They’re still brewing beer, but they’re getting out of the business of distributing.
Left Hand Brewing Co. has sold Indian Peaks Distributing Co. to Texas-based C.R. Goodman Cos. for an undisclosed sum.
Vice president Ken Goodman said his company is relocating the venture and hiring 13 people who had been working at Indian Peaks.
“The territory that we’ll be covering is a little larger than Indian Peaks’,” said Goodman.
He and Left Hand owner Eric Wallace began talking about a possible buyout in August, Goodman said. The two are acquainted because Indian Peaks and C.R. Goodman had some common suppliers, he said.
Left Hand founded Indian Peaks Distributing in 1998, Wallace said.
“That was shortly after the merger (with Denver’s Tabernash Brewing Co.), and we basically had one wholesaler fold on us – perfect timing for that – and we paired up with a smaller wholesaler that wasn’t up to snuff,” he said.
Teaming up with other breweries around the state that were either unhappy with their distributors or, in some cases, didn’t have one, Indian Peaks quickly took off.
“It got to a point where it was ‘Katy, bar the door,'” Wallace said.
C.R. Goodman Co.’s distribution territory in Colorado will be from the Wyoming line to Pueblo, and will include Summit County and the Gunnison area.
C.R. Goodman also owns Belukus Marketing, an importing company that covers 38 states.
Left Hand ships its brews to more than 20 states besides Colorado, Wallace said, which accounts for 25 percent to 30 percent of his business.
Now that he’s sold Indian Peaks, Wallace said his company will have more time to concentrate on what it does best: brewing beer. That, and it’ll mean a little extra space.
“We’re clearing out a 4,000-square-foot warehouse as we speak,” he said.
