THE NAMELESS BEERMAID
The Consigliere An interview with White Labs’ Chris White
about every beer you drink, including the one you make at home. Since my forte is more the consumption of beer, rather than creation of, I decided to sit down with Mr. White for some coun- sel on homebrewing. Like with any good adviser, he gave me more than I bargained for. Nameless Beermaid: For drinking and serving as much beer as I do, I’m not entirely sure how it’s made. So, let’s start there. Chris White: It’s quite simple, really. Mix malted barley with water, boil it and add hops, cool it down and add yeast. 10-20 days later you have beer. NB: Ahh, I think I could do that! Why did you start homebrewing? CW: As an undergrad at UC Davis, ’89 or ’90, my roommate abandoned his homebrewing equipment and my friend and I decided to use it. We bottled it, but thought it tasted terrible. Then my parents came to visit, tried it, and said “Chris, this is really good!” NB: Your parents like beer? Is that how you became interested? CW: Yes, growing up we took cross-country road trips, touring breweries along the way. My uncle also grew barley for breweries on his farm in Canada. Beer was just always a part of things. NB: Clearly, you stuck with it. What was the next step? CW: A couple years later I was in grad school at UCSD, studying biochemistry with the intention of becoming a professor. I attended a student-led class on all grain brewing, which happened to be taught by Yuseff Cherney (now head brewer and distiller at Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits). We hit it off and started homebrewing on the weekends at his parents’ house in La Jolla.
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NB: When you met Yuseff did you realize his affiliation with Home Brew Mart? CW: No, though I had been there prior to taking Yuseff’s class. In fact, the first time I went,
Jack White (the owner) was behind the counter. He was the only one in there. And he sold me a copy of Celebrator. NB: Wait, isn’t that a free publication? CW (laughing): Exactly! Jack was just trying to make a profit any way possible. The joke
is, I’ve never paid for a Celebrator since nor seen Jack behind the counter of Home Brew Mart. NB: I see the pieces coming together... first you meet Yuseff, then Jack, then White Labs is
created... CW: It wasn’t that simple. I joined a lab at UCSD where we used yeast to study heart
disease. Yuseff thought I should create strains for brewing and my professor was okay with me tinkering with yeast as long as she got some beer out of it. It was just perfect timing, imagine if my professor didn’t like beer? NB: There may never have been a White Labs... CW: Precisely! NB: Okay, but how does tinkering with yeast strains turn into an international business? CW: At the time, there wasn’t “pitchable” yeast. You’d buy some and it would have to incu-
bate. Yuseff and I decided to make ready-to-go yeast and began selling it at Home Brew Mart. Thus the creation of White Labs. NB: So, Ballast Point was White Labs’ first official customer? CW: Yes, followed by Pizza Port Solana Beach. We hung out there a lot, becoming good friends with Vince. He was actually the one who told me about a brewery opening in San Marcos. I decided to drive up there, introduce myself. I got to this empty warehouse that felt like a ga- rage, couple cars parked inside and two guys
talking....Greg Koch and Steve Wagner. NB: No way! You just happened to be at the right place at the right time. CW: It was all about timing. All these amazing breweries were opening at the same time. Ballast Point, Alesmith, Stone...1996 was a magical year for beer. NB: And White Labs began in 1995, just in time! Flash forward sixteen years and you’re
about to open your new location. What can you tell us about that? CW:It’s 5 times larger than our current production space and there will be a 25-person classroom. It’s designed to our specification; we had a hand in every design decision. NB: Will it be open to the public? CW: Yes, starting in July. There will be tours, a gift shop, and, eventually, even a tasting room. NB: I imagine something similar to Jurassic Park. Will there be a cartoon of you explaining the culturing of yeast strains? CW: Not quite... NB: Ha! Okay, but what’s next on White Labs’ agenda? CW: To become the best yeast production company in the world!
Sharing a drink with Chris White you may learn... his favorite beer is Ballast Point’s Big Eye IPA and favorite cocktail is a Wild Turkey Manhattan on the rocks. He thinks Singapore has the best food in the world, claiming there are more restaurants per capita there than anywhere else. When he’s not in the lab, he’s golfing or-- undoubtedly-- drinking the fruits of his labor some- where, somehow.
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eer has four main ingredients, duh, we know this. Just the same, the San Diego beer scene has a few main characters. Chris White, founder of White Labs, may not be the godfather, but he is definitely the consigliere. And his yeast is making a cameo in just
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