I and beer buddy Richard had the opportunity to get a tour of one of the newest breweries to open up in the LA area today, The LAB Brewing Company. Big thanks to Roger Bott for taking the time out of his busy brewing schedule to sit down and chat with us about the brewery.
We got to sample 5 of the beers (primarily 1st batches), including the still not quite done Kona coffee beer. 
And better than that, we got to hear the stories behind the beer and about Roger himself. He has been homebrewing and dreaming of opening a restaurant for a long time and now he is living the dream and creating a great beer destination in Agoura Hills just a few miles away from Ladyface Brewing.
Roger has been brave enough to put the first batches on display of the initial three brews:
Big Ass Red — Amber Ale
LAB XPA — IPAs baby brother
Take Her Home — Belgian style tripel
And we tasted the Wit and coffee beers too. I liked the XPA which was strongly bitter and vegetal and stronger hop-wise than intended due primarily to mechanical issues and Richard enjoyed the coffee stout the best which had a really great aroma and strong with a velvety taste. Probably due to the whole beans used in the brewing process.
I like the lab concept (water comes in beakers) which meshes well with Roger’s Amgen work background and it will be interesting to see where these beers go and how his other ideas pan out. It is so fun to see the growth of a brewery from the start. I will certainly try the coffee beer again and I am looking forward to the IPA and other creations too.
