This is the release day for Anniversary Ale, our strong pale ale that celebrates our birthday.
This is a general release and will be available in bottle and on draft throughout our distribution network.
An early Monday morning
Woke up this morning at 5:20 to the sound of Sydney rolling around in her bed. As her room shares a common wall with Mommy and Daddy’s room, I’m often awakened by the sound of her rolling into the wall. Apparently, she was on the high seas in her dreams because she kept slamming into the wall (or she wanted to keep daddy up)?
Either way, I left the house at 5:30 and headed for the pool this morning. Due to all the events of last week (and the one staring at me in the face this week), I really needed to swim. It had been a week since I had made some turns and while it felt good, I also couldn’t get in a rhythm since no swimming last week meant bad diet and all.
That being said, I am now sitting in my office and it’s very quiet. I wanted to take a minute to thank all of the well wishers out there. The outpouring of support has been overwhelming. I can’t reply to each and everyone of the comments so for now, let’s just get this group reply taken care of.
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe this is a conspiracy of sorts planted by the big brewers or another bar owner. What it truly appears to be is a one time incident. Namely, I believe that someone (who may never have visited a working brewery before) went on a pub crawl with some friends and then filed a complaint. Maybe it was a birthday party? I don’t know. What I do know is that we’re seeing tons of people each weekend jump off party buses and limos who roll into our establishment. Many of these people have never heard or experience Lost Abbey and Port Brewing before. So it makes sense that they have a set of expectations.
If it looks like a bar and you can get a pint, then it must be a bar right? I guess that depends on who you ask.
The ABC (California Alcohol Beverage Control) people were here on Friday and did an inspection noting that we are 100% in compliance with the license we were issued four years ago. This license grants us the rights to offer and sell samples of our beers and pints if we are so inclined. When we applied for this license, there was no restrictions placed on us. At that time, we were not required to gain permission from the Health Department to serve samples or pints of our beer made on the premises as this is a manufacturing facility. Clearly, this is the same basis that every other Microbrewery in town has been operating under. The Health Department and ABC rarely have cross over jurisdiction but what’s shaping up with these cease and desist sampling visits is clearly an example of this.
I spoke to the guys from Mother Earth Brew Co. in Vista this weekend as well as Mark over at Oceanside Aleworks. Seems they are both concerned about the potential costs associated with a shut down and lack of tasting room revenues. Since this went down last week, I have maintained this is exactly the sort of thing that hurts the smaller brewers the most.
Of course, we don’t necessarily want to make a bunch of changes around here either but if they lay down the law, there’s very little we can do. Lots of people try to stand up to Health Departments, and more often than not, they fail. You see, Public Health is a scary thing. Fear of the unknown is a powerful tool in the fight against preventable illnesses.
So today, I am starting my week on the right foot. I got my swim on this morning. This is good. Because I am certain that all of the stress of last week and most assuredly this one is going to suck.
We’re now shaping the plans for our 4th Anniversary Party this coming Saturday. These plans have been in motion for several weeks now. Only today, they now include working with our landlord to hold the festivities in the (non bonded) warehouse next to us rather than the brewhouse and tasting room.
Ivan at Churchill’s has offered up his catering license and will be purchasing all of the beer for the event. A huge thank you to him for this! This will allow us to offer samples of our great beers and the party to go on. Yes, it won’t be taking place inside our brewery, but the its right next door and will still be open for tours, pictures, bottle purchases and merchandise. I plan on blogging about party updates as frequently as I can this week.
It’s a busy week for sure. Today, we are installing some new flooring in the offices and entry way to the brewery. We also have a 10 AM visit from Lorenzo Dabove (Kuaska) and his Italian contingent of beer drinkers.
Tomorrow we are going to package Inferno on our revamped packaging line. It will be the first time we fire up the new hood and wire unit as well. Hopefully, we can get some video of it up online for you to see. I’m excited. I’m nervous. But most of all, I’m thankful it’s Monday and we can start trying to sort all this crap out.
When I get off work today, I will be enjoying a pint of our Kick Ass Lost Abbey Beer. And for that, I am thankful that as an owner of this company, they can’t stop me from drinking my own beer.
One day later
It’s Saturday morning and it’s been one day since I posted about the Health Department ordering us and other local brewers to cease tasting room operations. Unfortunately, I am in Ojai, CA for the Southern California Homebrew Festival and missed the giant outpouring of support at the brewery last night. So a big fat THANK YOU to all of the patrons who showed up to purchase bottles of our beer from the brewery last night.
On the drive up to Ojai, my phone continually buzzed with updates and best wishes from our fans. It was amazing. I don’t think we have ever seen so many responses to a single blog post. It just goes to show you that people are as passionate about our beers are we are. AMAZING!
I suppose for me, the most troubling part of this week has been the manner in which it occurred. The Health Department(to my knowledge) has never inspected a tasting room facility at a brewery in San Diego that didn’t have a restaurant attached to it. As such, there are currently zero regulations in writing that define exactly what is required of us to run a tasting bar.
Yet, when we were handed the Cease and Desist for lacking a proper permit, no one could show us what was needed to be in compliance. And in a Post Ex Facto manner, we were not required by the City of San Marcos nor the State of California Alcohol Control Board to acquire a Health Permit for tastings. Yet, now we have an agency coming back telling us that we have been illegally operating our business the last 4 years without a permit. This is what grinds at my gears.
If we “have to” comply with a new set of regulations and they can show me what will be enforced then fine. But I find it incredibly ridiculous that we’ve never been inspected, never been talked to yet they have the ability to walk in and pull the plug on our non life threatening operations! That’s why I am miffed and that’s why this week I will be working overtime to get things figured out.
I’m off to finish up my notes for my presentation today on Collaborative Beers to the Homebrewers. It’s ironic since the Health Department may have just given us a reason to release a new one with our San Diego shutdown brothers in barley…
I’d like to thank some people
You know, running a brewery is hard work. Of course it’s made easier by beers at noon when friends stop by for no good reason. Other times at best it’s a jumbled mess of legal, legislative and enforcement woes. This was one such week beset by head spinning agencies and local code enforcements.
On Tuesday, we were surprised inspected by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health. The two inspectors were sent out to visit our facilities (and other breweries in San Diego) as a patron had lodged a complaint about local tasting rooms. So I’d like to take a moment to thank that one person who felt it was important to lodge a complaint about brewery tasting rooms all over San Diego. Apparently they were concerned that we didn’t have a GIANT BLUE “A” on our cold boxes!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
You see, my fellow brewers and brewery owners are now having our hands forced (in the name of public safety) to go through the plan check and approval phase so that all of us can earn Health Permits for our tasting rooms.
What’s even better and the reason we’re all so thankful for your efforts today is that Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey has been issued a cease and desist for the sampling of beer in our tasting room. Because, as we all know, beer is a public nuisance laced with nasty things that can kill you!
I personally want to extend my gratitude to that consumer who felt this industry needed more regulatory agencies knocking on our doors. (The Health Department has never been interested in us before this call) Muchas Gracias Amigo (or Amiga) wherever you might be. There are breweries all over the City of San Diego who are now going to have to spend thousands of dollars on repairs that at best are “marginally justified.”
And while I’m at it, a shout out to my bookkeeper Alicia Kelly who will be working extra hours to ensure the payments and checks we need to facilitate this spending spree are cut and signed.
I suppose the plumbers, electricians and restaurant supply companies would like to take a moment to thank that one person who lodged the complaint. I’m sure the plumber won’t mind firing up the concrete saw as he makes a number of cuts in our floor so that we can install new floor drains. The electricians will have fun working to move junction boxes and installing more electrical outlets enabling us to relocate our new computer terminals because someone at a desk thinks they’re too close to the dishwasher. The restaurant supply company will gladly order all of the necessary stainless steel sinks and drain boards we need to be compliant. My flooring guy is looking at a nice fat check for the installation of washable tile flooring since the concrete we’re currently using isn’t up to code. I doubt any of them will complain as each will be getting paid for their assistance.
Yet, I am thankful that I know that I know them because without them, we’d be running around like chickens without heads.
And as long as we’re thanking people, I would like to thank the two ladies from the County Office who were incredibly nice as they asked me to sign away my rights to sampling our patrons on a beverage that cannot make them ill. Most assuredly, they could feel my pain. As we have been sampling our faithful for 4 years, it was hard to convey the sense of dismay and shock of being told we have no recourse in this matter.
On the plus side, they did agree with me that retail sales of bottled beer and growlers should not be affected by this directive (see below). I know that we’ll become great friends as we’re now scheduled to see each other at least twice a year. I’m looking forward to hearing all about their children and how little Johnny played at second base last week during his little league game!
Having heard from all sorts of local government employees this week, I am sure they would love to personally extend their gratitude to that person who just created more work for them even though every other Friday they are being furloughed. They all seemed “genuinely” concerned that someone would get sick from drinking beer at a tasting room as they rolled their eyes at us. Did you know that Wineries and Brandy producers who operate tasting rooms in California are exempt from inspections? I didn’t either until Tuesday. I’m seriously considering going Jesus on the world and turning water (and grapes) into wine enabling us to get an exemption as well.
Lastly, my employees would like to thank that person who lobbed that phone call. Normally I don’t have a reason to swear and yell at anyone around here. I’m pretty even keel. But this week, all bets were off. I think I yelled at a guy for actually doing a great job. I wouldn’t know because since Tuesday, I’ve been thanking everyone under the sun for everything and nothing at all. I figured if I thanked enough people, I might find the person who I really needed to. As it’s Friday and I’m still not sure I have thanked that person who acted in the interest of public health, I thought I would take a few more minutes to do so.
To the person who lobbed the complaint to the County Department of Environmental Health, I’d like to take one last moment to Thank You on behalf of all the brewers and brewery owners in San Diego County.
Thank You for adding more work to our already busy schedules.
Thank You for adding more stress to our already stressed out lives.
Thank You for adding another agency we must pay fees and submit to inspections for.
Thank You for adding taking dollars out of our bank account so governments have things to inspect.
Thank You for giving me another reason to drink my World Class Kick Ass Handcrafted American Beer because even though I’m staring at a pile of paperwork I didn’t need, I’ll be doing it with one of our non life threatening beers in hand!
Rare Beer Club Review: 2009 Ten Commandments
The Rare Beer of the Month Club features a thoughtful review of the 2009 vintage of Ten Commandments along with providing a well-researched write-up of Port Brewing’s origins.
A great read on both parts — one that makes the Rare Beer of the Month Club one of our favorites.
» Read the full review here
Via The Rare Beer of the Month Club
Carnevale on the Today Show
Carnevale (ok, and some other fine craft brews) made an appearance on the Today Show over the weekend. Here’s the video:
You might also want to drop by Jay Brooks website were he has some interesting insights into how these folks tend to treat craft beer with a little less reverence (and a bit more ignorance) than they do wines.
But hey, The Biggest Loser’s Jillian Michaels, said she liked Carnevale, so we’re good with it.
The Big Head & Newport Brewing
The Big Head makes an appearance at Newport Brewing Company’s 15th Anniversary celebration.
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Framboise de Amorosa Release 2010
Framboise de Amorosa and Veritas release, April 17, 2010
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Back from Chicago has anyone seen my liver
It’s Monday and I just returned from a week long visit to the Windy City. Stu asked me this morning how my “vacation” went. I suppose that’s what it looks like when the boss is gone for another week.
In Chicago I did two promotions, attended the Craft Brewer’s Conference and the World Beer Cup Awards Gala Dinner.
And today, I am ass dragging because of it.
All told it was a great week and there is much to be optimistic about in Craft Beer land. The 2009 production numbers show 7.3 growth for our industry and 10% growth for total sales. All of this in a very down economic climate. Craft Beer remains at an all time high, which is fantastic!
The conference was incredibly well attended at it appears that there is a tremendous amount of interest in Craft Brewing at this point. I was amazed by the number of people in the start up phase of their business. Clearly, we are going to see many new entrants into the category. It’s exciting and it also means that there will be more pressure to be amazing and imaginative with our beers. I look forward to continuing to be part of an amazing group of producers.
At the awards ceremony on Saturday evening, San Diego confirmed its status as a World Class Destination for beer. All told, 20 Medals were earned and extra special congratulations to our friends at Ballast Point for earning the Title of Small Brewing Company of the Year.
While we may have let the award slip through our fingers, clearly it is best when they stay in town with friends. For our efforts, Hot Rocks Lager earned a Silver Medal in the Out of Category and Red Poppy won a Silver Medal for Flanders Style Ales.
I was extremely pleased by both awards. The Hot Rocks is something we’re very proud of. First, it’s a collaborative recipe and that always makes things more fun since two breweries get to celebrate. Secondly, I don’t think there are too many breweries using the “Stein” Beer production method for brewing as we did on this beer. So, it’s great for us that a flavor driven (or is that process driven?) beer won an award.
And it was a lager to boot.
In fact, the Ballast Point IPL that won the gold medal in the category is a lager as well (India Pale Lager instead of Ale).
Red Poppy won another silver medal (repeating the same award from 2008). It pleases me that our barrel aged beers continue to find success and favor at both the competitive as well as consumption levels. We’re releasing two more of them at the brewery this weekend and I am very excited with the way these two turned out. Framboise de Amorosa is a Raspberry bomb and the Veritas beers continue to inspire me. But let’s get back to the World Beer Cup stuff.
The Pizza Port guys did their part in taking home 6 medals including many for dark beer (Porters and Stouts). Alpine Beer Company held San Diego roots strong in the Pale Ale and IPA Categories as well. Karl Strauss even hit the board for their Red Trolley Ale.
As I watched in amazement Saturday night, local producer after local producer kept winning. It was a great example of the depth of artistry in this town. Congratulations to all of the brewers and members of the San Diego Brewer’s Guild who did this town proud on Saturday night. It sure felt good.
Now let’s get out there, dust off the livers and get back to drinking…
Beer Review: Serious Eats – California IPA
Serious Eats’ Maggie Hoffman is dedicating the next few weeks to writing about West Coast IPAs, beginning this week with California. Russian River’s Pliny the Elder topped her list, but we were rather pleased to find both of our bottled IPAs, Wipeout and Hop 15 among the few notables pulled from a field of 30 beers from up and down the state.
From the article:
At their best, California IPAs clean and crisp–totally refreshing. (At their worst, they get a wee bit metallic.) Some have malt profiles that lean toward a traditional English style. Moving into the double- and imperial- range, the maltiness and earthiness of these beers get heavier. For the most part, California IPAs aren’t fruit bombs–the hops tend to be more toward the bittering end.
» Read Serious Beer: California IPA Via Serious Eats