White Labs, Inc.

The thing about writing these place reviews is that sometimes they collide with very specific events so in retrospect, the establishment drums up a time and place for me whenever it comes to mind. Take Harefield Road, in Brooklyn. I was there after work with friends on July 7th, 2006. We were talking about Pink Floyd founder & frontman Syd Barrett having passed earlier in the day. Bartender was playing some eclectic Syd stuff. I always think of that when I’m at Harefield. Same with Lookout Hill Smokehouse, also in Brooklyn. I remember we all gathered there on a somber 9/11 one year just to be out with friends. Oh, and d.b.a. in New Orleans, where we got to see just how rough a shape Phil was in.

And then there’s White Labs. Out west on our annual beer (started our day at Alesmith) & baseball (tonight) trip, this is our pre-game place. Commercial zone sprawl. Up the driveway and in, but just as I got to the door, I took a call from Mark. We’re going to see him on the next leg when we get out to Phoenix in a few days so I figged he was just checking in confirming and firming up times & places. Yeah, I’m sitting, what’s up? Ugh. Lovely coworker I’d had great history with passed away, and I’m numb now. Pacing the parking lot getting what few details he had. Thanks for letting me know, man. And I head on in where the unusual suspects are already set up…

Sorry to bum you out with my intro, White Labs, but nobody reads my stuff anyway. ‘J’ shaped bar off to the right, dark wood block pieced topped, gray plank base, seating for a dozen or so stooled. We’re on the front end, in view of the draft board. Rockface barback wall holds a monster of a stainless glow lit logo draft panel with piping and pressure gauges, holding 2 dozen plus non-descript handles. Crowls to one side; the crimper of those crowls to the other, and a pair of flats above.

Wood slat floors, gray & white walls, black industrial space ceiling with pipery & ductwork. Muraled wall areas, framed lab prints, and ‘yeast & science origins’, ‘about white labs’, & other yeasty panel pieces mounted. Window views of yeast lab action. Drop alt height filament bulb conical flask beaker lighting in clustered or solo tracing over the bar. Light cushy corner seating to the rear with a board & card game rack and about a half dozen tables. Merch down the hallway there (me, pointing) and a back education room (science, man). And outdoor seating penned under awning; bar counter ledge lined, strung baby lighting and potted plants dangling above.

Seemingly 25 taps live. Corner draft board lists 18 beers in pairs, meaning 9 beers (Hoppy Lager, Summer Saison, Hansen Hefeweizen, Smath IPA, Oktoberfest, Extra Special Bitter, Better Haze Ahead, Rays of Light IPA, 20C IPA), each done twice with different yeast strains. And then 3 R&D Seltzer with different yeast strains and fruits, and 4 guest beers (Societe Debutante Amber Ale & Last Resort White Ale, and Karl Strauss Aurora Hoppyalis, & Windansea Wheat Hefeweizen), all powered by White Labs yeast’.

I got into a few pairs of shortys (Extra Special Bitters, Summer Saisons, & Oktoberfests) for the side-by-side comparison. Kind of totally cool that you can do that and see the nuances. Beers were solid. Really dug on the WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast Extra Special Bitter, 4.3%, the WLP860 Dry Munich Lager Year Oktoberfest, 4.3%, & WLP4046 Simonaitis Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale Yeast Summer Saision, 4.5%.

Cool concept, I did dig.

Small brewpub in an industrial park in the Miramar area. Straight bar perpendicular to the entrance on the right seats about 10, with a few tables and a couch about the room and small patio in front parking lot. A dozen beers on tap. Friendly bartender. I did not try the food.

4/28/22 in Asheville, NC.

What a neat experience to compare the same beer brewed with different yeast strains.

9 different beers on tap with all but one paired with different yeasts!

We had an IPA, Hazy, and an imperial stout.... All excellent, and yes, different with different strains of yeast!

 

 

 

This is the place if you have a thing for yeast. Get the tour enjoy some science. Not a lot of great beer more of a showcase on yeast.

 

 

 

 

I'm a half-assed homebrewer so maybe I enjoyed this more than most, but it was really interesting to see how the same beer recipe turns out with different yeasts - they have flights of four for various styles.

They had a food truck outside and great Merch - I wanted to buy the "B. Lambicus" horse blanket t-shirt but couldn't find it in my size.

Overall a really cool stop.

 

It's interesting compairing the same beerafe with different yeast. A great tasting room with early myers flask lamps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a semi disappointing visit to Green Flash we stopped at White Labs. I've purchased countless vials of yeast from them over the years and it was great to see where it came from. The building wasn't hard to find, just off a main street with plenty of parking right in front. The entrance to the tap room on the side, a garage door style, was opened and a few patrons where sipping on short pours. The inside did up the science lab vibe right down to the Erlenmeyer flask lights and a window so you could watch white coated scientists do some sciencey looking things to yeast slants.

Flights were arranged so you can taste/smell/observe the differences of several yeast strains on the same base wort. I went with the IPA flight made with 001,002, scotch ale and saison? The base beer was nothing to right home about but exemplified each yeast strain nicely. For the base beer the scotch was my fav.

Service was great, the people running the bar explained everything and broke it down to the non brewers to explain what they did and the idea. They also had a FrankenStout beer made with 96? different yeast strains, I like the creativity but the beer was meh.

No food, but I did pick up the Yeast book by owner Chris White and Former Homebrew Jamil Z. In all, If you are a homebrewer check it out for sure. If not I could see how it might not be that great, but give it a shot and you might be converted to a brewer instead of just a drinker :) Prost!

 

 

This place rocks. For any home brewer and or beer geek this is a must visit. The idea to have a number of beers fermented with 3-4 yeasts is brilliant, especially since this THE yeast company.

The bar is located as soon as you walk in. You can also see some of the yeast operations through a window in the bar area There are stools at the bar and seating elsewhere.

You sit down and order by number.We ordered all of the IPAs, Pale Ales, Alts, and the Frankenstein Stout (96 different yeasts). With some of the beers you could really pick out the qualities of the different yeasts. I would suggest trying all of the same style and learning the differences.

Service was very good and I can't wait to come back here. Loved it!

Super small tasting bar with a decent above average selection of the base beers combined with different yeasts. Two guys who worked there were in the tasting room but were goofing off the entire time which seemed off for such a highly regarded company.

I wish they gave more scheduled tours because that is the coolest part of visiting this location. The prices are way too high for such simple beers just showcasing yeast flavors.

To be honest this was a disappointment considering how much I was looking forward to checking out their labs.

After striking up a conversation with another beer geek, we decided to meet up at White Labs. I tried a flight of beers here which were ok. Still, as I eventually get into more home brewing, I will learn more and more about the significance of the place. It was just before closing, so there was not much atmosphere to speak of. Just another stop on my SD beer tour.

I'd heard about the new tasting room opening up and was excited to try it. Apparently, so was everyone else. The place was standing room only (at 2-3pm). Stuffy and hot. Loud. They call it a tasting room, but it felt like an overcrowded pub.

After standing at the bar for 20 minutes, sweating (it was freaking winter!), I gave up and left. I convinced my wife and her friend to come here because I'm such a beer doofus, so I felt like a jackass when WL ended up disappointing us. I didn't even get to try the beer :(

Maybe someday when I'm back in town I'll try it again.

I am not a homebrewer or anything so I found my stop at White Labs more of a novelty than anything. The tasting room is really quite nice and fancy with a very professional appearance to the bar and decorations. They even have a large window where you can look in on the lab work being done. The quality of the beers served was excellent. The service we received was good even when it got pretty busy. It was interesting to be able to try different yeast strains acting on the same basic unhopped beer. They had about 25 or so different beers on tap featuring a wide array of yeast types. Prices for tasters were inexpensive which was a plus. Worthy of a visit but more so if you are a homebrewer.

Recently visited the White Labs tasting room. If you're unaware, they present a unique approach to enjoying craft beer, which is providing samples of beer that began as the same wort, but was fermented on different yeasts. This allows White Labs to showcase, educate, etc. patrons about the effects of their yeasts and highlight an area of beer that isn't familiar to all.

First off, their tasting room is spacious and attractive. Plenty of room for all. A few TVs above the bar area, plenty of standing room should you choose to, and windows into the lab for all to peek and wonder about. When I visited there were about 5 different worts, each fermented on 3-4 different individual yeasts. A list of all options was presented and I chose to pick what seemed interesting. Others sampled full series of different worts. If you knew what you liked, or discovered it that day, purchasing a pint worth was available to you.

Their wort is brewed in house, and while I did not try all their beers or even a full pint of a single beer, I wasn't blown away by any individual sample. However, all the samples tried were flavorful and interesting. Some of their wort is provided by Ballast Point, which isn't too far away. Overall, White Labs tasting room was a fun stop. Worth checking out if you're visiting the area or just looking for a new beer spot/brewery to work into the rotation of the saturated Mira Mesa/Miramar area.