Reaching for Success at Left Nut Brewing

Their motto may be “Hold on to the one you’ve got,” but the crew at Gainesville, GA’s new Left Nut Brewing is reaching for success with both hands.

“Every brewery I have worked at,” observes LNB brewer Jason Ford, “has had the same problem when they expanded: water pressure.” It sounds trivial, but reduced water flow is serious trouble for a business as water-intensive as brewing. So Ford saw to it that all of LNB’s plumbing—not just hot and cold water, but also steam, glycol and waste lines—was robust enough and situated such that it could simply be added on to without having to be torn out, rerouted or replaced. This increased upfront costs for the startup brewery, but LNB will reap savings in terms of time, money, and headaches down the road. 

This combination of a long-view approach married to a cheerfully do-it-yourself ethos exemplifies the LNB spirit.

LNB is located in the historic Chicopee Mill complex between Gainesville proper and the Oakwood campus of the University of North Georgia. LNB’s home is a sprawling single-story brick building built in 1927 to house the mill’s administrative offices. With enormous paned windows, high arched ceilings supported by 15-inch heart-of-pine beams, and a clerestory running the length of the building, LNB is a bright and airy mix of vintage and modern.

At the heart heart of the brewery is a gleaming 30-bbl brewhouse that served Houston’s Karbach Brewing until their recent expansion. It is a twin of the system at Savannah’s Southbound Brewing, and Southbound brewer Smith Mathews has been sharing tips with LNB’s Ford, whom he knows from their days together at SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta. “Our system gives us the ability to do decoction mashes,” says Ford. “I want to brew some lagers next year, maybe make a traditional strong American lager with grits and sorghum.” For now, though, it’s all ales at LNB.

LNB has three year-round beers currently in distribution: Lappland Blonde, a 4.5% ABV “European-style” golden ale, dry and pleasantly hoppy; American Obsession, a smooth drinking 5% ABV American pale ale first released on July 4th; and Mighty Banyan, a dangerously drinkable 9% ABV double IPA awash in the classic pine and citrus aromas of American “C” hops. In the works are an imperial red ale, an English-style brown ale with oats and pecans, and a rum barrel-aged barley wine. More beers are planned, including year-round, seasonal and limited releases.

LNB’s brews are presently available only on draft, but a canning line should be arriving in January, with LNB cans expected to hit retail shelves early next spring. The only bottles in LNB’s plans are bombers of limited-edition brews tentatively titled the “Slightly Scandalous” series. The title comes from a legal ruling that found the company’s trademark—Left Nut Brewing—to be “slightly scandalous but … not vulgar by any standard.” There you have it.

Ford expects that one-off casks will be on offer from time to time in the tasting room. And LNB’s director of R&D, Rick Foote, promises to keep the tasting room well supplied with experimental brews from his pilot system.

The tasting room, by the way, should be up and running as you read this. A grand opening bash featuring food trucks, live music, and, of course, plenty of fresh beer is slated for July 23, with regularly scheduled tours and tastings to follow. Times and prices were not available at press time, but LNB expects to be able to offer variably priced tour, tasting and take-home “souvenir” packages. Growlers, too, should be available, pending state and local approval.

Johnson & Johnson’s Chicopee Mills complex originally comprised not just the massive cotton mill compound (mill, warehouses, offices, etc.) itself but also a planned community (Chicopee Village) for its employees and a school for their children. Chicopee Village sits just across Atlanta Highway from the brewery, and LNB’s founders were heartened to discover that representatives from the Chicopee Village homeowners’ association were attending zoning meetings to support LNB’s plan to rehabilitate the vacant mill offices and—hopefully—help revitalize the area generally. “We’re here to see that no one opposes you,” they said. 

Beyond the 250 homes of Chicopee Village sits Chicopee Woods (an actual woods, believe it or not), home to a nature center, lake and hiking trails; a 27-hole public golf course; and over 20 miles of some of the best mountain biking trails in all of Georgia. “Premier trails in the Southeast, actually,” Ford enthused, “We’re really lucky to be right across the street.” Weekend bike-and-beer events are already under consideration, and LNB will definitely be putting out the welcome mat for the steady stream of hikers, biker, boaters and golfers who literally pass their front door every day.

And I mean “literally.” The Chicopee Woods section of Hall County’s Highlands To Islands multi-use trail runs right past LNB on its way southward from Lake Lanier down to UNG-Oakwood. The trail is 10 feet wide, paved and well-trafficked by walkers, runners, casual bicyclists, and stroller-pushing families. Though there is plenty of parking around the old mill, locals can easily leave their cars at home when visiting LNB, where the rustic past meets a new urban future.

Beer and outdoor sports have always gone together, but the microbrew movement brought a hitherto unknown intensity to the relationship. 

“To be honest, this location wasn’t our first choice,” confesses brewer Jason Ford while showing me around Left Nut Brewing’s impressive home just outside Gainesville, GA. “But the more we looked at it, the more we liked what we saw.”

What the LNB team saw was a century-old cotton mill sitting directly across from the entrance to Chicopee Woods, a sprawling outdoor education and recreation area encompassing a 27-hole public golf course; a nature center complete with a lake and hiking trails; and over 20 miles of some of the best mountain biking trails in all of Georgia. “Premier trails in the Southeast, actually,” Ford enthused, “We’re really lucky to be right across the street.” Indeed.

The LNB crew had hoped to put down roots in Gainesville itself, to catch some of the energy of the city’s burgeoning downtown dining and entertainment scene. Long a sleepy rural county seat whose proximity to Lake Lanier promised more than it delivered, Gainesville is riding a wave of growth fueled by healthcare, higher education, and homeowners seeking refuge from Atlanta’s brutal traffic. Alas, there was no room near the city center for a startup brewery intending to grow in place.

So LNB’s founders took another look at their second choice, a scruffy former manufacturing center with vestiges of its former glory still evident to a sympathetic eye. Located just off Interstate 985 midway between downtown Gainesville and the booming Oakwood area, LNB’s home once housed the administrative offices of Johnson and Johnson’s vast Chicopee Mills complex. With its Prairie Style architecture and the modern amenities (electric lighting and indoor plumbing) in the bungalows of its 250-home company town, Chicopee Mills was beyond bleeding edge when it was conceived and constructed in the mid-1920s. Decades of piecemeal renovations before and mostly benign neglect since the mill’s closure in the 1980s had dimmed the original beauty of the place, but LNB’s founders recognized that had stumbled onto a diamond in the rough.

Southern Brew News October–November 2016