SPEC ARTICLE: "Break Out Your Beret for Left Hand Brewing's Raspberry Milk Stout"

This unpublished piece was written on spec in February 2019.

Break Out Your Beret for 
Left Hand Brewing’s Raspberry Milk Stout

The brewery’s newest beer is definitely not the kind you find in a second-hand store.

(Photo courtesy Left Hand Brewing Company)

By Ben Mills

Colorado’s craft beer industry enjoys worldwide recognition but that it continues to delight a beer-savvy public reinforces why the rest of the country loves us and our booze. Left Hand Brewing’s newest entry, Raspberry Milk Stout, is likely to please every possible palate and cement its future as a beloved, flagship favorite. 

“The beer is raspberry-forward in its flavor,” says Left Hand packaging technician Mark Malpezzi, making it “a smart and delicious spin on one of our best tasting and best selling beers.” Compared to its award-winning parent beer (the signature Milk Stout), the new beverage from the Longmont brewery has an extra smooth, enveloping flavor, “Like a chocolate filled with jelly,” Malpezzi adds. “It’s almost like cake you can drink.”

Indulgent ‘dessert beers’ are not at all new but what sets this particular brew apart is its near perfect balance of weight and taste: neither saccharine sweet or ponderously heavy, Malpezzi states the Raspberry Milk Stout is “distinct but retains all the classic Milk Stout qualities.” With over twenty gold medals accumulated from distinguished institutions like the Great American Beer Festival under its belt, Left Hand’s reputation for consistently popular and profitable beer is undeniable. 

The brewery — founded in 1993 and named for local Arapaho tribe leader Chief Niwot —  is well regarded by Longmont locals for its self-described ‘righteous independence.' The brewery has been employee-owned since 2015 through a hybrid of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and selling direct equity. Co-founder Eric Wallace’s intent to engage employees by providing them partial ownership in the company has caught notice of many admirers, including Malpezzi himself.

“They [management] are always present and active with continuous improvement,” he says, making “the culture around the brewery like working with friends and family.” Left Hand often collaborates with several other Longmont breweries, either washing shared kegs, providing guest taps or developing entirely new beverages. The brewery’s unpretentious, irreverent yet highly professional workplace pride has demonstrably influenced their newer neighbors, creating corporate relationships almost unheard of elsewhere. 

Left Hand Brewing’s charitable work is extensive and highly successful with the  company recently contributing over $730,000 to Bike MS, a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis research. Since beginning its relationship with the charity in 2008, Left Hand has procured more $3.5 million for the cause. 

Malpezzi, himself raised in Longmont, greatly appreciates what the brewery provides for the town. “We make great beer and we contribute a lot to the culture of Longmont. ‘Quality in, quality out,’ basically.” 

Though just released this past Friday, Malpezzi suspects Raspberry Milk Stout will knock it out of the park. “We’ve been hearing a lot of great feedback and our Facebook likes for it are blowing up,” he says. If you are compelled to try for yourself, you definitely won’t be alone in the tap room enjoying it.