What’s on Tap for Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day WeekendNot only is it going to be sunny and in the low 80’s here in San Marcos for Labor Day weekend (okay, it’s always sunny and warm in San Diego), but we’ve also got a whole bunch of cool stuff on tap to celebrate the traditional end of summer.

Check this out:

Open Labor Day

we’ll be open Monday, September 5 from noon to 4pm for tastings, as well as bottle sales and growlers fills so you can head off to your Labor Day parties and barbeques properly stocked with great Port & Lost Abbey beers.

Bourbon Angel’s Share Release

The much anticipated bourbon barrel-aged Angel’s Share will go on sale when the tasting room opens at 3pm on Friday afternoon. While this beer is going out to our full distribution network, if you’d like to be among the first to pick up a couple bottles, this weekend is your opportunity.

Special Taps

In addition to Bourbon Angel’s Share, we’ll be putting a couple of really special beers on tap in the tasting room.

  • Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale: (Click here for the photo gallery)Cutting hops

    A delicious pale ale made entirely with hops grown right here in Northern San Diego County. After the hops were picked and delivered to the brewery, a number of folks showed up to volunteer to pick the fresh hop cones from the vines by hand. Even though it took several days, the results were fantastic!

    We only ran one batch of this beer, meaning we won’t be bottling or distributing it. As a result, your only chance to sample it will be in the brewery.

  • edutainmentRepoterrior Collaboration Lager: (Click here for the photo gallery)

    This is a collaboration beer between Allagash, Avery, Dogfish Head, The Lost Abbey and Sierra Nevada that the guys brewed together a couple months back when they were all visiting Sierra Nevada.

    The description from Sierra Nevada is as follows:

    A distinct 5.5% ABV session-lager brewed with elemental, native terroir from the following collective of brewers: Sierra Nevada (wild rice, beets, cucumber, mint and carrots), Avery (Colorado alfalfa honey), Allagash (Maine purple potatoes), Dogfish Head (free-range Atlantic Ocean “beach” wood), and Lost Abbey (cage-free Pacific Ocean “beach” wood).

    Born out of a backroom conversation in a Boulder restaurant and blooming into a full-blown cornucopia of a collaboration, Repoterroir is a coming together of like-minded craft beer compatriots. Brewed at Sierra Nevada’s brewery in Chico, CA this sessionable lager beer reclaims the earthbound mantle of terroir from the grape-soaked, buttoned-down world of wine and re-purposes it in a new sudsy sense.

    Featuring natural ingredients contributed by each of the five breweries, this unique and earthy beer is complex and layered but ultimately drinkable. Using the full repertoire of skills from more than 86 combined years of brewing knowledge and skill, this lager combines traditional (and not so traditional) ingredients into an ideal summertime brew.

    Repoterroir was an extremely limited draught-only brew, and the only places it will be available is in the tap rooms, tasting rooms and restaurants of the collaborating breweries.

    We only have a couple 1/6th barrel kegs, so if you want to try this brew, we recommend you show up sooner rather than later.

High Tide Brewing

Finally, as if all the other stuff wasn’t enough, we just got word from Yakima that the hop harvest is on! We’ll be expecting a truckload of fresh-picked hops arriving sometime Friday night and will start brewing the 2011 release High Tide wet-hop IPA that night.

We’ll be brewing around the clock throughout the weekend, so if you drop by you’ll have an opportunity to see the beer being made right there in the brewhouse.

If you’ve ever been curious as to what the brewing process (and/or a ton of wet hops) looks like, this will be your one and only opportunity in the Abbey for this year.

(Please note: because the tasting room is in the brewhouse and they will be brewing, for guest safety our guided brewery tours will be cancelled.)

Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale

Here’s a few photos from our picking and brewing the Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale – a special limited brew we made entirely with locally grown hops. (Specifically, hops grown in Fallbrook, a small community in Northern San Diego County about 20 minutes up the road from us).

Thanks to farmer Sheldon for the hops!

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Repeterrior Collaboration Brew

Just a handful of photos from the brewing of the Repeterrior Collaboration at Sierra Nevada earlier this summer.

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The description from Sierra Nevada is as follows:

A distinct 5.5% ABV session-lager brewed with elemental, native terroir from the following collective of brewers: Sierra Nevada (wild rice, beets, cucumber, mint and carrots), Avery (Colorado alfalfa honey), Allagash (Maine purple potatoes), Dogfish Head (free-range Atlantic Ocean “beach” wood), and Lost Abbey (cage-free Pacific Ocean “beach” wood).

Born out of a backroom conversation in a Boulder restaurant and blooming into a full-blown cornucopia of a collaboration, Repoterroir is a coming together of like-minded craft beer compatriots. Brewed at Sierra Nevada’s brewery in Chico, CA this sessionable lager beer reclaims the earthbound mantle of terroir from the grape-soaked, buttoned-down world of wine and re-purposes it in a new sudsy sense.

Featuring natural ingredients contributed by each of the five breweries, this unique and earthy beer is complex and layered but ultimately drinkable. Using the full repertoire of skills from more than 86 combined years of brewing knowledge and skill, this lager combines traditional (and not so traditional) ingredients into an ideal summertime brew.

This beer was an extremely limited draught brew served only in the tap rooms, tasting rooms and restaurants of the collaborating breweries.

Photos from the 2011 Pre-Stone Anniversary Breakfast

Last Saturday’s pre-Stone Anniversary breakfast was our biggest ever with a little more than 500 people or so turning out to nosh on lots of hot and hearty foods before a day of celebrating Stone’s 15th birthday across the highway at Cal State San Marcos. Thanks to all of you who dropped by to say hello. And to those who didn’t, sorry we missed you!

Here’s a few photos from the day’s events for your viewing pleasure.
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Beer Release: 2011 The Angel’s Share (Bourbon Barrel-aged)

2011 Angel's Share (Bourbon)

We’re pleased to announce that Friday, September 2, 2011 will mark the release of the 2011 bourbon barrel-aged version of The Angel’s Share, our legendary English-style barleywine.

This vintage was aged slightly more than 12 months in fresh, used Heaven Hill American white oak barrels. The blend of 47 barrels yielded 550 cases and an additional 200 five gallon kegs, providing enough beer for full coast-to-coast distribution.

Those living in locations in which our beers are available should expect to see The Angel’s Share on shelves and taps shortly after Labor Day (September 5th).

Release details are as follows:

  • Beer: The Angel’s Share – Bourbon Barrel-Aged
  • Formats: 375ml cork stoppered bottles and draft
  • Distribution: Full network
  • Purchase limits: None

For more information on The Angel’s Share, click here.

For distribution and availability in your area, please click here.

Christmas in July Video

Yeah, it’s August, but what the heck — it takes a little time to put these things together. Below is a quick video re-cap of the event deftly captured by our in-house director Ryan and hosted by Andy “MetromixSD” Killion.

Thanks to all the others who helped put the video together: editor Ryan Girkins, audio mixer Kyle Thompson, and musicians, the Dolbies. And, of course, all of you who attended and helped make it a great event and fundraiser for the Toys for Tots foundation.

See you all next year!

Lost Abbey to Stone Anniversary without a Car

So you’re going to the Stone Brewing 15th Anniversary celebration at Cal State San Marcos on Saturday, and you’d like to drop by Lost Abbey to enjoy a hearty breakfast and perhaps a beer or two before you head off to attend your Session.

It's easy to travel without a car

Problem is, you really don’t want to deal with the hassles of driving between the two locations.

Good news. You don’t have to.

The Lost Abbey is actually very close to the party’s location at Cal state San Marcos (a mere 4,800 ft as the crow flies), and there’s a number of options including the train, bike trails and walking paths that are just about as quick as driving your car between places. Here’s how to get there from here (or vice versa) without climbing in a car:

The Train

One of the best kept secrets around here is the Sprinter — the light rail system that runs between Oceanside on the coast, and Escondido inland. You can hop on the train at San Marcos city center (Lost Abbey’s station) and off it again 3 minutes later at Cal State San Marcos (for the festival). The Sprinter is also bike friendly, so if you’d rather pedal than hoof it, you can.

Lost Abbey is a few minute(s) walk from the San Marcos City Center station, as is the Cal State San Marcos station from the festival. With a bike it’s less than half that time.

Trains run once an hour and the fare is $2 each way, or you can buy a $5 round trip pass that will take you from Oceanside to Escondido and back again (very convenient if you’d rather leave your car at the transit station or if you’re going all train via the Coaster, MetroLink or Amtrak).

Tip: Take the Inland Rail Trail (it’s on the map) to/from Sprinter and Lost Abbey. The trail avoids the street lights and a steep hill, so you’ll travel all that much quicker.

MAP: Travel via the Sprinter

View Lost Abbey to Stone 14th in a larger map

Walking / Biking

If you’re into the whole human-powered thing, it’s still pretty easy to go between Lost Abbey and the Anniversary Party just using your feet or a bike. (The distance is actually shorter than driving because you can cut through the parking lots and use the sidewalks and bike paths to avoid car routes.) If you’re driving and then hoofing/pedaling, make sure to park your car at Cal State San Marcos early and roll down the hill to Lost Abbey. You can have breakfast and burn a few carbs going back to the Stone event. When your Session is over your car will be waiting nearby.

Tip: Cut through the Old Spaghetti Factory / LA Fitness parking lot between Twin Oaks & Rancheros (it’s on the map). Cars have to drive around it, but you’ll cut 1/2 a mile off your trip each way.

MAP: Travel via foot or bike

View Larger Map

Libri Divini – August 2011

The Official Newsletter of Port Brewing & The Lost Abbey
Volume 3, Issue 4

In this issue:

Around the Brewery | New Faces | Pre-Stone Anniversary Breakfast | Farewell to Larry #5 | End of Summer Sale | New & Upcoming Releases

Around the Brewery

Hard to believe it’s already August, but here it is. Around the Abbey we’ve been so busy that we almost didn’t notice summer is just about at an end. Since spring we’ve been brewing so much that we’ve passed our total production for 2010 and are in the midst of yet another expansion to meet demand.

As part of that expansion we recently moved fermenters 7 and 8 (aka: “Heaven” and “Hell” since that’s what had to be moved to get them into the brewhouse) into our production area next door in anticipation of the arrival of a couple more big fermenters in the next few weeks. Tomme’s also made mention of acquiring a couple of new grain silos which will prevent us from running our current one dry each week (it’s hard to make beer when you have no malt).

Moving "Heaven" for more beer

All this new equipment will allow us to keep ramping up production and eliminate some of the off and on shortages we’ve been experiencing. And while there’s no expansion of our distribution territories planned just yet, who knows — 2012 could present some new opportunities for us.

Things have been busy over in the tasting room as well. Even though we’re a tiny operation compared to many of our San Diego craft brewing compatriots, we’re on track to see almost 60,000 (yes, 60,000!) visitors this year. To handle all the new folks we’ve already added an additional 20 taps –for a total of 44 handles — and we’ve got some exciting new remodels in the works for the fall. Look for an announcement with details some time after Labor Day.
All told, it’s pretty good stuff and we owe it all to you, the Faithful. Thank you. You keep drinking and we’ll keep brewing.

New Faces: Meet Ryan Tillotson

Ryan Tillotson, the man behind the lens
Recently you may have noticed one the addition of some new multimedia components — photo galleries, video shorts and live broadcasts — the Lost Abbey website and our social media pages. (And if you haven’t noticed, why not?) All this is the work of our new Multimedia Supervisor, Ryan Tillotson, who recently joined us after graduating from film school up in the Los Angeles area.

A gifted guy behind the camera, Ryan is tasked both with documenting life here at the Abbey, and providing you with an informative (and hopefully interesting) look inside the operations of a small American craft brewery.

Beyond providing daily snapshots from around the brewhouse, Ryan has also produced the first two of our “making of” videos (Hot Rocks, La Cruda and Ten Commandments), and our time-lapse silo video. He’s also the man who directed our live broadcasts from the Anniversary Party and Christmas in July. Over the next couple of months you can look forward to plenty more from him.

Ryan’s in the brewhouse most weekdays and a few weekends as well. You’ll also catch him at events around town and some big national ones such as the GABF. If you happen to bump into him anywhere, make sure to say hello. Who knows, he could make you Internet famous…

You can talk to Ryan on Twitter too. Follow him at http://twitter.com/LostAbbeyRyan

Pre-Stone 15th Anniversary breakfast

Stone Brewing’s 15th Anniversary party is just a week away, and as usual we’ll be serving breakfast at the brewery for everyone who wants to carbo-load before heading up to the first session a “stone’s” throw away at Cal State San Marcos.

Beer for Breakfast, August 20, 2011

Our dynamic-duo of chefs, Jason Danderand and Steve Owen will be manning the Magic kitchen and griddling, grilling, frying, smoking and steaming their way through a monster buffet of rib-sticking breakfast foods. As always, the food and fun are free, the beers are regular price.

Doors open at 8:30am on Saturday, August 20, 2011. More information is available here.

A Fond Farewell to Larry #5

Travis Herman - Larry #5

Each summer we host an intern who spends several weeks with the brew crew learning how to make beer the Port/Lost Abbey way. (We’re not really sure if this hurts or helps in the real world, but whatever.) Our first intern five years ago was named Larry, and even since then we’ve always referred to the summer intern as “The New Larry”.

This year’s Larry (number 5) is Travis Herman who hails from the East Bay area up in Northern California. Travis recently left a career in bio-research and for the past five weeks has been working long hours learning the craft of brewing from the ground up. (Biggest lesson: “brewing is a lot of hard work.”)

Travis’ internship ends today and he, along with his dog, Hudson, who came down here with him, is driving back to Northern California this weekend to rejoin his wife, who is six months pregnant. A quiet, friendly guy with a wry sense of humor and a quick brain, we’re all going to miss him around here and wish him the best of luck in starting his career as a brewer.

If you’re ever in the Bay Area and happen to run into Travis, feel free to call him “Larry”. He’s only one of five to have earned the title, so you know he’ll appreciate it.

End of Summer Sale

Shirts all 25% off through Labor Day

With summer winding down we need to clear some room to make way for new stuff expected this autumn. As a result we’ve put all of our Port and Lost Abbey tanks, T’s and shirts on sale in our online shop. Now through Labor Day (September 5, 2011) you’ll find all these oh-so-cool wearables marked 25% off. Stock is limited to what’s on hand (read “no backorders”). so if you want the best selection you should shop sooner rather than later.

» Click here to see everything on sale.

New Beer Releases

New & Up-coming Beer Releases

Here’s a quick list of recent and upcoming beer releases:

  • July 16: Santa’s Little Helper (Bourbon Barrel-Aged) – 22 ounce bottles and draft. Limited quantities in distribution
  • Aug. 5: Summer Pale Ale (SPA) – Draft only. Distribution limited to Southern California.
  • Aug. 15: Panzer Pils – 22 ounce bottles and draft. Seasonal; Full distribution.
  • Aug. 19: Hop 15 – 22 ounce bottles and draft. Seasonal; Full distribution.

For a full release schedule, check our event calendar.