Left Hand Brewing Sues White Labs claiming contaminated yeast

November 19, 2017

Indian Peaks Brewing (the brewery that operates as Left Hand Brewing) is suing White Labs over a $2 million recall which Indian Peaks claims is due to contaminated yeast from White Labs. This story appeared on Courthousenews.com here: https://www.courthousenews.com/brewer-says-bad-yeast-tanked-beer-sales/

A copy of the actual complaint is available here

Official statement from White Labs:

“The case, which is being defended by our lawyers, claims that Left Hand Brewery received a batch of contaminated yeast from us in 2016. There is no specific proof on where the contamination originated from, as each White Labs culture undergoes a rigorous testing process from start to finish, which includes 61 quality checkpoints throughout the propagation cycle. Additionally, every batch of yeast is tested to confirm it is contamination free prior to shipping. We cannot provide further comment due to the ongoing litigation.”

Official statement from Indian Peaks Brewing (Left Hand Brewing):

“Left Hand Brewing has filed a complaint against White Labs, a major supplier of brewers’ yeast, for the sale of contaminated and defective yeast in 2016 which contained Diastaticus. Despite White Labs’ Certificate of Quality Assurance guarantee, Left Hand found, through a wide-ranging investigation and multiple tests, the source of the Diastaticus contamination was the yeast supplied by White Labs. The presence of Diastaticus caused the affected Left Hand beers to secondarily ferment, resulting in multiple defects. In order to protect its consumers and to assure the quality of its beers, Left Hand performed a withdrawal of all Milk Stout Nitro products and other beers which contained the contaminated yeast from the market, shut down their brewery for a period of time, destroyed packaged and in-process product, and incurred significant financial losses and damages. Left Hand promptly notified White Labs of the problems with its yeast, but to this date White Labs has done nothing to address the issue. “It is unfortunate we had to file a lawsuit, but we didn’t have a choice. As an employee-owned brewery, the fate of our brand and employee livelihood was compromised and we are asking White Labs to take responsibility for the quality of their product and stand behind their guarantee,” stated Eric Wallace, co-founder and CEO.

For more info on Left Hand Brewing, visit their website

For more info on White Labs, visit their website

Stay tuned to BeerAlien.com as this story develops.

UPDATED 11/19/2017 15:15PM PST – added official statement from Left Hand Brewing