Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Beer Touring: White Labs

One of the most interesting stops on my craft beer tasting room tour was at a non-brewery. The powers that be at White Labs, one of the largest yeast production companies in the United States, allowed me to come in to check out their new tasting room during a special pre-open friends-and-family dry run.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21566/

Slated to officially open to the public on June 15 (White Labs day in the City of San Diego) this new addition to the Miramar area is in the midst of a soft-open period. Even though they’re working out service kinks (official tasting bar staff have yet be hired, so the folks behind the bar are everyday lab and office employees), this place is well worth visiting.

The White Labs tasting room is a first of its interactive bar-slash-classroom where people can learn, first-hand, the major differences each style of White Labs' 100-plus strains of yeast impart in beers of all styles. It's a sleek space with a bar made from reclaimed woods, hop green walls and hanging light fixtures crafted from the very Erlenmeyer flasks that grace their lab space.

Johnny O., former brewer at Rock Bottom's downtown brewpub, is using a 20-gallon brewing system to produce a wide-ranging variety of beers at White Labs' facility and currently has over 50 carboys filled with beer that is fermenting away. It takes that abundance of glass depositories to accomplish owners Chris and Lisa White's mission.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21568/

Each batch of O.’s beer is split into multiple carboys. From there, a different strain of yeast is pitched into each container. They’re left to ferment and then hooked up to the tasting room taps to be sampled side-by-side. One might think, Hey, it’s just yeast—one of four main components to beer. How important can it be?

First off, kudos for knowing that water, grains, hops, and yeast are beer’s four basic ingredients. Secondly, to discount that last one’s influence on flavor to an even 25 percent would be foolish. Yeast is actually credited by brewers as accounting for anywhere from 75 to 90 percent of a beer’s flavor.

My initial session at the White Labs tasting room proved that. I had two glasses of the same saison (a farmhouse ale of Belgian origin), one fortified with a traditional saison yeast strain, and the other fermented using a completely different untraditional variety of yeast called Bastogne.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21565/

The difference was night and day. The first version was pale yellow in color, light and crisp on the tongue, and dry in the finish. The other was golden, cloudy, slightly heavier in mouthfeel, a bit sweeter, rounder in overall flavor, and had a great deal more aftertaste. A sampling of two medium-bodied Belgian ales amounted to a similar dissimilar experience.

Multi-page packets are available at the bar which contain White Labs' analytical information on all of the beers gracing the tasting room's 35 taps. That includes familiar data like alcohol by volume and IBUs (bitterness) as well as the type of yeast strain used, pH, and other scientific items of great significance to home and pro brewers alike. Speaking of pro brewers, many here and outside San Diego are excited about the White Labs tasting room and on track to produce future collaboration beers to stock it.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21567/

Nothing like this exists in San Diego right now or, to the best of my knowledge, anywhere. Just another reason there’s no better place to be a beer fan than right here in San Diego. White Labs is located at 9495 Candida Street.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

SD Symphony singer tells what it’s like behind the scenes

Conductor Payare even looks like Mahler
Next Article

Live Five: Songwriter Sanctuary, B-Side Players, The Crawdaddys, Saint Luna, Brawley

Reunited, in the round, and onstage in Normal Heights, East Village, Little Italy, Encinitas

One of the most interesting stops on my craft beer tasting room tour was at a non-brewery. The powers that be at White Labs, one of the largest yeast production companies in the United States, allowed me to come in to check out their new tasting room during a special pre-open friends-and-family dry run.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21566/

Slated to officially open to the public on June 15 (White Labs day in the City of San Diego) this new addition to the Miramar area is in the midst of a soft-open period. Even though they’re working out service kinks (official tasting bar staff have yet be hired, so the folks behind the bar are everyday lab and office employees), this place is well worth visiting.

The White Labs tasting room is a first of its interactive bar-slash-classroom where people can learn, first-hand, the major differences each style of White Labs' 100-plus strains of yeast impart in beers of all styles. It's a sleek space with a bar made from reclaimed woods, hop green walls and hanging light fixtures crafted from the very Erlenmeyer flasks that grace their lab space.

Johnny O., former brewer at Rock Bottom's downtown brewpub, is using a 20-gallon brewing system to produce a wide-ranging variety of beers at White Labs' facility and currently has over 50 carboys filled with beer that is fermenting away. It takes that abundance of glass depositories to accomplish owners Chris and Lisa White's mission.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21568/

Each batch of O.’s beer is split into multiple carboys. From there, a different strain of yeast is pitched into each container. They’re left to ferment and then hooked up to the tasting room taps to be sampled side-by-side. One might think, Hey, it’s just yeast—one of four main components to beer. How important can it be?

First off, kudos for knowing that water, grains, hops, and yeast are beer’s four basic ingredients. Secondly, to discount that last one’s influence on flavor to an even 25 percent would be foolish. Yeast is actually credited by brewers as accounting for anywhere from 75 to 90 percent of a beer’s flavor.

My initial session at the White Labs tasting room proved that. I had two glasses of the same saison (a farmhouse ale of Belgian origin), one fortified with a traditional saison yeast strain, and the other fermented using a completely different untraditional variety of yeast called Bastogne.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21565/

The difference was night and day. The first version was pale yellow in color, light and crisp on the tongue, and dry in the finish. The other was golden, cloudy, slightly heavier in mouthfeel, a bit sweeter, rounder in overall flavor, and had a great deal more aftertaste. A sampling of two medium-bodied Belgian ales amounted to a similar dissimilar experience.

Multi-page packets are available at the bar which contain White Labs' analytical information on all of the beers gracing the tasting room's 35 taps. That includes familiar data like alcohol by volume and IBUs (bitterness) as well as the type of yeast strain used, pH, and other scientific items of great significance to home and pro brewers alike. Speaking of pro brewers, many here and outside San Diego are excited about the White Labs tasting room and on track to produce future collaboration beers to stock it.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/mar/25/21567/

Nothing like this exists in San Diego right now or, to the best of my knowledge, anywhere. Just another reason there’s no better place to be a beer fan than right here in San Diego. White Labs is located at 9495 Candida Street.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ribbon Cut, Doors Open: White Labs is Open for Business

Next Article

Brett loves the wood

Cellar 3 operation keeps the wild yeast under control
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader