Friday – Nov. 26: 12pm – 9pm Extended Hours! Black Friday madness? No thank you. How about a nice afternoon in the Tasting Room with family and friends?
Saturday – Nov. 27: 12pm – 6pm
If you’re in town for the Holiday, stop by for a tour and tasting!
Sunday – Nov. 28: 12pm – 5pm
Sunday’s are pretty low key, so if you need a post relative / pre-back to work break, this is a great day to do it.
So if you’ve got family and friends in town and you want to show them a good time (or they’re driving you crazy and you need a moment of peace), drop on by this week. We’ll be happy to see you.
The second annual San Diego Beer Week kicks off a 10 day tour de force today with just about every brewery, brewpub, gastropub, bar and bottle shop pulling out all the stops to showcase America’s new craft beer capitol. In all there’ll be more than 200 beer-related events all around the county between today and Sunday the 14th. Naturally, we’ll be out and about next week, talking, eating and, of course, pouring lots of great Lost Abbey and Port Brewing beers.
Here’s a round-up of what’s up and what’s new at Lost Abbey:
Extended Tasting Room Hours
In honor of San Diego Beer Week, we’ll be extending our tasting room hours to be open seven days a week through November 14, giving everyone ample opportunity to drop by and say hello! The SDBW Tasting Room hours are:
Sun: 12pm – 5pm
Mon – Wed: 1pm – 6pm
Thur: 1pm – 4:30pm
Fri: 1pm – 9pm
Sat: 12pm – 6pm
(Note: Saturday, November 13 we will close promptly at 6pm to prepare for our annual barrel party)
We’re doing a number of events around town all week long, so you can still experience our beers without making the trek up to the brewery. If you get a chance, pop into one and say hi to the DOBO (aka “Tomme”) and other members of the Lost Abbey Clergy.
Lost Abbey SDBW Events
Nov 6 – San Diego Brewer’s Guild Festival
Nov 8 – Phil’s BBQ
Nov 9 – Churchill’s Pub and Grille
Nov 9 – Encinitas Ale House
Nov 10 – Counterpoint
Nov 10 – Neighborhood
Nov 11 – Stone World Bistro
Nov 11 – JSix Restaurant
Nov 13 – 4th Annual Barrel Tasting Party (sold out)
Those who’ve been into the Tasting Room during the week in the past couple of months might have noticed a new face around the brewery. Actually, he’s an old, familiar face to this building.
Ken Kline, Superhero
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Ken Kline our new (returning) Plant Manager.
No, Ken didn’t used to work here and now he’s back, he’s returning to the brewhouse. Back before Port Brewing / Lost Abbey, our brewhouse was Stone Brewing’s, and Ken was their plant manager. In 2006 when Stone moved to it’s new facility Ken went with it and we’ve pretty much been faking it ever since (read: swearing/praying and lots of duct tape). Gratefully we were recently able to persuade Ken to return to his old brewhouse and re-assume command over all the stuff around here that makes the beer, packs it up and gets it on the loading dock.
Over the next few months Ken will be overhauling our brewhouse (read: swearing/praying and removing duct tape) and overseeing our expansion which includes a shiny new boiler, new tanks, and moving and reconfiguring the bottling line in the new building. For us, all of this means no more flooded floors and bottling line gymnastics. For you it means more Port & Lost Abbey beers!
If you ever happen to drop by the tasting room and see Ken (usually fixing stuff), make sure to say hi. (Don’t, hug him and cry, repeating “thank you, thank you, thank you” though. Turns out after the forth or fifth time it makes him uncomfortable.)
New Beer Releases
Here’s what’s new and upcoming in new beer releases:
There was quite a voted turnout for the “Other TEA Party” last night. Fortunately there were no hanging chads, voting machine malfunctions or bad ballots, so the count was quick and easy.
The TEA Party Duck
Of a total of 210 votes cast, TEA 1, a light, lemony sour beer walked away the victor. Many remember a version of this beer premiered as the “Arnold Palmer” TEA at Stone Brewing’s 14th Anniverary celebration this past August.
As the winner, TEA 1 will be bottled as Veritas 008 and released at our Barrel Party Night on November 13, 2010. (Unfortunately, the Barrel Party is sold out, but if you were lucky enough to get a ticket, you’ll be receiving a bottle of Veritas 008 that evening.)
TEA 6 also had a strong showing, and an impromptu blend of TEA 2 and TEA 6 was very popular, so it’s quite possible that 6, or a blended version thereof, may make an appearance again some time in the future.
Here’s a tally of the final results:
Candidate
Votes
Description
TEA 1
74 (36%)
Mellow Yellow (French Oak barrel-aged Amigo) with fresh lemon zest and Black Tea
TEA 2
28 (13%)
Avant Garde Farmhouse Ale with Caramel Apple Rooibos Tea
TEA 3
22 (10%)
Mongo Double IPA with Mango Ceylon Black Tea
TEA 4
30 (14%)
Red Barn Saison with Orange Ginger Mint Tea
TEA 5
4 (2%)
Red Barn Saison with Ginger Lemon Grass Green Tea
TEA 6
52 (25%)
Old Viscosity with Green Rooibos Plantain Coconut Tea
Thanks again to everyone who turned out for the vote, and to our friends at the Republic of Tea for providing the teas we used.
Tonight is the “Other” T.E.A. party and our brewers have released the final list of the Traditional Experimental Ales (T.E.A.s) candidates. And what a wide-ranging slate it is. From Plantain and Coconut stouts to Caramel Apple Ales, everyone of these presents a palate pleasing, puckering, and possibly perplexing, party platform that you partisans can get behind. (Or not.)
Here’s the list of T.E.A. Party candidates we’ll be presenting for your consideration tonight:
TEA 1 — Mellow Yellow (French Oak barrel-aged Amigo) with fresh lemon zest and Black Tea
TEA 2 — Avant Garde Farmhouse Ale with Caramel Apple Rooibos Tea
TEA 3 — Mongo Double IPA with Mango Ceylon Black Tea
TEA 4 — Red Barn Saison with Orange Ginger Mint Tea
TEA 5 — Red Barn Saison with Ginger Lemon Grass Green Tea
TEA 6 — Old Viscosity with Green Rooibos Plantain Coconut Tea
It’s up to you to exercise your rights, so get out and vote! Polls open at 6pm in the Lost Abbey tasting room and close promptly at 9pm. Be there and vote for your favorite beer!
Well, Halloween is over and it’s time to turn our attention to Thanksgiving. Coincidentally, over at Craftbeer.com, famed beer professor, author and aficionado, Randy Mosher, has a great article on beer pairings for every stage of the day long food celebration.
Randy Mosher's Thanksgiving Day Beer List
Among Mosher’s many outstanding suggestions — Judgment Day (for the wine drinkers in the family) and Old Viscosity (perfect with pie).
After you’re done reading the story you can print it and make it a holiday beverage shopping list. Even it you don’t get through the whole list on Turkey Day, you’ll be set for every holiday party and get-together from now until New Year’s Day.
Every year we hold our annual Boos N’ Brews night just before Halloween. It’s a family-friendly night of pizza, beers, and carving Jack o’ Lanterns. (The creativity of our patrons never ceases to amaze us.) This year we held the event on Friday, October 29 and had a great turn out. If you were there, thanks for coming in. And if you weren’t well, here’s a few photos of what you missed:
