide immediate help for the folks that keep the beer tasty, the customers happy, and the wheels turning at the crazy company we all call home."