Left Hand & Dry Dock Brewing Announce Merger

From the Denver Post:

“Two independent Colorado breweries, both longtime backbones of the craft beer industry, will merge into a single entity, according to the owners of both companies.

Left Hand Brewing, which was founded in Longmont in 1993, will absorb Aurora’s Dry Dock Brewing in a move that was funded in part by Left Hand’s recent share offerings “

“As a result, Dry Dock, known for beers like Apricot Blonde and Hopricot IPA, will move all of its production from Denver, where it had been making beer at Great Divide Brewing, to Longmont. The Dry Dock Aurora taproom, at 15120 E. Hampden Ave., will remain open.

The eventual goal, he continued, is to bring more independent craft breweries together under Left Hand’s platform. “This partnership with Dry Dock is the first real step in bringing that to life.”

The move comes just a day after Great Divide Brewing, another of Colorado’s legacy companies, was acquired by the newly formed Lafayette-based parent company of both Denver Beer Co., Funkwerks, Howdy Beer, Cerveceria Colorado and Stem Ciders. Stem had merged with Denver Beer Co. and Funkwerks in February to create Wilding Brands, which now controls more than a dozen taprooms and restaurants across the Front Range. Great Divide founder Brian Dunn told The Denver Post on Tuesday that economies of scale have become much more important for breweries these days.

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