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Libri Divini – November, 2009

Divine Words | Volume 1, Issue 3

In this issue of Libri Divini

Musings From The Director’s Chair

Our Director
Our Director
I have an easy job. There I said it, easy. I show up for work at a brewery each day and make decisions about beer. It seems like an easy task and most days, this place runs itself. Sometimes, I am asked to make bigger picture assertions and this past week, we undertook a major redesign of our existing tasting bar.

You see, during the week and especially on the weekends we’ve started to see a major increase in the number of visitors to our warehouse.

Over the past 6 months, our original tasting bar just became so inadequate. The cold box also began bursting at the seams as we kept stuffing more kegs in it. So, we made an executive decision to tear it all down and start over.

Demolition began on Monday and by Friday evening, we were back up and running. We’ve added more taps, more bar top space and committed more open space for enjoying your favorite Lost Abbey beer. As an added bonus, we’ve now got shelving in our cold box and we’ll be launching a Vintage Beer List on December 12th. This list will include bottles we’ve been sold out of and potentially experimental beers we’ve never made available. Look for details on www.lostabbey.com.

Our beers are always in a state of evolution so it’s not surprising that our tasting bar has evolved as well. Mind you, we’ve kept the comfortable bar stools. And the attentive, colorful language swearing wait staff is still here. Those aren’t things you redesign. There’s 17 beers on tap right now with room for more! Come on down and see us. You’ll like what we’ve been up to.

I promise.

The Faces of The Lost Abbey

Ryan Fields, Lead Brewer
Ryan Fields, Lead Brewer

Ryan Fields, Lead Brewer
This month we’d like to introduce you to our lead brewer Ryan Fields. At the tender age of 24, he’s the youngest brewer on staff, but as a near two-year veteran of the team, he’s also the oldest employee (we don’t count Tomme).

Ryan started with Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey back in January of 2008 as a general brewhouse grunt, washing kegs, cleaning tanks, running the bottler, and all the dirty work no one else wanted to do. Before long he proved himself to be a hard worker and quick learner, and he was promoted to brew staff, initally as a brewer’s assistant, then and assistant brewer, and finally to his current lead brewer position.

These days you’ll find Ryan running the night brew shift, where when, he’s not moving beer from one place to another, he hides among the fermenters and pretends to be “the brewery troll” (don’t ask).

The night shift may not last long for Ryan, however. He made his first appearance as a Lost Abbey brewer at a special event at the Great American Beer Festival this year. Turns out his boyish good looks and humble personality made him a big hit, especially among the ladies in attendance. He ended up signing a lot of bottles and more than a few girl’s body parts.

Many people ask how Ryan got his first job at the brewery and we like to tell the story of his job interview.

One night he walked into the tasting bar and asked Molly the bartender “hey, are you hiring?”

Molly nodded to the man sitting next Ryan who happened to be none other than Tomme himself. Tomme turned to Ryan and said “what are your qualifications?”

“Well, I used to be an Eagle Scout,” Ryan answered.

He started work a few days later.

Brewery News: Tasting Room Updates

If you missed Tomme’s blog post on the website the other day, then you haven’t heard that we’ve recently done a major renovation on the brewery tasting room.

Our 25 foot long tasting bar, 16 taps and giant cold box have been replaced by a 42 foot bar(that’s 13 meters to those of you outside of the states), 29 taps and new restaurant style walk-in with double glass doors for bottles.

Not only is new new space larger and swankier, but it also affords us the ability to keep more bottles chilled for purchase and/or over-the counter consumption.

click for larger image
click for larger image

Right now we’re still putting the finishing touches on the space — adding the new merchandise displays and bottle cabinets, plumbing the glass washers and re-mounting the big screen TV — but we’re still open for business, and patrons are here enjoying it on a regular basis.

We plan on finishing everything up within the next couple of weeks in time for the big grand opening on December 12th when we’ll be revealing our new vintage bottle selection. (Bottle of `06 Angel’s Share anyone? How about a nice cold bottle of Yellow Bus?)

Make sure to check the website for updates and a final list of the vintage bottles that’ll be avaialble that day. If you get a chance, make sure to drop by and check the place out. (You’ll find our tasting room hours and updates on the website right here.)

2010 Patron Saints and Patron Sinners Club Registration

Yes, this is the long-awaited announcement! Registration for the 2010 Lost Abbey Saints, and Lost Abbey Sinners will open on Tuesday, December 1 at 6am Pacific Time.

As with last year’s clubs, the Patron Saints will be limited to 200 members, each of whom will receive 14 beers, including the much coveted Saint’s “black label” release. The Patron Sinners limited to 350 members, each of whom will receive a dozen of our barrel-aged rarities including the annual Sinner’s Blend. Annual membership dues will also remain the same at $160 for Saints and $235 for Sinners.

In addition to the beers, members of each club will also be entitled to VIP status for all limited availability beer releases, receive a six-piece set imported Lost Abbey glassware, and get 10% off all non-specialty beers and merchandise purchases. Members of both clubs will also be invited to the annual Sinners and Saints Dinner and Tasting held every October at the brewery.

For more information on Patron Sinners and Patron Saints clubs memberships, please visit our website at: http://www.lostabbey.com/patron-saints-sinners/.

NOTE: Both of these clubs sell out very quickly. If you’re interested in becoming either a Patron Saint or Patron Sinner, make sure to register as early as possible!

New Online Shop

We’re pleased to announce the opening of our new online shop!

Now you’ll be able to purchase Port Brewing and Lost Abbey merchandise — T-shirts, workshirts, glassware, tap handles and more — all from the convenience of your computer. Additionally, if you’re a resident of the state of California, you’ll also be able to make bottled beer purchases online and have them delivered right to your door.

You can check out the new online shop by visiting: http://www.lostabbey.com/store

Beer Releases For November/December 2009

Here’s the current new releases for the holiday season. Both of these beers have been bottled and kegged and shipped into distribution, so if you’re in a region in which our beers are available (click here for a map), you should see these start to hit your favorite tap rooms and store shelves any time now.

  • Santa’s Little Helper, Russian Imperial Stout
  • Gift of the Magi, Holiday Golden Ale
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Lost Abbey tops new breweries list

Brookston Beer Bulletin’s Jay Brooks has a list of the best new breweries that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Guess who tops that list? Yep, Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey!

From the article:

…many new breweries have seen a phenomenal amount of success in a relatively short time. Undoubtedly, the market has changed considerably from where it was pre-millennium and that probably accounts for more favorable conditions for new craft brewers. But alone that’s not enough to account for it all. Some of these new breweries just stepped up and kicked butt. So for my 20th Top 10 list, here are my choices for the ten most important and influential breweries that began within the last ten years.

Thanks for the nod, Jay. And thanks to all of you for helping us make it to the top!

» Read the full article here (via Brookston Beer Bulletin)

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Post SD BEER Week thoughts and Cold Box news

It’s Tuesday and San Diego Beer Week ended officially at 12:01 AM yesterday morning. I finished up at about 10:20 pm when my car entered the garage of my house and I was officially home with no more events to work. It was so very nice waking up on Monday morning after an epic tasting at O’Brien’s knowing I didn’t have any beer events to head off to that night. Some suggested I take Monday off and relax. Maybe catch up on a little needed shut eye they suggested. It sounded like a great plan. Trouble is, I have a 3.5 year old who doesn’t understand R and R and we had work to do at the brewery.

You see, they just completed tearing down the cold box and we’re about to set the new one up for the tasting room. It looks so bad out there in the brewery right now. We’re bottling beer at the moment as well so things are quite chaotic here at the brewery. Tomorrow, we’ll get a chance to start rebuilding the bar and for the first time we’ll actually have lighting out there at night for the tasting room (I’m smiling from ear to ear right now). We’re also expanding the tap selection and with our new microstar contract, we’ll have tons of beers throughout the year. Look for expanded Abbey offerings as well as real kegs of beer to go. There’s even talk of a vintage beer list( aka Tomme’s cellar stash ) that will launch before the end of the year. We even have ordered a commercial dish washer for our glassware so the girls won’t need me to clean your glasses anymore.

All told, we’re very excited to be working so hard after San Diego Beer Week. I mean, we could be sitting back and waiting for Thanksgiving to arrive. But, I’d rather toast my family (or is that get toasted with family?) on Thanksgiving to our continued success and my lack of sleep. Look forward to a new great tasting bar hitting a Lost Abbey near you soon.

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Recapping San Diego Beer Week

It’s Friday and the tasting room is officially open. I’m hiding in my office as I need some time to decompress.
San Diego Beer Week is now entering the final weekend and my liver went on strike this morning. I’m zoning out here in my office trying to recall if I’ve ever had a week with so much going on relative to beer. It’s been impressive and depressing at the same time. Impressive in that I have managed to drink my weight in beer (no easy feat mind you) and depressing because well this monumental week is winding to a close.

Last night we had our first ever Lost Abbey art show at J Six in downtown San Diego. Christian Graves and all the staff of J Six were amazing. We displayed some 15 pieces of art and even had Sean Dominguez (the artist) on hand to talk about the paintings and labels. It’s something that I have personally wanted for our patrons since we started commissioning Sean to do these great pieces. We brought down 14 Lost Abbey beers for the event including Duck Duck Gooze so to match the art. All told about 150 consumers and media turned out for the event. The food was out of this world good and Vince is still talking about it today.

Wednesday night we pulled double duty and hit the Toronado after a great beer dinner at the Ritual Tavern. Luca, Stacy and Michael put together an awesome menu and we poured Duck Duck Gooze, Inferno, Gift of the Magi and Red Barn. Late night found us at the Toronado for more beers and washoes. Cable Car 2008 and 2009 were on tap. The 2008 keg blew in 7 minutes! I don’t get down to San Diego enough to visit the 30th street bars so it was most excellent to have the chance on Wednesday to do so.

Today, I’m pretty worked over. Last Friday, I started my week of San Diego beer with an event at The Neighborhood. It seems like a month ago. I’m heading home tonight to put my feet up and relax with Sydney. Maureen is going out for Mom’s night out with the girls. She earned it. Daddy’s been on a guys week out and it’s not an equitable trade. But you gotta start somewhere right?

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It’s ALIVE!!!

San Diego Beer Week has shifted from first to second gear and it appears to be developing momentum on its way to third gear as we begin the week. The 10 day week kicked off on Friday with the 6th Annual San Diego Brewer’s Guild event at the World Beat Center in Balboa Park. Gordie, Tim and Nate manned the taps as we poured Sinners 2009, Brother Levonian Saison and Devotion for the masses. Sounds like I missed a great event. However, I didn’t miss out on a fantastic set of desserts at The Neighborhood in downtown San Diego (Thanks Lisa Penwell from Stone for setting this up)!

When I arrived around 6:30 in the downtown area, I drove in circles looking for parking. (Thank God the Padres weren’t playing too!) Once inside the restuarant, I orderd a Lost and Found and set out to decide on a dinner plan. Lisa joined me for dinner. I went for the Street tacos with Devotion and she had the Mushroom burger(they’re known for their hamburgers). The Neighborhood was featuring four Lost Abbey beers that evening Devotion, Lost and Found, Red Barn and Ten Commandments alongside some desserts served Tapas style. I was a bit skeptical of our beers and dessert but the pairings were quite special. Hopefully some of you got a chance to partake in this menu. It was very cool.

On Saturday we hosted a ton of people at the brewery. First, during regular business hours we saw 6 pub crawls and lots of “happy” people come visit our establishment. Then we closed the doors and cleaned up for our Night of the Barrel Party. Typically, this is the best event we host at the brewery each year. Although, you’d be hard pressed to convince me that having Christmas in July with Santa onsite isn’t equally as fun.

For the night of the barrels, we pulled out 10 different beers (or fractions there of) for the evening. On tap we saw Brandy Angel’s 2008, Older Viscosity 2009, Sinners 2009, Cable Car 2009, Veritas 006-Sangre DC, Red Poppy 2010, Soured Avant Garde, Amazing Grace 2010, Port Barrel Aged Serpent’s Stout (served with spice cake) and the last beer of the night an experimental barrel of Angel’s Share which we added Cab Franc grapes to.

As always, the party couldn’t have been a raging success without the assistance of our volunteers lead by Terri and Sage. Matt Dolman even worked security in a tuxedo (dapper stunt double that Matt). Vince knocked socks off, bowled people over and otherwise threw down the gaunlet for Junkyard Chefs everywhere. He’s seriously the MacGyver of cooking. I think a spatula, some charcoal and a fatted cloven animal is all Vince needs in order to feed the masses. It’s no miracle at Cana when he cooks but then again, I’ve seen the light and eaten of the pork belly to be convinced what he does with food on a loading dock isn’t mortal. A big shoutout to Vince for all the amazing food. This Night of the Barrels is impossible without that attention to detail.

Sunday morning, I fell out of bed and headed down to KUSI for a 9:40 AM morning news spot with Christian Graves of J Six who will be hosting The Lost Abbey art show on Thursday night. We pimped a couple of beers and paintings (Carnevale and Judgment Day) and things went well the rest of the day as the Chargers played a great game. I headed back down to San Diego for the event at Phil’s BBQ Event Center where tons of people turned out to see what we had to offer. I poured beers for two hours straight before running out. Carnevale went first, then Judgment Day followed by Avant Garde and Inferno. Met a ton of new Lost Abbey drinkers last night and all told it was a great event(their very first SD Beer Week event= Thanks Phil and Chad!)

Tonight I’m off to the Tomme Arthur Experience at Stone. I’ve never had a Tomme Arthur Experience so this should be interesting. 20 beers all brewed here since we opened our doors three and a half short years ago! Could be a long night and longer morning if we try to run the gamut. Haven’t needed to drink 20 beers in one night in a very long time (This one time at band camp…) Lastly, I talked with Michael at Trattoria Acqua today and they still have some seats left for our dinner tomorrow night. It promises to be an epic evening of food and beer. And now that the time change is upon us, we’ll have a great view of the evening coastal lights as well. Hope to see you out there this week. San Diego Beer Week is ALIVE!!!
And that’s all I have to say about that.

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San Diego Strong Ale Festival 2009

Over 75 beers over 8% alcohol on tap & some cask conditioned ales!

  • General Admission: $30 general admission gets you into the festival with six 4oz tasters (with additional tastes $1 each), a commemorative logo glass, and the official Strong Ale Festival Program
  • VIP Admission: $40 VIP admission gets you into the festival at 1 pm on Friday to enjoy some early tapping of te beers with limited ticket sales plus everything else listed above

Commemorative hoodies, and the annual Fesival Pizza with Rye Crust & Grilled Bratwurst with Mustard Sauce will also be available.

For more information and tickets, visit: http://www.pizzaport.com