Beverage Industry publisher Bevnet opens their winter conference today with a special conference segment dedicated to the craft beer business. The eponymously named Craft Beer Session includes speakers, education and networking opportunities for folks starting their own breweries. Among the panelists at the session will be our own Tomme Arthur who, along with the Bruery’s Benjamin Weiss and a couple members of the design community, will be discussing branding and packaging.
According to the Bevnet website, the Los Angeles-based conference is sold out, but they’re offering a free live webcast for anyone who wants to watch. Tomme’s scheduled to speak a little after 4pm Pacific time, so if you’d like to tune in, you can here: http://livestream.com/bevnetcom.
If you’re interested in seeing what the other topics and speakers are, you can see the full conference agenda here: http://www.brewbound.com/conference.
How often is it you’re sitting around with friends enjoying a great beer when a great idea for a beer commercial strikes? (If your answer is “never”, you’re drinking the wrong beer.) Well, here’s your opportunity to put that creativity to work and possibly win a trip to San Diego to go on set and help bring your commercial concept to life!
In early 2012 we’ll be filming our first broadcast-ready commercial, and we’re looking to our Faithful Followers to tell us how they’d introduce our brewery and its products to those who’ve yet to be enlightened. To help stimulate everyone’s creativity we’re holding a competition all December long for the best commercial concept! Judged by our in-house Conclave, three winners will receive Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey merchandise and wearbles. And our Grand Prize winner will be coming to San Diego!
Grand prize
An all expenses-paid two-day trip to San Diego, V.I.P. status at Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey and go on set to film the commercial with our acclaimed in-house director, Ryan Tillotson and his production crew!
The Rules
Idea submissions may be as simple as a few lines describing the overall concept, or as detailed as a complete script with action and dialogue. (Length is up to you, but the more details the better.)
Concept submissions can be for both or either brands (Port Brewing, The Lost Abbey) The subject matter can be for the brand or a specific beer.
Submitted concepts must be unique, original and yours. (Plagiarism is bad)
Submit as many concepts as you like, but each concept must be submitted individually. Multiple submissions of the same concept will be disqualified.
Concepts must be submitted by 11:59:59 PM Pacific Time on December 31, 2011.
How we’ll be judging
Concepts will be judged by a wholly subjective and very opinionated Conclave of Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey Cardinals (aka: employees).
Judging criteria include but are not limited to originality, cleverness, brand/product representation, budget requirements and feasibility.
Winners will be notified the week of January 16, 2012. (Look for the white puff of smoke from the east end of the Abbey.)
If you’re ready to submit your concept for consideration, Click here to enter!
The Fine Print
Entrants must be 21 years or older as of December 1, 2011. Employees of Port Brewing Company and their family members are not eligible to enter. All concepts submitted for consideration become the property of Port Brewing. Winners agree to have their likeness used in Port Brewing marketing and media materials.
Cuvee de Tomme 2011
The long wait is over! Cuvee de Tomme 2011 is scheduled for release in the brewery on Saturday December 17, 2011.
While larger than the 2010 release, the total run for this year’s CdT is still extremely limited, so bottles will be a brewery-only release while draft will be available in limited quantity here in Southern California.
Kevin Hopkins, Hospitality Manager
If you’ve had the opportunity to visit The Lost Abbey Tasting Room in the past couple of months, you’ve probably noticed a new (old) face behind the bar. Kevin Hopkins
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Kevin Hopkins, manager of our new Hospitality department.
As the HM, Kevin’s responsible for overseeing pretty much all of our customer-facing operations including customer service, the tasting room, tours, parties, and special events — both in the brewery and around San Diego (whew).
Those of you who have been members of The Faithful for some time will probably recognize Kevin from his frequent volunteer work at our special events (competence doesn’t go unpunished around here, so we brought him on board and put him in charge), but he’s actually been a craft beer connoisseur long before Lost Abbey — a couple of decades, in fact — first in the U.K. and Europe and later right here in San Diego.
When he’s not serving beer and propounding the superiority of upper Yakima over lower Yakima hops or the many virtues of a good stout, you’ll find Kevin looking up — literally.
Kevin’s a long-time flying buff who doesn’t just love the sound of a plane thundering overhead, he loved it so much, he spent years managing airshows full of them. No too coincidentally, he’s also an accomplished pilot who takes to the air as often as he can. (Good thing too. We need someone to captain The Lost Abbey Airship Gabriel.)
You can catch Kevin in the tasting room most weekdays and the occasional weekend. For all his latest tasting room and local updates, you can also follow him on twitter at @LostAbbeyKevin. On other days, just look overhead. If you see a plane pulling barrel rolls, that’s probably him.
First Ever: Commercial Conclave
Send us a concept for a commercial; win and you get it filmed! Got an Idea for an Ad?
You know the scenario. You’re sitting there with your friends, enjoying a perfect glass of craft beer, and suddenly you’ve got a great idea for a commercial. (If this has never happened to you, you are drinking the wrong kind of beer.)
Well now here’s you’re chance to capitalize on your creativity!
The whole month of December we’ll be accepting submissions for Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey 60 second commercial concepts. From all the submissions we’ll select one concept (via a very serious Conclave process) to be filmed as an actual advertisement for our brewery. The winner will receive an all expenses-paid two-day trip to San Diego, V.I.P. status at Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey and go on set to film the commercial with our acclaimed in-house director, Ryan Tillotson!
Full details, rules, limits, legalese and fine print will be available on The Lost Abbey website starting December 1, 2011.
Date:December 17 December 24, 2011 – 12:00pm – 7:00pm
This will be the release date for Cuvee de Tomme 2011, our multi-award winning bourbon barrel-aged aged strong ale with sour cherries.
Cuvee de Tomme 2011
Release Details:
Style: Cuvee de Tomme 2011
Format: 375ml cork-stoppered bottles
Price: $15 per bottle
Limits: 6 bottles per person
Supplies of this beer are extremely limited. Bottle sales will be brewery only and a select quantity of draft will be available in the Southern California region, however, it will not reach any of our other distribution areas (sorry).
Because we expect this beer to sell out quickly, we’ll open our doors at 11am for registration; bottle sales will begin at 12pm.
Standard disclaimer: This is a barrel-aged beer. As such release dates are subject to change based on the whims of the barrels.
Update 1: 12/14/11 – Release has been delayed by one week to December 24, 2011.
Being here in San Diego, we’re chocked full of great craft breweries. So many in fact that it’s not unusual to see and members of the local brewing community on TV and the radio.
What is unusual, however, is to be driving to work listening to the radio when suddenly the people on air are talking about you (or at least your brewery) being the best in the county — which is exactly what happened to us this morning.
The following is an on air conversation between KPRi 102.1 FM radio personalities Madison and Pamela Howe, and San Diego local beer connoisseur, Robbert Jeffords regarding San Diego Beer Week. Guess who they all agreed as the best brewery in San Diego?
Celebrate the debut of the 2011 Cable Car Kriek with Cable Car Day, November 12, 2011!
Cable Car Kriek 2011
This year both Toronados — San Francisco and San Diego — as well as The Lost Abbey, will all be premiering Cable Car 2011 on the same day!
Here at The Abbey we’ll be placing a select number of Cable Car 2011 bottles on sale Saturday afternoon beginning at 5pm. Details are as follows:
When: Bottles go on sale at 5pm and will remain on sale until the allotment runs out (most likely only an hour or two)
Caveats:Extremely Limited release (read: only a few dozen bottles); must be consumed on premises — absolutely no carry-out.
Update – 11/11/11
Based on the feedback we’ve been getting, we’re making a couple of arrangements so those of you who arrive specifically for the Cable Car get the best service possible.
First, We only have 60 bottles for this release, so starting around 2pm we’ll begin queuing people in the packaging warehouse on a first come, first serve basis. If you come specifically for Cable Car, please look for the signs leading you to the queue. If you don’t see them, just ask one of our staff members and they’ll direct you accordingly. (You’re welcome to enjoy beer while in the queue.)
Next, we’ll begin opening the Cable Car Kriek at 5pm. If you’re among the first 60 in the queue, one of our staffers will provide you with stemware (your $50 gets your the bottle and 2 Lost Abbey Tulip glasses), and provide you with your bottle. If you need additional tasting glasses for others in your party, please make sure to mention it.
Finally, while we’d love to provide you with empty bottles to take home, because of the problem with Internet counterfeiters (yes, people actually take the bottles, refill them with something else and sell them as the real deal), we can’t provide you with the empty bottle, the cork, hood and wire. You can keep the bottle or the hood and wire, but please don’t ask to take it all as we’ll have to tell you no (and no one likes to do that).
