Something brewing in Longmont

LONGMONT - This town of 82,000 is known as the home of high-tech heavyweights such as data-storage company Seagate Technology and biotech giant Amgen.

But another industry has taken root and is undergoing a major growth spurt: brewing.

Today, Longmont is home to two significant craft breweries: Left Hand Brewing, founded in 1993 and undergoing an expansion that will about double its brewing capacity; and Oskar Blues Brewery, which opened a brewery in April after outgrowing its original facilities in nearby Lyons.

A brewpub, the Pumphouse Brewery, also calls Longmont home.

While not boasting the number of craft breweries as, say, Denver or Fort Collins, Longmont is emerging as more of a beer town.

"It's coming along slowly, but it's coming along," said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association in Boulder.


Read more at the Rocky Mountain News

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IN THE SPRINGS

Although it is sometimes overlooked, Colorado Springs is no slouch on the state beer scene.

It is home to six craft breweries: Arctic Craft, Bristol, Judge Baldwin's, Phantom Canyon, Rock Bottom and Rocky Mountain. Bristol, in particular, is known statewide, distributing beer outside the Pike Peaks area and having garnered a number of national awards.

Meanwhile, two more breweries are slated to open this summer: Trinity Brewing on Garden of the Gods Road and a yet-unnamed brewery at The Warehouse restaurant downtown.

THE GAZETTE