This year’s Christmas in July was once again a great success! Because of your generosity, we collected over 800 toys and nearly $5,000 in cash donations, so a lot of kids who might have gone without this holiday season are going to have a merry Christmas after all.
Below are the photos with Santa. If you’re pictured and would like to download the photo, simply click your photo thumbnail to enlarge the image, then right click and select “save as” to download the photo. (Please note that these photos are quite large so downloading may take a moment.)
Thanks again to everyone who attended and made the event what it was. Merry Christmas to all!
Christmas in July at The Lost Abbey!
Join us for a day of Christmastime festivities, great food, beer and music to celebrate the release of bourbon barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper and to collect toys and cash to benefit the Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots foundation. Last year we raised over $10,000 in toys and cash donations — this year we’re trying to beat that!
Events on tap:
Beer releases:
2011 Bourbon Barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper – 22oz bottles; Release day only: $12 ea . Regularly: $15 ea. ; 4 bottle limit. (Yes, this beer will reach our distribution network in limited quantities.)
Food & Beer:
Food – We’re doing a real Christmas meal! We’ll be serving fresh smoked turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, yams, fresh-baked rolls and dessert
On Tap – All of The Lost Abbey & Port Brewing’s regular 21 tap line-up, plus a few secret specialties (more on those as we approach the event…)
Activities:
A Visit from St. Nick Santa - yes this guy, The REAL Santa, will be on-hand for photos
Santa Claus loves to visit us while he’s on vacation in San Diego! He’ll be dropping by the brewery from 12pm – 5pm so you can get you, your friends’ and family professionally photographed with him in the Barrel Room. Live Webcast
We’ll be doing a live web broadcast — this time from a platform high above the tasting room floor where our intrepid Anchor, Andy Killion, will cover the festivities. If you’re not able to attend, you’ll be able to watch the broadcast from your computer, tablet or smartphone via our brewcam page here*.
* Download the Ustream Smartphone app for Android and iPhone here.
Toy Drive — Bring a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15 or more to benefit Toys for Tots
Giving Tree – Make an additional $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots (above & beyond the unwrapped toy) and you get to select a gift from the Christmas Tree. Gifts will include rare bottles, Port Brewing & Lost Abbey gear and tickets to our legendary Barrel Night during San Diego Beer Week.
How Much: Photos with Santa, music, food and entertainment are all FREE when you bring a a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15. No toy? That’s okay. Give a $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots at the door and you’re in! (Beers are all regular price!)
Schedule of Events: To ensure that we’re not mobbed all at once and that everyone has a chance to get their photos with Santa, enjoy the food, music and get a ticket for the Giving Tree, we’re breaking the day into two equal sessions with exactly the same stuff in both sessions. The schedule is as follows:
Session 1
(12:00pm – 3:30pm)
12:00 – Doors open; Block 1 of Giving Tree Tickets available. (2 ticket max per person)
12:30 – Santa Arrives for photos
1:00 – Live Music: The Firkins; Food is served!
2:00 – Live Music: The Professors
3:00 – Giving Tree Drawing #1
3:30 – Session 1 ends
Session 2
(3:30pm – 7:00pm)
4:00 – Session 2 starts; Block 2 of Giving Tree Tickets available. (2 ticket max per person)
We know a lot of folks are coming down to San Diego for the upcoming Independence Day weekend (and who wouldn’t? Have you seen our weather forecast?), so we just wanted to give you a quick update on extended our tasting room hours for the holiday weekend. Independence Day Weekend Hours:
Friday (July 1): 3pm – 9pm
Saturday (July 2): 12pm – 7pm
Sunday (July 3): 12pm – 6pm
Monday (July 4): 12pm – 4pm
We’ll have both the front and back tasting room bars open and the bottle shelves will be fully stocked. Ten Commandments is also back in bottles this week. If you’d like to see what’s on tap for your tasting & growler filling pleasure, as well as what’s available in bottles, make sure to check our what’s on tap page (updated every Friday at 2pm).
Oh, and if you’re looking for an easy way to travel between the beach and brewery, check out the Sprinter train. It runs every 30 minutes and costs just a couple of bucks. It’s a great way to avoid traffic and the crowds! More info on how to get to us via the train (as well as your car) is in our Visit Us section here.
As you may have heard via the social media channels, we did okay at the 2011 San Diego International Beer Festival last week.
Okay, we’re being modest. We did really well, pulling down six ribbons in all — 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze — which was more than any other brewery.
Our winners were:
GOLD
Red Poppy (Sour Ale)
Shark Attack (Imperial Red Ale)
Veritas 008 (Specialty Beer)
SILVER
Hot Rocks (American Style Brown Ale)
BRONZE
Amazing Grace (Sour Ale)
Inferno (Belgian Style Pale Strong Ale)
Our cousins over at the Pizza Ports didn’t do too shabby either, grabbing seven ribbons — 4 for Carlsbad, 2 for Ocean Beach and 1 for Solana Beach — as well as Best of Show for Poor Man’s IPA, making this the third consecutive year a Pizza Port has owned Best of Show.
The SD Beer Festival is kind of a big deal for us, not just because of its size (150 breweries, 350+ beers), but because it’s judged by our fellows in the San Diego brewing community — none of whom are exactly slouches when it comes to great beer. When your peers here in the world capitol of craft beer heap awards on you, you know you must be doing something right. (One day we’ll find out what that is.)
All of the 2011 winners have been posted on the San Diego County Fair website in PDF format. You’ll find them here:
By now you probably know that we brewed a special beer for the National Homebrewer’s Conference going on here in San Diego. A couple of days ago we posted a little bit on the story behind the beer and the homebrew version of the recipe. Today we’re pleased to present the video on the making of the beer.
Run time is just a little under 8 minutes. Hope you all enjoy it!
Join us in celebrating our dads by bringing yours to the Port Brewing & The Lost Abbey tasting room and buying him a pint. When you do, your Dad keeps the pint glass! You can even buy him two pints and get him a matched set! All dads are welcome. See you (and your Dad) in the Tasting Room!
Details:
What: Hoppy Father’s Day – You buy Dad a pint and Dad Keeps the pint glass (Port Brewing Logo pint glass)
When: Father’s Day (Sunday, June 19, 2011) – 12pm to 6pm
In the world of craft beer there’s a very close relationship between homebrewers and professionals. Most of the guys (and girls) in the business started brewing small batches of beer in their garage, and many continue to homebrew even after they’ve turned pro or retired from professional brewing altogether. As a result, brewers — paid or not — share a special affinity for the craft of beermaking that the rest of us as consumers and aficionados may not fully understand.
Today the National Homebrewers Conference opens here in San Diego and thousands of homebrewers from all over North America have descended on the county to meet, talk, trade tips and see for themselves why San Diego is the current craft beer capitol of the world (hint: a lot of it has to do with homebrewers). In honor of the conference and the homebrewers that make it what it is, our brewmaster/DOBO/COO Tomme Arthur chose to brew a beer with special significance just for conference attendees — La Cruda Porter.
La Cruda Porter
La Cruda, or Makanudo Porter as it was known back in 1996, was one of the first beers Tomme ever brewed as a professional. At the time Tomme was assistant to Troy Hojel, head brewer at Cervezerias La Cruda (roughly: “the hangover brewery”), a new brewpub in downtown San Diego. La Cruda’s brewhouse wasn’t quite up and running early enough, so Troy and Tomme approached another brewer, Skip Virgilio, the former brewer at Pacific Beach Brew House, about brewing a beer at Skip’s new brewery, AleSmith. Skip consented and the three proceeded to brew a robust porter recipe by Troy that they named Makanudo Porter (yes, Makanudo with a “k”).
It was the worst selling beer in La Cruda’s brief 12 month lifespan, but it also won a gold medal at the 1996 Great American Beer Festival — only the third medal to be won by a San Diego beer† in the GABF’s 13 year history. (Oh, how times have changed…) Troy left professional brewing after La Cruda as did Skip a few years later. Tomme, of course, landed at Pizza Port Solana Beach to begin that brewpub family’s dynasty (one that continues today), and in 2006 spun off to found Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey and do it all over again.
In honor of the relationship between homebrewers and professionals, Tomme, once the homebrewer but now the professional, invited Troy and Skip, both former professionals and now homebrewers, to The Lost Abbey to brew “La Cruda” Porter for the first time in 15 years. Each NHC attendee will receive a bottle.
This Friday we’ll be posting a video of the story behind La Cruda Porter and the people who made it. In the meantime, if you’re a homebrewer and you’d like to give the beer a whirl, you will find the recipe scaled down to five gallons below. And if you’re not a homebrewer, you can still try the beer just by dropping by our tasting room where it’s on draft and available in 22 ounce bottles (there’s only just 70 cases though, so if you want some in bottles, shop early).
† Here’s some “6 degrees of Tomme Arthur” for you: The first medal won by a San Diego beer was in 1994 — A bronze for a barley wine called Old Boneyards brewed at Pizza Port. Vince Marsaglia was one of the brewers. The same year A Pacific Beach Brew House won a gold for Belgian Strong Ale brewed by none other than Skip Virgilio.
The AHA National Homebrewers Conference arrives in San Diego next week, so we’re extending our tasting room hours and rolling out the red carpet for all our fellow brewers coming to town!
Extended Hours
Mon – Thurs (June 13 – 16) – 12pm to 6pm Fri (June 17) – 12pm to 9pm Sat (June 18) – 12pm to 7pm Sun (June 19) – 12pm to 6pm
Group Information
If you’re planning on dropping by the brewery during NHC week and you’ve got a group of 6 or more, please give Terri our Tasting Room Manager a heads-up via email or phone call. Email: terri@lostabbey.com, Tel: (760) 920-6121. (We’re not a huge operation, so if she knows you’re coming she can make the proper scheduling arrangements and ensure you’re well taken care of during your pilgrimage to the Abbey.)
La Cruda (Back in Mak) Porter On Tap / Video Premiere
In addition to the extended Tasting Room hours, we’ll also be tapping kegs of La Cruda (aka “Back in Mak” when it’s on draft) Porter, a special reunion beer brewed especially for NHC attendees.
Friday night will also include the premiere of a video short on the story behind this beer and it’s brew again for the first time in 15 years.
Father’s Day Special – Buy Dad a Pint, He Keeps the Pint Glass
Sunday, June 19 isn’t just the last day of NHC week, it’s also Father’s Day! And because we can’t think of a better way to celebrate fatherhood than with a beer, if you come into the tasting room Sunday and buy dad a pint, dad gets to keep the Port Brewing Logo pint glass as a bonus. A great way to finish a great week even if you aren’t a homebrewer, wouldn’t you agree?
With a little under 24 hours before the Moment of Truth, we though it’d be a good time to update everyone on all the other changes going into place for the summer starting today (May 27, 2011). Here you go:
Extended Summer Hours
Starting Memorial Day weekend and running through Labor Day weekend, we’re extending our tasting room hours so that more people have a chance to drop by. Our extended weekend hours for summer are as follows:
Friday: 3pm to 9pm
Saturday: 12pm to 7pm
Sunday: 12pm to 6pm
The tasting room will still be closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and open from 1pm to 5pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays for bottle sales & growler fills only. (Don’t complain. The brewhouse crew needs the room so they can make all that liquid magic we love so much.)
Open Memorial Day
In addition to the longer hours starting this weekend, the Tasting Room will also be open on Memorial Day — Monday, May 30 — from 12pm to 4pm so you can roll in for a few tasters and pick up some bottles and/or a growler fill for your holiday barbeque.
Oh — and speaking of Memorial Day weekend, we’d be remiss not to mention that this Sunday, May 29th, is Terri the tasting room manager’s birthday. Make sure to tell her happy birthday if you stop by!
Barrel Room tasting bar now open
If you haven’t dropped by in the past couple of weeks then you probably don’t know that we recently opened a new tasting bar in our Barrel Room. Tucked in among the barrels awaiting the Angel’s to give their blessing, there’s 20 taps (just like the main bar) loaded with Port Brewing & Lost Abbey goodness. If the main bar looks a little crowded or you’d just like to enjoy a taster or two in a really cool atmosphere, make sure to check it out!
Special Beers on Tap
Back in Mak Porter — This weekend we’ll also have a couple of special beers on tap perfect to kick off summer. The first is “Back in Mak”, a robust porter that you may already know as Makanudo or La Cruda Porter. It’s a beer that dates back to Tomme’s first gig as a professional brewer way back in 1996 (and the first beer for which he earned a GABF gold medal). Tomme, his old boss Troy Hojel and Skip Virgilio (a founder of Alesmith) all met to brew the beer together for the first time in 15 years. Most of the beer is being bottled as La Cruda Porter, which will go to attendees of the NHC next month (read: no distribution). But we’ve got a few kegs we decided to put on tap as “Back in Mak” so you’ll have a chance to taste it even if you’re not attending the conference.
Dawn Patrol — Dawn Patrol Dark is an English Mild Ale that we actually brew as the base beer for Red Poppy. We don’t distribute this beer, but it’s a wonderful, low ABV beer perfect for an afternoon session, so we decided to put on one of the remaining kegs (the rest has already gone into the barrels), giving you an opportunity to taste Red Poppy before it’s, well, Red Poppy. (Red Poppy is also on tap, so try them side-by-side and check out how the beer is transformed in the barrels.)
If you’re into the barrel-aged specialty stuff, we’ll also have Brandy Angel’s Share, Older Viscosity, Ad Lib and Red Poppy on tap for as long as it lasts!
BYO Growlers
Unfortunately, we had a mix up with the glass company and we are completely out of growlers until June 6th. If you’re looking for a growler fill, please make sure to bring your own growler. (And remember we can only fill growlers labeled Lost Abbey or Port Brewing. We’re not allowed to fill any other brewery’s growler by law, so double-check your bottle and make sure it has our name on it before coming in.)
Veritas 009 Release
Finally, this weekend is the release of our much-anticipated Veritas 009. There is only 100 cases total of this and we’re limiting it to 4 bottles per person. We will be opening at 10am for Veritas bottle sales (the full tasting room will still open at noon) and we expect this one to sell out in a couple of hours, so if you’d like to pick up bottles, we recommend that you arrive sooner rather than later. All the details on Veritas 009 can be found here: Veritas 009 Release Announcement.
2011 Bourbon Barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper – 22oz bottles; Release day only: $12 ea . Regularly: $15 ea. ; 4 bottle limit. (Yes, this beer will reach our distribution network in limited quantities.)
