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GABF Recap: Four Medals and Abbey Found

For those of you who missed it, our annual pilgrimage to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) landed our brew crew a total of four medals, and resulted in one really lucky guy landing himself an Ultimate Box Set.

GABF Medals:

  • Bronze – Track 8 (Category 14: Experimental Ales and Lagers)
  • Bronze – Hot Rocks Lager (Category 16: Indigenous Beers)
  • Silver – Red Poppy (Category 19: American Style Sour)
  • Gold – Saint’s Devotion (Category 70: Belgian Style Ale)
Our Brew Crew accepting their Awards at GABF
The brew crew accepting awards at GABF. From left: Tomme, Gwen, Charlie Papazian, Gordon (hiding behind Charlie), Matt, Mike (reclining) and Greg

Last Friday, the day before the awards, Tomme posted his thoughts on all the beers we entered. If you didn’t read it, check it out. In hindsight the DOBO was pretty dead on.

Congrats to our whole brew team on an awesome showing (and second highest medal count) at the GABF!

Abbey Got Found

While the brew boys (and girl) were lapping the stage, out in downtown Denver we were playing “The Hunt For Lost Abbey” – a sort of “Where’s Waldo” with craft beer. Players were given clues where to stop to “find Abbey.” if they checked at the right location(s), they had a chance to win Lost Abbey wearables, schwag, and beer. The first to check in at all seven locations and find Abbey, won their very own Ultimate Box Set.

Hunt for Lost Abbey Winner Michael Kearns(L) with “Abbey” (aka our Ryan Tillotson)

Abbey was ultimately “found” first on Saturday afternoon at Falling Rock Tap House, by Denver resident (and future brewer) Michael Kearns. Congratulations to Michael and everyone who played.

And a big note of thanks to our check-in venues who helped us out — The Cheeky Monk, Euclid Hall, Falling Rock, Freshcraft, Lucky Pie and Taphouse, and Star Bar. Make sure to drop by and say hello to them whenever you’re in Denver.

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Ultimate Box Set Track 10 Releases October 20, 2012

This Saturday, October 20, 2012 we’re releasing the tenth beer in our Ultimate Box Set series. This one is a Fresh Track that’s an ode to the Meatlof operatic 1977 rock anthem, Bat Out of Hell.

You’ll probably want to get Track 10 sooner rather than later because, like the song says, this one will probably be gone when the morning comes.

Track 10 is a big coffee and cacao beer that began as a fresh Serpent Stout base sent to age in four hand-selected bourbon barrels. Then, to maximize the flavors, 17lbs of coffee and 4lbs of cacao nibs were added shortly before bottling.

You’ll find the beer details (blend, ABV, liner notes, album art, etc.) on the website here. Details on the other Box Set beers can be found on the Box Set home page.

The tasting room doors will open at 10:30 am for this special event. As with all Box Set releases, the beers must be consumed on site, same day. Unopened bottles may not be carried out. Each bottle is 375ml and is $15 each.

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Ultimate Box Set Release updates

As we enter the home stretch of our Ultimate Box Set releases, we thought this would be a good time to update you on the logistics of the last few releases as well as the complete Boxed Set itself. Here’s what you need to know

  • Track 10 release — is slated for release on October 20, 2012. Once again, we’ll be opening the tasting room doors at 10:30a.m. As with all Box Set releases this beer must be consumed on site. Unopened bottles may not be carried out. More details on this release will be posted on The Lost Abbey website the week before the release.
  • Track 11 release – Track 11’s release has been moved up by one week to November 10, 2012 to coincide with San Diego Beer Week and give us a little more breathing room between it and the release of Track 12 and the full Ultimate Box Set collection. As always we’ll post more details on our website as we near the release date.
  • Final Lottery Drawings – The 3rd lottery drawing (for those who purchased Tracks 7 – 9) will be held this week. If you’re a winner you’ll be notified shortly thereafter. Because of the short amount of time remaining between now and the full collection release, we’ll also be doing lottery drawings immediately following the release of Track 10 and following Track 11. Winners of the Track 10 lottery will be notified by November 11, winners of the Track 11 lottery by November 16.
  • Track 12 release – Track 12 will release on Saturday, November 24, 2012 in conjunction with the Full Box Set Collection release. As with previous Box Set bottle releases, the tasting room will open to the general public for bottle sales at 10:30 am. We’ll have complete details on Track 12 available shortly after Track 11’s release in November.
  • Full Box Set Collection release – First off, we’re pleased to announce that we’re bumping the total number of complete collections from 350 to 500. When, we originally planned this release back in 2011, we estimated that we’d have enough to release 350 individual bottles each month and have 350 left over to release as part of the complete collection. As it turns out, we were lucky with the barrel yields so we’re able to increase the total number of complete sets to 500. As a result, we’re also able to draw an additional 150 lottery winners (names drawn will be divided equally among each track) to reach the full 500 set allocation. There will be no additional complete sets available to the general public the day of release.
  • Lottery Winner Pickup – We will issue the Full Collections to the lottery winners on Thanksgiving Weekend – Saturday, November 24 and Sunday, November 25, 2012. You will be contacted in early November to schedule a private appointment to come in and pick up your Ultimate Box Set. As of yet, we don’t have a price for the full collection (all the pieces aren’t done quite yet), but we anticipate having that information along with payment options and all the details of what will be included in the Ultimate Box Set in Mid-October. Please keep an eye out for the email notice.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, we’ve set up an Ultimate Box Set hotline and email address. You can telephone (925) 269-7381, or email us at LABoxSet@gmail.com.

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Play The Hunt for “Lost Abbey” at GABF

The Game’s afoot! Click here to follow along

Abbot (aka: “Abbey”) has run off to Denver and now he’s lost. Help us find where he’s hiding at the Great American Beer Festival and you could win free beer, Lost Abbey wearables and even your own Ultimate Box Set collection.


If you’re going to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver this October, we’ve got some extracurricular activities to help you explore Denver’s craft beer scene and even win some cool Lost Abbey stuff, including a complete Ultimate Box Set collection!

The Game: A live version of “Where’s Waldo”

Abbot the Monk (we call him “Abbey”) can’t wait for the Great American Beer Festival to start, so he’s heading out a few days early to explore Denver and its thriving craft beer scene. The problem is, Abbey’s terrible with directions (and maybe enjoys the pubs a bit too much), so he’s bound to get lost. We need your help to find him before it’s time to go home on Sunday, October 14.

Abbey will be issuing clues as to his location in downtown Denver. We need you to follow his trail and track him down. If you do, you can win lots of great stuff including some free beer, Lost Abbey wearables, and the Grand Prize, one of the super limited (there’s only 500), “Ultimate Box Set” barrel-aged beer collections.

How to play:

Using a series of clues, you’re going to trace Abbey’s footsteps through downtown Denver. Go to each spot where Abbey’s been — there’s a total of 7 – and you’ll ultimately be lead to Abbey himself. Along the way you’ll have a chance to win a number of prizes, but if you’re the first to find him on Saturday afternoon, October 13, you’ll win the Grand Prize!

The steps:

  1. You’ll need some technology: A mobile phone or iPad/Tablet, a Twitter Account and a FourSquare Account
  2. Follow @findabbey on Twitter and “friend” him on FourSquare
  3. Beginning Thursday, October 11 at 12 noon Mountain Time, Abbey will broadcast a clue as to his location. Figure out where he is, go there and check-in on Foursquare. (Make sure to “Tweet” your check-in and include @findabbey.) If you happen to run into Abbey (we’ll tweet some clues as to what he looks like), you can win an instant prize.
  4. After your check-in you’ll receive another clue as to Abbey’s next location. Figure out where that is, go there and check-in again.
  5. Ultimately, you’ll need to check-in at a total of seven locations. The seventh – and final – location will be Abbey’s final stop. If you’re the first to find him and show that you’ve checked-in at all seven locations, you’ll win your own Ultimate Box Set collection.

The Rules:

  • You must follow @findabbey on Twitter and friend him on Foursquare (this is how we track and verify the check-ins)
  • For the smaller prizes you can check-in at as many or as few locations as you like. If you catch Abbey there, you can win free beer, t-shirts and other Lost Abbey schwag. To win the Grand Prize, however, you must check-in at all seven locations on Foursquare. (This will be verified.)
  • Feel free to enlist the help of others (either at GABF or on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, etc.) to solve the clues – but you must physically check-in at each location to win.
  • Play as fast or as slow as you like. Game play begins on Thursday, October 11, but it doesn’t end until Saturday, October 13. (All the locations are within walking distance around downtown Denver.)
  • On Saturday afternoon, Abbey will be at the final location. Check-in at all seven locations and be the first to find him, and you win the Grand Prize*.
  • You have to be 21 years or older to win.

Follow along even if you’re not playing!

Even if you’re not attending GABF or playing the game, you can still follow the player’s progress on the web. We’ll be posting the check-ins and results on the Lost Abbey website here:

http://www.lostabbey.com/hunt-for-abbey-2012/

You can also follow along on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus. Look for the hashtag #findabbey.

* The Ultimate Box Set collection

Vodcast #35 The Hunt For Lost Abbey At GABF from The Lost Abbey on Vimeo.

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Ultimate Box Set Track 9 Releases September 15, 2012

The Track 9 release is knockin’ at your door.

Vodcast #31 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door from The Lost Abbey on Vimeo.

This Saturday, September 15, 2012 we’re releasing number nine in our Ultimate Box Set series. This one is a Remixed Track that pays homage to Guns n’ Roses’ cover of the Bob Dylan classic, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.

Track 9 began as a few barrels of Cuvee de Tomme that hadn’t matured enough to make it to bottling last year. To those we added currants and an additional dose of Brett and let Nature do what she would. The result is a jammy brew with just the right amount of tartness and funk. You’ll find the beer details (blend, ABV, liner notes, album art, etc.) on the website here. Details on the other Box Set beers can be found on the Box Set home page.

The tasting room doors will open at 10:30 am for this special event. As with all Box Set releases, the beers must be consumed on site, same day. Unopened bottles may not be carried out. Each bottle is 375ml and is $15 each.

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Brewery Hoppenings

Late summer is nothing but hoppy days here at the brewery. Here’s a quick heads up on the various IPA-related activities we’ve got going on leading into the Labor Day weekend:

Hop 15 Returns

Hop 15 Returns this week

Yes, it’s true Hop 15 is returning to market! The Port Brewing Hop Bomber fleet returned to the skies this week loaded with fresh bottles and kegs of Hop 15 destined for every corner of our distribution network.

Depending on your proximity to our central hop-to-air base here in San Marcos Hop 15 supplies should begin turning up on shelves and taps in your area any time in the next couple of weeks. Get it while you can though. The re-supply fleet isn’t scheduled to return until March of 2013!

Fallbrook Estate Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale – In the Tasting Room August 31

If you checked in a couple of weeks ago, you probably noticed that we just harvested the hops for our local fresh-hopped IPA, Fallbrook Estates (you might have even harvested with us). This year was different than previous years in that we had a large enough yield to use the local goods in the entire brew process rather than just in dry-hopping. We used 80lbs of local Nugget and Chinook in the boil and an additional 120lbs in the hopback, so it should be an awesome brew. In total we produced 30 barrels, so this one will be on draft only in the brewery. There won’t be any bottles, but word is you will be able to get your growler filled with the homegrown.

Look for Fallbrook to hit the taps in the Tasting Room Labor Day weekend.

Predicting a High Tide

A wave of Fresh Hops

Word from the hop supplier is that the harvest should be coming in very soon, which means we’re gearing up to brew our amazing fresh hop IPA, High Tide, here really soon. Assuming that the hop guys are correct, we expect to see a semi-trailer full of fresh-picked hops sometime early September, which means we’ll be brewing High Tide around the clock for four days to ensure the hops are at their freshest when they go into the brew. If you’ve never experienced the hop-infused organized chaos that is a High Tide brew cycle, this will be your chance to witness it. Drop by the Tasting Room, that weekend and check it out.

Oh, and if you can’t make it to the Tasting Room, no worries. The beer will hit our full distribution network in the latter half of September, so you’ll still be able to experience the fresh-hopped goodness that is High Tide.

~ # ~

To keep up to date on all our beer releases, click here subscribe to our events calendar.

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Ultimate Box Set Track 8 Releases August 18, 2012

Track 8 has a number and it’s the infamous triple six.

This Saturday, August 18, 2012 we’re releasing the eighth beer in our Ultimate Box Set series, a Fresh Track that’s a monster nod to Iron Maiden’s 1982 head banging classic, Number of the Beast.

We’ve never done a bourbon version of Judgment Day, so for Track 8 we sent this Cuvee de Tomme base to freshly emptied bourbon barrels. After an appropriate amount of time in the wood, we amped things up with a liberal dose of cinnamon sticks and dried chili peppers. The result is a spicy raisin, monster that weighs in at a hefty 13.70% ABV. So even though it already has it’s own number, if you’re not careful, it’ll have yours as well.

You’ll find the beer details (blend, ABV, liner notes, album art, etc.) on the website here. Details on the other Box Set beers can be found on the Box Set home page.

As with all Box Set releases, the beers must be consumed on site, same day. Unopened bottles may not be carried out. Each bottle is 375ml and is $15 each.

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Fresh Hop Estate Ale – Part Deux

Slap on your gloves and pluck some hops off the vine.

 

Calling all HopHeads! Monday 8/13 is “Harvest Day” for our crop of Fallbrook grown hops. We need volunteers to help pluck the vines. Lunch and Refreshment included. Must bring own leather gloves and a strong desire to reak of hop resin for days. Come join the fun!

  • What: Hop Harvest for a fresh hop estate ale
  • When: Monday, August 13, 2012 – 10:00am to WHENEVER WE’RE FINISHED
  • Where: The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing, San Marcos, San Diego County, CA
Below is a video of the making of last year’s fresh hop ale.

Fallbrook Homegrown from The Lost Abbey on Vimeo.