Category: Seasonal

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From the article

Our favorite was Port Brewing’s Angel’s Share, which weighs in at a hefty 12.5% alcohol and is aged in brandy barrels for six to eight months. It tastes and smells like port, prompting one of our testers to say he could imagine sipping a glass of it on a winter evening by the fire.

» Read the full article (Via Wall Street Journal)

Award-winning Brewery to tap one of the nation’s largest barrel collections for a special evening of rare beers and fine foods

San Marcos, Calif. – Port Brewing/Lost Abbey will hold its first annual Barrel Tasting the evening of August 25, 2007. Limited to just 100 people, guests will join award-winning brewer Tomme Arthur and other members of the Lost Abbey family for an evening of food and sampling of craft brews aged as long as 18 months in French Oak, Brandy, and Bourbon barrels.

Slated to be tapped that evening:

• Amazing Grace – Barrel Aged Lost and Found, aged nine months in French oak
• Red Poppy – Lost Abbey’s first release. Aged with sour cherries for one year in French oak
• Older Viscosity – Barrel aged Old Viscosity, 9 months in fresh Bourbon barrels
• The Angel’s Share – Previously unreleased. Aged 18 Months in Brandy
• Cuvee de Tomme – Second limited release, 9 Months in oak

Arthur will also be preparing a special limited-release blend just for guests of the Barrel Tasting event.

With one of the largest barrel collections in the United States, the Lost Abbey has gained a reputation as a source of some of the finest and most eagerly anticipated beers in the country. However, it’s small size and lengthy brewing and aging process limit the brewery’s production, making its releases highly coveted and sought after by aficionados. Barrel Tasting guests will be among a relative handful to sample the rarities from the brewer’s collection.

The Barrel Tasting will be held Saturday, August 25, 2007 at Port Brewing / Lost Abbey in San Marcos, Calif. The event runs from 6pm to 9:30pm. Attendance is limited to 100 people. Tickets are $50 per person and include the tastings, and a specially prepared selection of foods and hor d’ oeuvres. Guests will also have the opportunity to reserve a personal allotment of the releases sampled that evening.

For more information and ticket purchases, visit the Lost Abbey website at: http://www.lostabbey.com/event_barrel_party.php.

About Port Brewing / Lost Abbey
Founded in 2006, Port Brewing Company produces a line of award-winning American ales as well as the groundbreaking Lost Abbey family of Belgian-inspired beers. Craft brewed under the direction of co-founder and two-time Great American Beer Festival brewer of the year, Tomme Arthur, four beers are issued under the Lost Abbey label year-round: Avant Garde, Lost and Found, Red Barn and Judgment Day. Additionally, a number of seasonal and specialty releases including Ten Commandments, Cuvee de Tomme and the Angel’s Share, are offered at various times throughout the year. As many of these are blended and aged for up to 18 months in French Oak, Brandy and Bourbon barrels, Lost Abbey beers are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors, and bold, boundary-pushing styles. Port Brewing is located at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, USA. Telephone (760) 889-9318, web: www.lostabbey.com.

Media contact:
Sage Osterfeld
tel: (760) 295-4490
email: sage @ bluntid.com

Is it really already August? It feels like I just put my #5 session July blog to bed last week. Feels strange to be working on Session # 6. Today, we’ve been instructed to Blog about Fruit beers. YIPEE!!! I am sure most of you at home are saying.

Fruit beers, you either love them or hate them. Too often, these are not really good beers and back in the 90’s when I started brewing, fruit beers were all the rage. Everytime you visted a brewery, it seemed that somebody was a making a Raspberry something or other. I am so glad that trend went by the wayside. I can recall numerous brewpubs making base beers and then adding gallons of some sort of extract to make fruit flavored beer. Most of them Sucked. I know. I made one as well.

During the fruit beer explosion, I started snooping around trying to learn as much as I could about the production methods for Rodenbach and Lambics. Rodenbach had a beer called Alexander that was made with sour Cherry essence. It wasn’t my favorite of the three beers but it was still pretty damn good.

Sometime between 1996 and 1997, my mentor/boss at Cervecerias La Cruda, Troy Hojel acquired a rather exhausting disertation on the Acid Ales of Roselare (Rodenbach). It was an amazing body of work that detailed the production methods of Classic Rodenbach and Rodenbach Grand Cru. I spent hours each month reading and re reading this disertation. It inspired me to create the beer I am drinking now- Cuvee de Tomme.

I chose to open a bottle of the newest batch of Cuvee we released in May thus violating one of my last posts where I mentioned that I never drink beers such as Cuvee alone. But in the spirit of the session, I felt compelled to write about Cuvee de Tomme. Why, you ask? Well, it is perhaps the one beer amongst all others that I have created that has been written about the most. As such, it’s a known entity. It also has a pretty cool history that I felt like sharing as I am drinking this beer. So let’s travel back in time before we fast forward in the finish and I spill my drinking beer alone guts about how to make this beer.

In 1998, two monumental things happened enabling me to be bring Cuvee to life. First, I received a catalog in the mail which set my mind spinning. (And no, I was not at that time receiving Victoria Secret catalogs five times a year). I was flipping through the mail one day and a random catalog showed up. In this catalog were numerous fruits and vegetables. Many of the things in the catalog I could order locally but there was one line that caught my eye. It said “Fresh Frozen Sour Cherries.”

At that very moment, I began to devise a plan for those cherries. They would be part of my first Barrel Aged Belgian Style beer. The beer would bear my name (tongue and cheeky) and it would be a blend of old world barrel aging traditions and new world enthusiasm. Essentially, this is a fancy way of saying we would make it higher in alcohol.

Mind you, this was long before anyone started using the term “Imperial” to describe stronger versions of Traditional styles. As a side note here, I feel so very lucky that no one has ever described Cuvee de Tomme as an “Imperial Sour Red Ale. If they did, I might have to cue the Dark Side music from Star Wars.

Secondly, and equally as important as finding the right cherries, I developed a friendship with Mari Beth Raines. MB as she is known is a Micro Biologist specializing in yeast cultures. She is also a very knowledgeable homebrewer who had worked on her own methods of making Lambic at home. It was her understanding of Brettanomyces and early instruction that laid the groundwork for our Cuvee.

Now that I had the right type of fruit, the essential yeasts for secondary maturation and a pretty good idea of what I wanted to accomplish, I set out to brew the beer and got the project rolling.

The base beer would be known as The Mother of Beers. It was to be a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. The beer was fermented in stainless and then would be aged in oak. I really wanted to use French Oak but at the last minute, I acquired a bourbon barrel from Johnny O at Rock Bottom in San Diego. Every batch we have released so far has been aged in used Bourbon Barrels. We are now using a portion of French Oak in the aging of the 2007 Cuvee which will be released next year. This will be the first time we have used both Bourbon and French Oak

The Mother of All Beers was racked into the Bourbon Barrel and after that I topped up the barrel with three separate strains of Brettanomyces and some sour cherries. As this was an experiment, we made exactly one 55 gallon oak barrel of the original batch.

After filling, I did what any brewer of sour beer does, I waited. About 6 months into the process, I tasted the beer for the first time. It blew me away. I had no idea what to expect but from the first time I tasted it, I knew I was on to something. It had too much bourbon character for my tastes but there was an overwhelming Sour Cherry nose that I still marvel at each time I open bottles of Cuvee de Tomme. I am certain that we can buy cheaper Cherries but the smell is what keeps me paying through the proverbial nose and I don’t care.

In the fall of 2000, we took Cuvee de Tomme to the floor of the Great American Beer Festival and watched as consumers and brewers alike marveled at the depth of the beer. We even had consumers tell us they had taken samples over for Michael Jackson to taste. It was a sureal experience. On that Saturday, I earned my first solo GABF medal for the Cuvee in the Experimental Ale and Lager Category.

In January of 2001, we learned that Cuvee de Tomme had earned the Malt Advocate Domestic Beer of the Year Award. Man, that was some kind of honor. That fall, we sent the beer back to Denver and won another silver medal for the Cuvee. I’m still not sure how it was an experimental beer two years in a row because it had already been done before but I suppose that’s just semantics? Over the years, Cuvee has won numerous awards and continues to be one of the most desirable beers we make.

Now that I have the background information out of the way, let’s fast forward about how to make our Cuvee. First off, you have to have an ego maniac for a brewer. You can half ass this part if you like but it really helps if you have to butter his/her head each day before and after work in order that they might fit their dome through the door frame. If your brewer is successful in recreating this beer, they should be allowed to walk around arrogantly proclaiming their greatness. Lord knows I do. I also figure it’s my duty to share a little known secret that our door jams here in San Marcos are 2 inches wider than standard doors. I just got tired of having to rub Vaseline on my head each day.

Next, this brewer should have complete disregard for the “rules” of brewing. It helps a lot if they are ”fearless.” In Illa Brettanomyces Nos Fides it says over our barrel room these days. Loosely translated this means “In these wild yeasts we trust.” And over the years we have indeed put our trust in them. And we have been rewarded handsomly for our troubles.

By no means should your brewer even bother batch costing this beer. In actuality, they should not pay attention to yields, costs or even sell any of the beer. It will only make the beer less desirable. Is greatness expensive? Damn straight it is. Thank God life takes Visa! The grain bill on this beer is almost all imported malt and any brewer worth their salt wouldn’t consider cutting corners here.

Next, your brewer should select their 4 favorite sugar sources for brewing. In my case, this is malted barley, Dextrose, Raisins and let’s not forget since this is fruit beer day to throw in the sour cherries. You know the ones that cost $4 per pound and get shipped all the way from the East Coast!!!

Lastly, it helps if your brewer is elusive about the details of the beer. It’s like an enigma wrapped in an enigma shrouded in a side of mysteriousness. I’m not sure we have ever made the beer the same way twice. Probably just me being bored? Yet, I know that one of the best parts about brewing a beer like this is opening bottles of it in other places (like Belgium) and watching brewers inhale that first wave of Sour Cherries, dried leather and subtle barrel notes. Then, they take their first sip and the tart cherry flavor mixes with the vanilla and charred oak flavors. They swallow the liquid and a smile comes across their face. It is then and only then that they begin to ask the inevitable questions such as “how did you make this beer?”

So I tell them the same thing. Brew a HUGE Belgian Dark Strong Ale and when it’s done fermenting, throw all the remaining ingredients in a Bourbon Barrel and hope for the best. It’s pretty much what we do year in and out when it comes time to make Cuvee de Tomme.

There’s some serious vodoo going in in those barrels is all that I can say. I sold my soul to Lucifer himself years ago. It’s gonna suck when I leave this glorious world. I hear it’s hot in Hades. But, as long as I inhabit this earth, I am allowed to be proud of this Cuvee de Tomme I have created. Even if it is a damn fruit beer.

It’s seemingly an unwritten rule that if you brew beer for a living, you must live it, breathe it and bathe in it 24/7. For those of you who have crossed my path, you certainly know that my life is infused by beer at every turn. If my body could do without water, I would just drink beer. It’s like my own personal sun and moon. No matter what time of the day, beer is always there to illuminate my way.It’s pretty much been this way since I discovered Craft Beer some 12 years ago in college. Each morning, I get up and my day starts with beer (thoughts of making it) and ends with beers (which tap I am going to stare down today)! As a brewer, most days start out with a singular thought…” What beer am I most looking forward to enjoying after work today?”

But, sometimes we are reminded that not everyone looks at life through the same three IPA colored rosy glasses that we keep by our sides. Tonight, I am baby sitting all three of my nieces. Thankfully, I brought a bottle of wine to drink. Seems my sister does not have a well stocked fridge or liquor cabinet for writing purposes. She seemingly doesn’t even have a nice wine glass to put it in. I’m pretty sure that the winery that produced this wine did so without considering me drinking out of a 10 oz water goblet. Who needs Reidel Crystal? Not me, I have a San Diego Strong Ale V goblet.

But tonight underscores the point of session 5 that I really wanted to hammer on. It’s the notion that drinking shouldn’t be done alone- with apologies to George Thourogood, I don’t normally drink alone. You see, it’s one of my favorite things to do (drink) but I rarely find satisfaction in drinking alone. Yet, I do often find that I drink alone when I am writing my blogs. It’s a silent little world.

For the topic tonight, I felt it would be most advantageous to discuss drinking from my perspective. As a brewer of unique and flavor forward beers, I often find myself holding court about our beers. Typically, this takes place behind our 25 foot altar or when I am on the road. Every so often, I hold court when I am blogging and need someone to confirm our greatness (my ego is easy to summarily invoke and then dismiss). He makes a fantastic drinking partner excepting of course, he never picks up the tab!

But let’s get back to the topic at hand. The question is how do you most enjoy drinking beers? I find for me, that without fail my favorite way to drink beer is to allow beer to come to me. It’s an easy thing to do. The only thing it requires is an open mind and someone who is willing to share the possibilities of an open mind with you. A few months ago, I had a two Pabst Blue Ribbon and pizza experience that was amazing. The beer was cold, the pizza was hot and the conversation better. That is beer for me. It wasn’t a bottle of 1969 Thomas Hardy’s. Nope, it was industrial lager and pepperoni pizza.

Over the years, I have learned that beer is an integral part of my life. For the last 11 years, I have worked with Vince and Gina by my side invoking a mantra of “Good Beer Brings Good Cheer!’ Like them, in many ways, I’ve come to view beer as my ultimate social lubricant. It is widely enjoyed by nearly every culture and is approachable from poor to the rich. In this way, beer opens doors. It opens doors for me every day that I had no clue were possible. Yet, it takes at the very least a partner to open these doors. Someone has to be willing to engage you and the bubbles in your glass long enough to hear the story.

For, if you are drinking alone, you are not drinking to enrich society, you are merely drinking for relaxation and restorative purposes. One of my least favorite drinking partners is the one who dismisses beer outside of context. I used to play softball on Sundays and most of my teammates fell into the Coors Light and Miller Lite side of Sunday. So, I would engage their sensibilities. Sometimes, you need to turn off the Preacher switch.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are numerous times when I can appreciate the solidarity of drinking alone. However, I make it a point to explain to visitors and consumers at Port Brewing that I would much rather share a bottle than drink alone.

In fact, even though I continue to have access to some of the most sought after beers in the world, I have never once consumed, by myself, a whole bottle of Cuvee de Tomme, The Angel’s Share or Older Viscosity even though I have access to numerous bottles of each and very easily could snuggle up to any of them.

For me, the essence of what it is that I do as a brewer is found in the story of each beer. It is found in the opening of a bottle on a Saturday afternoon with three friends at the house. It’s often found in the end of a Friday night at The Lost Abbey when we “think” a bottle of something nice would end the evening well. Only to find a half consumed bottle holding court by itself the next morning.

At 155 Mata Way, we make very few beers that are designed to be consumed in one setting by one person. And for that, I am quite thankful. I believe that beer is one of the most interesting conversationalists out there. If you doubt me, check out www.tommearthur.com and learn what happens to my mouth when my brain is slow to react.

Yet, beer has serviced many of us incredibly well over the years. It has been responsible for the great nation that we live in and work under and at the same time, it has seen its’ share of regulation and more importantly de regulation. It is the beverage of revolution and evolution. I for one am so very happy to be considered an integral part of the brewing evolution that we are currently witnessing.

Lately, I have been sharing more and more beer with patrons and friends of The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing. It’s an amazing experience to not drink alone. In the past two weeks, we have had a Pantry cleaning out party that ranged from Avery 10th Anniversary IPA to ten year old Old English to a bottle of 1990 Thomas Hardy. You know what? Each one of them afforded us a glimpse into a story that needed to be told. Sometimes, it was a story behind the year of the beer… other times, it was the story of how the beer was acquired. And, in the case of the ten year old malt liquor, it was the story of a white bar towel turned “do rag” on the head of a white brewer. Yet, there were friends. There most certainly was beer. And most importantly, there were stories being rehashed and cataloged for the future. It was beer as always, working as a social lubricant.

So next time you’re drinking alone. Wonder out loud why it is that you aren’t sharing that beverage, that space and opportunity with someone else. Each of us is entitled to drink beer however we see fit. Me, I am thankful each and everyday that some of the best and most interesting people I know choose Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey as a place where they want to drink and more importantly converse. Makes me want to buy the next round.

We didn’t sign a Declaration of Anything either night. Yet, you get the idea that if a brilliant idea had fomented on either evening, it someday may see the light of day. It’s possible, something brilliant will come of it. We just might not know it for 200 years. Yet, someone may be able to look back on our friendship based imbibing and reason that without each other, nothing would have amounted from that something. You see, I love to drink. Yet, almost nothing great comes from drinking alone. I promise you that!So, in the spirit of session number 5, I am throwing down the gauntlet. My friends all over this great universe have stocked my spirit with some of the best libations known to mankind. These are the things that some people would trade testicles for. Me, I enjoy knowing that both of my children can stay in tact AND I can sample their wares. SO, when you find yourself in my neck of the woods next. I will open something to get the night started off right or ended right. It’s my duty.-one that I relish. If you have been to our brewery, you know that we are good for it. It might even be from another brewery! If you haven’t made the pilgrimage, we anticipate your arrival. We have posted hours and drinking hours. God knows, they never match. There’s always good conversation and better people to meet. We’ll see you soon. And there will be more than one beer opened and shared in the honor of friend getting acquainted or re acquainted with beer in hand.

From the article:

WHY WE REALLY LIKED IT: From the thick, frothy head to the effervescent body to the tart-and-sweet flavors, we fell hard for Red Barn.

» Read the full review (Via San Diego Union-Tribune)

Appellation Beer comments on an article from BusinessWeek that mentions Barrel Aged Beers as an up and coming trend in fine foods and wine.

The post includes several references to Lost Abbey’s barrel collection (one of the largest in the country) and the award-winning beers aged in it.

» Read the full article. (Via Appellation Beer)

From Michael Jackson’s Tasting Notes:

It is a freshly fragrant and blond abbey-style ale. Some added hoppiness give it a floral and truly California touch. At 6.25% alcohol it is a dangerously drinkable brew that makes a wonderful and sophisticated cocktail beer for the warmer months.

» Read the full review

So our First Anniversary Party was awesome!

Hundreds of people (not Tomme’s prediction of 35) turned out to sample nearly a dozen special brews and pick up the new release — Ten Commandments as well as the über-rare and incredibly delicious Cuvee de Tomme.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, we put together a short video of the festivities. Once you’re done enjoying it the first time, make sure to go back and watch it again — this time counting all the Tomme Arthur look-alikes. (Make sure to have one drink for each of them!)

Port Brewing Company’s First Anniversary Release a Dark Belgian-Style Farmhouse Ale Made With Raisins, Rosemary, Honey and Brettanomyces

San Marcos, Calif. – While not exactly descending the mountain with two stone tables, Port Brewing / Lost Abbey’s award-winning brewmaster Tomme Arthur did make his mark on the craft beer world today with the release of Ten Commandments, a Belgian-style dark farmhouse brewed with raisins, fresh rosemary and honey. As an added twist, a secondary wild yeast was also added to the brew during bottling.

The craft brewer’s anniversary issue, Ten Commandments is a mocha-garnet-colored ale that offers a rich, rustic texture with strong notes of banana and fig, invoking the complexity and character of the artisanal beers of the southern Belgian countryside.

“I’ve always been inspired by the unpredictability and artistic style of Belgian ales like Fantôme’s Black Ghost,” said head brewer Tomme Arthur. “In creating Ten Commandments I wanted to emulate that perspective but add an unexpected touch. Using mercurial yeast like Brettanomyces in combination with raisins, herbs and honey delivers a pleasant, full-bodied profile and mélange of flavors unlike any other beer.”

Ten Commandments is 9 percent alcohol by volume and ships in 750ml cork-finished bottles. Brewed in limited quantities (280 cases in 2007) and released annually during the brewery’s anniversary, it is available directly from the brewery and in Port Brewing markets May through September.

About Port Brewing / Lost Abbey
Founded in 2006, Port Brewing Company produces a line of award-winning American ales as well as the groundbreaking Lost Abbey family of Belgian-inspired beers. Craft brewed under the direction of co-founder and two-time Great American Beer Festival brewer of the year, Tomme Arthur, four beers are issued under the Lost Abbey label year-round: Avant Garde, Lost and Found, Red Barn and Judgment Day. Additionally, a number of seasonal and specialty releases including Ten Commandments, Cuvee de Tomme and the Angel’s Share, are offered at various times throughout the year. As many of these are blended and aged for up to 18 months in French Oak, Brandy and Bourbon barrels, Lost Abbey beers are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors, and bold, boundary-pushing styles. Port Brewing is located at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, USA. Telephone (760) 889-9318, web: www.lostabbey.com.

Media Contact
Sage Osterfeld
sage (at) bluntid.com
760.295.4490

Photo Credits: Studio Schulz