In November 2013, two vessels of liquid yeast sat in a bathtub belonging to John Giarratano, a bioengineer then working at a biofuel company in the Denver area.

Along with colleague, business partner and home-brewing buddy Matthew Peetz, the two had propagated the strains as the unofficial beginning of Inland Island, a lab that would provide yeast to 20 local breweries, six brewery shops and countless home-brewers all over Colorado just a little over a year later. Today, their customer roster includes Black Shirt Brewing, Our Mutual Friend, Mockery, Zephyr, Prost and more; the two also provided the base for Joyride Brewing’s first ever IPA.  

Inland Island has the hard-earned luxury of calling themselves the only brewer’s yeast lab in the area, and being local in this industry has some serious perks for both buyer and supplier alike.

“The main thing that separates them from the other guys is service,” says Joyride’s Grant Babb. 

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