Brew LAB

For just the second time in its three years of operation, BrewLAB was releasing a beer in bottles, and the anticipation was palpable—for about five people. At least, that’s how many folks made it to the Carpinteria, Calif., brewery as it opened one Saturday afternoon in July.

- Sean Lewis

The beer, a Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale aged in bourbon barrels called The False Prophet, was impressive, but few things outside of a pumping surf get this prototypical sleepy beach town waiting in lines. And for BrewLAB, that’s OK. Like Carpinteria itself, the tiny brewery is happy enough to operate at its own pace and by its own rules.

A Brewer’s Brewery

BrewLAB is tucked into a small industrial park on the west end of town, sandwiched between an ice cream shop and a meadery. The exterior is nondescript and required to match the business park’s concrete and glass aesthetic. But the inside of Steve Jarmie and Peter Goldammer’s brewery is a living testament to craft.

Just about everything in the tasting room—from the walk-in cooler skinned with salvaged pallet wood to the bar and light fixtures above it—were built by the founders. On the days the tasting room is open, Jarmie, Goldammer, and brewer Dave Mendoza often begin their shifts by updating the tap list. The 14 beers hang on simple chalkboards against a striking backdrop of reclaimed wood. Art from local artists, including Mendoza and Goldammer, adorns a long white wall that runs the length of the brewery.

All of it serves to make the taproom a casual and inviting place. “A lot of people mistakenly come in and say, ‘It’s all about the beer, huh?’ Obviously it’s about the beer, but that’s a little one dimensional,” says Goldammer, who opened BrewLAB along with Jarmie and former partner Rob Peed in 2014. “It’s not just the beer, it’s also about the place you’re drinking it in. That’s part of the story.” Because of its size, nearly all of the beer brewed here is consumed on site, Goldammer adds. “It’s the only place you’re going to be drinking it, so that’s important.”