Video: Left Hand Brewing Working On Ten Year Growth Plan

Left Hand BeerLeft Hand Brewing Company, now distributed in 27 states, made 24,651 barrels of beer last year. The company is on pace to do 38,000 barrels in 2011, a growth of nearly 60 percent.

But Chris Lennert, VP of Operations, is far less concerned about how fast the company grows and more concerned about how they grow.

“There has been a lot of stress,” he said. “We don’t grow for growths sake, we grow if it is the right thing to do.”

For Lennert, this means focusing on core brands like Milk Stout, Sawtooth Ale, 400 Pound Monkey and Polestar Pilsner.

“At the end of the day we want to be making our year-round offerings because that is the way we believe in growing our business,” he said.

And despite currently working on an extensive 10-year growth plan, Lennert said they aren’t planning on opening new markets anytime soon.

“There is so much business to be had, right where we already are,” said Lennert. “So that is where we will get growth from. We are going to be focusing on the accounts that brought us to the game.”

Left Hand Brewing pulled out of seven markets this year and didn’t ship seasonal offerings to some states. The company is in the process of working up a ten year facility plan to take them to 250,000 barrels.

Lennert sat down with us to discuss their 2011 growth and their plans for the next five years.