International liquid yeast and fermentation company White Labs is celebrating 25 years in the fermentation industry in 2020. To thank its loyal customers who have helped it reach this milestone, the company is giving away trips to this year’s Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America in San Antonio, Homebrew Con in Nashville and the Great American Beer Festival in Denver as part of its “25 Anniversary Share Your Story Contest.” In addition, it’ll also be giving away monthly prize packs throughout the year as part of a social media sweepstakes.
White Labs was founded in 1995 by Chris White after graduating from the University of California, San Diego, with a Ph.D. in biochemistry. While White was in school, he befriended and learned how to make beer with homebrewers who would become some of the world’s greatest professional brewers. They needed a better supply of yeast, so White began producing pitchable quantities of liquid brewer’s yeast at a time when pure cultures were not readily available. White would later begin propagating liquid yeast for homebrew stores and other professional brewers.
“When we first opened in San Diego craft beer was in its early days,” said White, president, founder and CEO of White Labs. “You had a few established breweries sprinkled here and there, but overall, there wasn’t a lot. That’s honestly been one of my favorite things about this journey. Not only are you part of such a close-knit community that pushes each other to succeed, but because of that shared love and passion of the craft, we’ve gotten to watch the industry grow. And not even just in the U.S., but across the world.”
Since providing the first liquid pitchable yeast on the market 25 years ago, the company has continued to be a leader in the industry. In 2014, White Labs introduced its patented FlexCell technology and PurePitch packaging, limiting the yeasts’ exposure to the environment and oxygen while allowing the company to deliver high-quality lab-grown yeast to breweries worldwide.
One year later, they opened their first international location, White Labs Copenhagen, that has since grown to provide 100 percent certified organic yeast to customers. Soon after, they secured a third-party distribution warehouse in Hong Kong, marking their first official venture in the Asian market. White Labs continued to expand its footprint in 2017 by opening an East Coast production facility, White Labs Asheville, and brewpub, White Labs Kitchen & Tap, that showcases the delicious art of fermentation in downtown Asheville, N.C.
“We have some exciting things planned this year,” said White. “On top of celebrating this anniversary with our team and customers throughout the year, we’ve also been working on some product innovations that we’re very much looking forward to announcing in the coming months.”
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