Inspired Beer for Sinners and Saints Alike
Imbibe Magazine’s May/June issue includes a review of a number of Saisons, including The Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale (four-and-a-half stars!). The entire article is available right here.
For more information on how to subscribe or where to buy Imbibe Magazine, visit the website.
It started out innocently enough some 4 years ago. I was bartending on Thursday nights at the Pizza Port in Solana Beach in order to stash some money for a new condo. After many weeks of getting the inevitable question from our patrons “do you have anything that tastes like Newcastle?” I had to do something about it.
Almost every brewpub makes some variation of a Brown Ale. Pizza Port Solana Beach was no exception. The only problem is that before we released the Dawn Patrol Dark, we were brewing our 101 Nut Brown Ale- an American Brown Ale weighing in at 6.0%. This was not exactly a session style brown ale. It most certainly did not share the same attributes as Newcastle other than being brown (don’t even get me started about the color of that beer). We also had another beer called Boardwalk Brown Ale but neither of these beers would qualify as a flavorful lower alcohol ale.
So I set out to create a session style full flavored brown ale styled beer. I wanted to emphasize the sweet malt flavors, a deep chocolate middle and a finish that screamed “don’t put down that glass.” I watched that summer as Dawn Patrol Dark sales took off with each simple question and response “Do you have Newcastle?” To which I would reply. “No we do not have that beer on tap but we make this beer in house which you should try.” Every single time, they would be sold on the beer and forget that Newcastle was the beer they had come looking for.
I have now poured myself a Dawn Patrol Dark. It is in a shaker pint as that is how we serve them at the pub and I figure should have the same drinking experience. This batch is a bit hazy (chill haze that goes away as it warms). The beer is a burnt orange color with some brown highlights. It’s somewhat lighter in color than I remember it being. I should probably pay the boys in Solana Beach a visit to check the recipe notes.
Sitting on the top of the beer is a whispy white head. It’s never a dense head. The beer is force carbonated and usually on the low end of CO2 Volumes. The initial aromas are malt- focused mostly on dark malts with a nutty like overtone. I don’t use much Munich malt but this could be the result of a kiss here. The second fly-by reveals peanuts. Fresh Roasted no less.
The first sip is a bit prickly. Curiously the beer slides down my throat in a dryish manner yet at the same time, it surrounds my taste buds and won’t let go. I immediately sip again. The beer does the same. There is a faint malt sweetness. This is not as intense as you would find in an English style brown ale. It’s followed by a malt and hop dryness that clearly ends in a smooth expression of a balanced palate. It resonates. I want more. And so I drink three more sips and it is gone. A five sip beer. Well done. Bravo! I’ll have another please.
We are now making Dawn Patrol Dark at the Pizza Port in Solana Beach on a year round basis. We don’t call it a Dark Mild even though that is exactly what it is. I doubt very much that we would sell enough of it to keep making it if we called it a dark mild. But this is the type of beer that I had in mind when I thought of storming the mighty Newcastle.
The beer is brewed from a blend of 6 malts including Crisp Crystal and Chocolate Malts. It is lightly hopped with Challenger and East Kent Golding hops. We use a proprietary strain of ale yeast and ferment at a cooler temperature than our other beers. It is filtered and typically goes from tank to glass in less than 12 days. It weighs in at a whopping 4.2% ABV and is one of the best cask Dark Milds I have ever tasted. With no apologies for my ego.
I chose to write about Dawn Patrol Dark because for the last three years, it has been on a killer winning streak. In 2005 it won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival. We entered it as a Dark Mild. In 2006 it was sent off to the World Beer Cup in Seattle. When the awards were announced, it earned a silver medal for English Styled Mild Ales. Last fall, Dawn Patrol Dark won the Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival as a Dark Mild.
In less than three short years, we have gone from not having Newcastle to having one of the most decorated Dark Milds on the market. I am very proud of this. At Pizza Port, we have a reputation for Big Beers and Big Flavors. Yet, we also have a couple of amazing low alcohol beers that our brewers love to make and drink. Seaside Stout won three GABF medals in a row for Dry Irish Stouts and it clocks in at a massive 4.0% ABV. It’s brother Dawn Patrol Dark is on the same sort of streak. Maybe we should give up brewing the big boys and focus on session beers? Nah, that would take all the fun out of brewing.
Award-winning Brewery’s May 5th Open House to Feature a Number of Highly Anticipated Special Edition and Seasonal Releases from Its Groundbreaking line of Lost Abbey Belgian-style Ales
San Marcos, Calif. -– Fans of great beer will have an opportunity to enjoy Cinco de Mayo Belgian style at Port Brewing Company’s First Anniversary Celebration, Saturday, May fifth at the brewery’s facility in San Marcos, California. The $15 admission will entitle attendees to sample Port’s award-winning line up of house beers, as well as become the first to taste a number of special releases and limited editions from the brewery’s ground-breaking Lost Abbey Belgian-style ales. Additionally, partygoers will have the opportunity to purchase Lost Abbey’s new seasonal issue, Ten Commandments dark farmhouse ale, and the highly anticipated Cuvee de Tomme, a barrel-aged specialty of Port’s brewmaster, Tomme Arthur.
“As the brewery’s first anniversary, we want this one to be something special,” Arthur said. “So we’re not only making it the premier of our anniversary ale, Ten Commandments, but we’re also treating our guests to some special beers that I made and kept hidden in the barrel room just for this occasion.”
Since Port Brewing’s founding, Arthur has established the company’s Lost Abbey label as one of handful of American breweries committed to pushing the boundaries of the centuries-old Belgian Ale style of beer. Nearly 40 percent of the facility is dedicated to racks of French Oak, Brandy and Bourbon barrels in which the Lost Abbey’s signature beers are aged for as long as 18 months prior to release.
The following specialty releases will be making an appearance at the Port Anniversary party:
The following Port Brewing limited releases will also be available:
Port will also have it’s full line of “house beers” on draft, including Amigo Lager, Shark Bite Red Ale, Wipeout India Pale Ale, Hop 15 India Pale Ale, and Old Viscosity Dark Strong Ale. There will also be a special tasting of an upcoming Lost Abbey release named “Devotion”, a blonde Belgian-style ale.
In addition to the standard ales, Port Brewing will also have the following available for purchase during the celebration:
For more information visit, http://www.lostabbey.com or telephone (760) 889-9318.
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
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July 10, 2004
It’s a scorching July day and we’ve gathered at O’Briens American Pub in Clairemont Mesa (San Diego) for what promises to be an epic tasting. My good friend Tom Nickel (proprietar of said pub) and Dr. Bill Sysak have scoured the earth and collected one bottle of each vintage Thomas Hardy’s Strong Ale that has been produced up until now. This also includes the most recent 2003 Vintage that was moved to the O’Hanlon Brewery.
Joining me at this tasting are Jeff Bagby, Peter Zien of Alesmith, Steve Steinbergs and our good friend Eric “Grumpy” Rose. The 6 of us settle down as Tom and Bill scurry to get things ready. We grab a warm up beer (something with hops damnit!)
A little bit after two o’clock we start this tasting. Not knowing what to expect, we dive right in. Now, I can’t recall some of the details of the tasting. For example, I don’t remember if we tasted them in order of their respective ages or not. My hazy memory says we didn’t as we felt piling layers of caramel malt on newer caramel malt wouldn’t help. So, I believe we jumped around vintages even though my notes go in acsending order based on age.
We learned quite a bit about Thomas Hardy’s from the tasting. First, it became apparent to us that there is more than one way to brew Thomas Hardy’s. It seems that many of the vintages have been darker examples with pronounced caramel notes. This is classic Hardy’s for most enthusiasts. We also found that numerous bottles had a leaner quality and almost seemed to emphasize a hoppy finish.
In honor of the Blogging Day, I am going to post my notes from the entire tasting. It was a smashing good day with some bottles of beer that I am likely to never taste again. I am thankful that I was even able to find my notes from this. Without further ado, here are my notes from that Saturday afternoon with Tom, Thomas and Tomme.
1968- Was the first year that they bottled Hardy’s. There were three separate bottlings and the series begins with the A Bottle.
1968 A (The Pint Bottle)- A cork finished bottle with noticeable signs of evaporation. Perhaps they trapped a few thirsty angel’s in the bottle when it was packaged? The beer reveals a large Soy Sauce nose with Cidery, Vinegar and Lactic qualities all duking it out in a battle Royale. It finishes smokier than a bar in Chicago with flacid carbonation at best. Color wise, this one leans towards the dark to medium dark spectrum.
1968 “B” Bottling- Upon inspection, this one holds little promise. An incredible (ridiculous) amount of beer is missing. The cork crumbles upon insertion of the cork screw. Not a good sign! The beer embraces this cork situation to the max and I’m soon wondering if can send back a beer I haven’t even paid for? For some reason, this vintage has a Tobasco(tm) like flavors. It’s beyond bizarre. How do you do that in beer? Without a doubt not as good as the “A” bottle.
1968 “C” Bottling Capped Bottle- Now this is classic Hardy’s! We’re greeted by Vinegar, Oxidation and winey notes that wreak of musty cellars in wine country. It’s quite dry and light bodied. Tawny and Orangey in a way that the other two 68’s aren’t. The beer finishes with a clarity of purpose that exhudes world class and demands that we hand the tag of red headed step child to its lesser brother- bottling “B.” The 1968 Hardy’s Capped bottle was an all timer for me this afternoon.
1968 Hardy’s is the Holy Grail for some enthusiast and most definitely the “C” packaging was worth the effort. The other two….I’ll pass in the future.
1974 “D” Bottling- The pours reveal a turbid beer which is flatter than my sister in high school. It sports a fake bake off cocoa orange color like those tans strutted all over South Beach. The first sip is HOT! My eyes are burning. It’s a thicker sample and it shows large notes of Autolysis. The finish is tart and spicey which is far too Kung Pow Chicken for me.
1975 “E” Bottling- Smells Great! Huge Malt aromas. This is seemingly one of the reasons this beer has become so desirable with age on it. The finish is inspired with dark cocoa and chocolate candied raisins doing the backstroke in a sea of booze. For a 29 year old bottle of beer, it has held up very well.
1977 “F” Bottling- Uh Oh…From the first pour, it’s apparent that this one has issues. Yeasty, sour and tart like a candy I used to like. This turned out to be one of my least favorite beers. It was just too far removed from what I imagined the brewers were aiming for (Wider left than Scott Norwood?) It finished with some off sour chocolate flavors that had me running for the 1/2 finished pint of Pure Hoppiness I had in front of me.
1978 “G” Bottling- BUTTER BOMB. In the Arthur, Bagby and Rose world of bad brewing, there are delightul, delicious and divine descriptors applied to beers with varying levels of Diacytel. This one set the bar one notch higher and probably landed in some new stratosphere known hence forth as Delectable. What an AWFUL beer. Thanks Bill and Tom! We needed that one… NOT
1979 “H” This bottle caught a cab and headed toward Tijuana around 1982. There is a tartness present that enhances the citric notes in the beer. At this point, it is the lightest colored version we have had and is completely uninteresting to me. Even with the tart flavors, it reminds all of us like failed homebrew.
1979 “J” A second bottling. Chocolately and FLAT as hell. The dusty cocoa baking powder notes are back. It is medium bodied and incredibly sweet without being “Oh my GOD sweet!” It’s passable given that it’s 25 years old but isn’t on my list of need to finds.
1980 “K” Bottling- Huge Rummy notes. There are also some curious sour cherry notes jumping in. At this point we have identified three types of Hardy’s. The first is the Paradigm thick dark bomb. We also have a leaner version that has lighter crystal malt flavors and seems more well attenuated. The last version seems to pick up this sour cherry note and isn’t as malt driven due to the lactic qualities. The “K” bottling was one of the most interesting and least “Hardy’s like” that we tasted.
1981 “???” Bottling Initial impression reveals SOY SAUCE. Although, this is restrained Soy with a caramel backer. It is moderatley turbid like the incoming tide. Here is another orangey sample good integration of flavors. A nicer beer than many of the others we have sampled.
1982 “L” Bottling- Great Carbonation for a corked bottle. We’ve gone back to sour Hardy land. It shows Sour Pucker kids like acidity and some strawberries as well. It is thinner in the body most likely due to the acetic fermentation. I actually LOVE the flavors of this beer and it commands my attention in a yearning for a whole bottle sort of way this afternoon.
1983 “???” Michael Jackson Bottle from the Brickskeller in DC. Thanks DAVE! It’s flat but this seemingly doesn’t detract from it. It was aged in wood and there is a ton of interest created from this finishing of the beer. A drier finish (tannis) really sets this one apart from its bretheren. I am thankful I didn’t have to part with my bottle for this tasting.
1984 “M” Bottling- Darker orange with huge carbonation relative to the others. An amazing amount of lacing pervades our glasses. There seems to be a “Brett” presence at work here. It makes me lust for more but not in “a I have sinned sort of way.” The flavors all showcase the Brett and reminds me of our Cuvee with Oak, Brett and Cherries at work.
1985 “???” Bottling- It’s still but this doesn’t seem to matter. An exquisite beer that is smokey, sweet, smooth, Fucking Brilliant! I really am lusting in “a I NEED TO SIN” sort of way. At this moment, it is the so perfect. STOOPID (sometimes you get beers that demand you write less and drink more= This bottle being Exhibit A).
1986 “N” Bottling- Darkish and flat. There is a nice Dark Chocolate and Big Caramel Malt balance at work here. A Classic bottle of Hardy’s according to expectations of this brand.
1987 “150th Anniversary Ale”- Yeasty with the essence of Fontina cheese in the nose. Lots of oak going on here and some sour notes. It’s interesting as the sourness does not manifest in a lactic way. It’s full bodied and quite winey. The yeast flavors overwhelm and I am left wondering if they carried too much to the barrels? We’ve gone back to Orangey lighter colored land.
1987 “P” Bottling- Bright colors with more Brown than Red tints. Cuidado! Don’t light a match! This thing is hotter than paint thinner on fire. Seriously though, no problems in the beer. Not sweet, not tart, not cloying. The finish is held up by a drier finish. A nice beer indeed. Matches be damned!
1988 “Q” Bottling- Darker Color and flattish sample. Initial impression is that of thick chocolate covered cocoa beans. It’s boozy. There is no singular definining character other than the chocolate. There is no denying the English Barleywine pedigree with Rummy notes in the finish.
1989 “???” Bottling- The Darkest Sample possible. WOW! Boozy. I used to have nose hairs. The chocolate malts are duking it out with the ethanol and there is no doubt ethanol owns this fight. The aroma also reveals some “Chex Mix” like properties of Salt, Soy and Worchestire sauce. Oh yeah, I enjoyed it in spite of all this.
1990 “R” Bottling- Twany Orange and perhaps the lightest sample of the day. Very light bodied with high CO2 content and diminshed cloying notes. Does not taste 14 years old. Seemingly belies its age with brightness and levity if that is possible for Barleywine.
1991 “S” Bottling- FLAT! Soy Bomb with low carbonation and some toffee flavor. It’s typical Hardy’s but less than interesting without the CO2. There is a tobacco flavor that reminds me of my uncles smoking cherry leaf on Thanksgivings after dinner.
1992 “T” Bottling- Pale orange with bracing CO2 content. It’s back to sweet and hoppy with a long warming finish. Tons of orange qualities that seemingly are harmoniously playing well with the malts and alcohols.
1993 “25th Anniversary” Smells Decadent! Damn fine aromas. Ripe fruit, toasted pecans and malt malt and more malt. Smoking Smooth and without a doubt the best sample we have opened.
1993 “U” Bottling- Pedestrian? See above!
1994- Big Brown Sugar. Another Dark flat sample although it is quite smooth, fruity and leans towards some nice Vanilla flavors. We’re back on the wagon with booze drawing us in and letting up only enough for some more sour cherries to flirt with our inhibitions.
1995- Dark, Flat and smooth cocoa notes. Unispiring yet classic Hardy’s in the bottle
1996- WAY different than the others! Very noticeable upon first pour. Lighter in the flavor and body. It’s an odd color that reminds us of the water inside a jockey box after last call.
1997- Hoppy (is that possible?) How is this even a Hardy’s? Where’s the crystal Malt? Strange but good.
1998- Spicey Hop Aroma (they must have hired some hop heads). A very vibrant sample. It drinks great right now and is seemingly way more American than British. Not terribly thick and overwhelmingly spicey.
1999- Brown sugar with lively carbonation. Huge sweetness and all the goodness that we’ve come to expect in Thomas Hardy’s. A nice libation but one that absolutely has room to improve in the future.
2003-Buttery with citric hop qualities in the front and finish of the beer. It’s way leaner than you would expect. It’s warm without making me look like a tourist after 6 hours on our beaches. Quite pedestrian comparitively speaking. Most likely would not have considered this as “English Barleywine.”
As the 2003 was the first attempt after moving the brand for O’Hanlon, we expected some issues. Also, after doing this tasting, we were all left wondering, just which recipe did they get?
The best part about being predisposed, really is not knowing it… At least, that’s how I like to look at things. When it comes to being a brewer, I like my beers to look, feel and even act a certain way way. I call them flavor driven beers. This is my notion of brewing process driven beers where flavors are gained through the development of new techniques. Many authors and consumer have dubbed these types of beers as “Extreme Beers.” And for what it’s worth, those who make them “Extreme Brewers.”
The thing is, I don’t consider myself nor the beers we make to be Extreme which leads me to the Subject line for this blog. For the past 10 years, I have been gainfully employed as a professional brewer. During this time, I have inherited a reputation for producing cutting edge or “Extreme Beers.” As a professional brewer I, seek each and everyday to ensure that the beers we are making bear my artistic stamp. But at no time have I ever considered what I do as a brewer to be extreme. It most certainly is different by design but to call it extreme would be to ignore hundreds of years of brewing history.
Recently, there has been an enormous amount of attention heaped upon brewers all over this great country stretching the proverbial limits of traditional styles. These beers have caught the attention of the mainstream press and even found themselves being mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. Bravo. We finally have something worth being written about. Or at least I thought we did.
Little did I know, there is a backlash towards these beers mounting and much of the grumbling is coming from within the brewing community. It seems that some brewers- who have not joined the movement of extremists are upset with the progression of beer over the past 10 years. During this time, there has been an explosion of “bigger must be better beers,” and the creation of new style guidelines to categorize these beers.
Many of these beers are steroidal monsters which have their roots in traditional brewing styles. Perhaps you’ve seen them. Double IPA, Imperial Red Ale and even Imperial Pilsners. All of these new beer “styles” grew out of what is currently being referred to as a testosterone fueled movement by brewers engaged in a frat boy like pissing match of who can make a bigger ballsier brew. Thing is, I don’t necessarily view this as a bad thing.
I find it somewhat amusing this whole pissing match. Mostly because there have been some amazing beers created as part of this movement. Oh, I will grant you there have also been some phenomenal duds- maybe even more so than successes. But, as brewers have taken flavors to extreme levels as part of this process, we have learned an enormous amount about yeast and what it is capable of doing. Today, there are more than a handful of beers clocking in over 14% ABV and many of them are made here in this country. I may not be that old, but I can remember when Samichlaus was the strongest beer in the world. I seriously doubt right now that it would even be in the top 20 strongest beers in the world (now that’s a pissing match).
But it’s not just about ethanol producing let’s go to the moon and back rocket fuel style beers that are emerging from these yeast experiments. We’re in the midst of another yeast movement that is back to the wild yeast and microbial fermentations of the past where an endless number of permutations are possible. And the coolest thing about these beers is that they are often below 6.0% ABV qualifying in my world as session ales.
Of course, there is the dark side( cue the music ) of this yeast movement and for the past 7 years, we have been making our own steroidal monster of a beer known simply to many as Cuvee. It starts conventionally enough as a Belgian Style Dark Strong Ale and morphs like a super hero into a super extreme taste bud killing machine. After spending a year in used bourbon barrels with cherries and resident wild yeast, the beer emerges as a shadow of its’ former Punxsutawney Phil-like self. Over the years, it’s been called Rodenbach on Steroids.
Does this mean, we are “Extreme Brewers?” I’d have to answer emphatically no. Are we guilty of ramping up a traditional style? Probably. Have we created something uniquely American in our efforts. As of right now we have. And for that, I accept my punishment- whatever that may be. But still, you have to give and take when it comes to progressions like this. Clearly, we are in the middle of one of the most interesting movements in brewing this country has ever seen.
This past March, I had the pleasure of joining a few of my closest brewer friends on a pilgrimage to Belgium. This is a very small country with an enormous diversity of beers. Many people have labeled these beers as “Extreme” because of their flavors and production methods. I just think of them as unique.
The trip was arranged by my good friend Sam Calagione of Dogfishead fame and fortunes. He had been approached by a publishing company who wanted him to write a book titled curiously enough “Extreme Brewing.” Sam felt it important to make a pilgrimage to the Mecca of eccentric brewing known as Belgium. To complete this trip, Sam also invited Vinnie Cilurzo, Adam Avery and Rob Tod to accompany him on this journey.
Each of the brewers going on the trip was asked to ship over two versions of our “Belgian Style Beers.” For our part, we sent SPF 45- our spiced Saison and our elusive Cuvee de Tomme. Our beers were sampled at several points along the way by consumers, chefs and Belgian Brewers. Each of them had mixed reactions to what we were doing. Some thought they were skillfully made. Others found beers like our Cuvee de Tomme to be disasters not worthy of drinking. But none of them used the word “Extreme” to describe our beers. Because to these people, this was beer as beer can be- an artistic form of self expression with each and every new bottle.
At Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, we’re not really all that concerned with Semantics or styles for that matter. We spend our time trying to make the most interesting beers “for sinners and saints alike.” If we do our job(s) people will notice. If we forget our roots and how we got here, then we’ll join the ranks of the unemployed right quick. I really don’t give a rats’ ass these days about what you call this movement or if you even want to acknowledge it. For what’s it worth, I don’t think what we are doing is Extreme in any way. My notion of Extreme is trying to make yellow snow when it’s twenty below outside. Whether a brewer makes more mainstream, fringe based or God Forbid Extreme beers matters not to me. What matters the most is that they make them well. From there, everything else works itself out.
Yet, I am proud to be brewing the beers we’re making right now. Given the explosion of incredibly unique beers that are being produced, I consider myself very lucky that we still make beers worthy of being discussed and interpreted. For that, I am thankful. So with that in mind, I am headed back to my new R & D lab where my guys are hard at work on our first ever Double Dry Hopped Imperial Non Alcoholic Beer. It’s a whopping .075% ABV and just oozes hops. I’ll see you on the other side.
Every Blog needs a title, so kudos to those who recognize the obscure musical reference in the title. It comes from more than a bit of my youth spent watching the Muppets and their most popular musical guest John Denver. The Muppets were one of my favorite shows. How can you not love Fozzie the Bear and his infectious “Wakka Wakka?” These shows still have the ability to illicit a laugh from me every time Kermit tells Fozzie to “turn right at the fork in the road.”
When we were developing many of the foundations for The Lost Abbey, I was constantly reminded that many religions have at the roots in no less than these three elements. So, today I thought I would write about these three elements and their relationship to our brewery.
The first one is Poems. Maybe by now, you have noticed that our labels and our beers tell stories. It is my notion that every beer should tell its’ own story and that the specifics of each beer should be secondary to the experience it provides. In this way, we have deviated from most breweries in the way that our labels are less about the actual beer inside the bottle and more about a back story behind each brew.
In many ways, there is a rhythm to the words and as such they move and function like mini poems on our bottles. As we have started this new brand, each new beer affords me an opportunity to draw upon my creative writing techniques. I had a conversation the other day with one of our customers and I intimated that sometimes, I think (feel) I am a better writer than I am brewer. This surprised him and we talked about the reasoning for this. He thought it was my ego speaking after a three IPA night of working the bar.
I reasoned with him that I have been writing much longer than I have been brewing. I also mentioned that throughout my studies in high school and college, the emphasis was always on writing. During my junior year of college, I began studying Poetry and dabbling in writing it as well. This was a full year before I began home brewing. I spent the next two years writing a lot and brewing at home. I learned over the years that the thing required to be a better than average write is a voice. And in my experience, when I write, my personality and voice come through loud and clear.
As a brewer, I have also spent the last 10+ years working on my voice. I “think” I have found it. But when I think about artists and their expressions, I am reminded that art is in a constant state of evolution. Brush strokes get refined, subject matter improves and the essence of the artist and his perspective is suddenly brought to the front with amazing clarity.
I like to think that as a brewer, I am entering a more golden age for my beers. I believe that I have studied the past masters, I have worked on my brush strokes and it is time to take these essences and meld them together so that lucidity develops and clarity ensues with each and every new release. There have been many moments in the past 7 months where I have seen this at work in our new brewery.
This brings us to the second element: Prayers. I was raised in a Catholic school environment and was taught that “if all else fails, PRAY!” Now I am not going to sit here and suggest that everyday, I come through the front doors at 155 Mata Way light candles and break off some incredibly rich Tibetan Monk Chants. However, there is a certain level of prayer that goes into starting a project like this.
Take an old brewery, revamp it for your needs, open the doors and pray that what you’re doing resonates with enough people enabling you to stay in the business of making great beer. That’s the kind of praying I’ve been doing of late. But in school, they also taught me there are numerous kinds of other prayers. There are prayers for the sick, the invalid, the poor and many others. These are the kinds of prayers that are most often found in churches and religious circles.
But here at 155 Mata Way, we specialize in a whole different kind of prayer. Most mornings, it starts with a simple prayer of “God I hope all of our equipment works today…” Some days, these prayers are answered and sometimes they are not. The days when they are not, I figure we are being punished for our indiscretions of which there are many around here.
Of course, dabbling in the field of Hocus Pocus and experimentation, we often have to pray for things to work out ok. You see, we are in the business of not only making beer but selling beer. What this means is that we are not in the business of selling experiments gone bad. So, we do everything we can in prayer or otherwise to ensure that out “Big” batches of experimental offerings go better than planned.
Thankfully, we have been blessed up until now by copious amounts of “experimental grace.” It seems we have a presence that guides us. Which I am thankful for because as an owner of this brewery, the last thing that I want is to have to go pray to our friends the porcelain gods when we have to pour $10K worth of beer down the drain. Sure, I’ve prayed to them on “other” occasions like the one time I had the Spanish Influenza de Botella complements of mi amigo Don Julio de Jalisco. Those of you who have heard my Spanish know that my prayers in this language aren’t often answered. Yet, I’ve learned the funny thing about most prayers is that they are more often than not accompanied by promises.
It seems that every time we are in a position of “asking for something,” we also feel quite giving. Take for example my good friend Don Julio de Jalisco. When he and I become reacquainted from time to time, I might find myself saying “Dear lord. What was I thinking? I promise if you get me through this, I won’t hang out with him anymore.” Which of course is an out right lie as me and Don have this thing…Somos Amigos. And Amigos never die.
So I wanted to end my blog with this notion of promises. We at the Lost Abbey promise to be lots of things. First and foremost, we promise to be passionate. This will always remain our guiding principle. It is my belief that passion conquers everything if you believe in its’ power. We also promise to continually explore new flavors and boundaries in our beers. This not to say that we will be esoteric for esoteric sake; rather, we will be bold when spicy is what we are after. But perhaps the biggest promise of all is that we won’t lie about our beers.
If we make something that isn’t up to our standards, we’ll tell you. We believe this is a big part of the crusade of good beer vs evil beer. You had better tell the truth. So here goes. We’ve been open a few months now and, not every batch of beer that we have made has been the cats meow. Is this our fault? You bet. Did we notice? Damn skippy we did. Yet, we are not sitting on our sugar sacks drinking instead of working on these problems.
Ours is an evolving business- one that is based upon time and energy. We’re working hard and our promise to you is that we will continue to work hard each and every day at what we do. This will enable us at the end of each day to look across our bar and tell you in good conscience that business is good, the beers are great and it’s only getting better.
Our relationship with you the customer is where each day begins and ends. You may start your day with one of our beers or you may end it that way. Either way, we’re thankful you find enough reason to make us part of your day. That alone speaks volumes about what we are doing.
With this in mind, I am returning to the first element in the title today. Over the years, I have written many poems along the way and lately, I have been inspired to write more. I find inspiration in many things we do and lately with all the writing I have been doing, it translate into thoughts and new ideas. Beer can be many things to many people. Often, ours is called liquid art. We like to think of it this way as well. As such, I am going to use this space from time to time to share some art of a different kind.
So, since they gave me a blog with no restrictions, I have decided to invoke my creative right and share some of these things with you. If you don’t want to read feel free to jump ship right now. You are also forewarned that in the future this space may even include the creative right of my 6 month old daughter who someday may be an amazing artist in her own right.
The first poem I have decided to share with The Lost Abbey blog audience is one of my favorites. AND, since it has a decidedly libation evoking subject matter, I felt it most appropriate. My only hope is that you enjoy it with a glass of one of our beers in your hand. If not, any beer from San Diego will do. If none of these are available, please knock the dust off your favorite 40 ounce tall boy and spill some for me… Su Amigo.
Intoxicated
By
Tomme Arthur
It’s not fair. At least that’s how I think of it. Pizza Port and Port Brewing already has some of the most talented brewers on the planet working for us and we’re developing a stealth program to ensure that our needs in the future for greatness can be met from within.
It’s a super secret program that we call the Sydney Keegan In training Project (Code Named SKIP). You see it’s not really TOP secret as many of you have already seen her working at Port Brewing in San Marcos. Sydney was hired on May 15th of 2006. She weighed 6 lbs 12 ounces on that day and was a whopping 18 inches tall. That may not seem like much in the credential department, but it’s my belief that the best trainees are sometimes the ones with no experience. And I had to hire her, she has great genes.
Currently, she works on a part time as needed basis. It varies depending on her mood, her availability and in general her malaise. I haven’t had to work with too many female brewers in the past so getting a handle on her schedule can be tough to say the least. But she is an excellent pupil-when not taking her obligatory siesta.
I studied English at Northern Arizona University with the intention of becoming a teacher. That didn’t work out so well. Still, I took all the information from those classes and over the years have taught many people the ins and outs of being great brewers. It’s no secret that some of the best brewers who have made beer in San Diego have at one time called Pizza Port their home.
Which brings us back to the Sydney Keegan Project and it’s just not fair. Sometimes, I think about how unfair it will be 18 years from now when she’s brewing. I know plenty of brewers who have almost 20 years of experience and many of them have reached Demi-God like status. Someone will inevitably ask where she studied or learned to be a brewer. She’ll stop and think about it before answering- “dunno, can’t remember a time when I didn’t make beer.” And that will be the Gods honest truth.
Sure, this may turn out to be the story of an overzealous father. Maybe they’ll commit me to a mental institution? Lucky for her, there aren’t summer camps for brewers in training. She won’t have to endure 5 AM mornings at the gym to keep in top shape. And there most certainly won’t be too many tournaments to burn her out.
Yet, she will be a brewer. WHY, because Daddy said so! Many of you may be wondering what she’s learned so far. Well, she’s learned that Caustic, Steam and Hot Kettles are safe as long as you don’t get too close to them. She’s learned that Old Viscosity seems like a beverage she one day may like A LOT. Mostly, she’s seen that the brewery is a place with a teacher who seems eager to teach as long as the pupil is willing to listen. And right now, she is a great listener.
Next time you find yourself thinking about your favorite brewery or brewer. Ask yourself. “Twenty years from now, will this still be a great beer?” We are confident the answer is yes and we invite you all to witness the Sydney Keegan In training Project as living and breathing proof that if you build it, they will come.
Every so often, I find myself acting like a patron at our bar. Only, the curious thing about sitting at our bar inside of Port Brewing is that we haven’t rolled out the red carpet and furnished it with overstuffed chairs. Like most brewery projects, we opened our doors with great expectations and “almost” enough money to finish our project. This is not to say that we are going out of business anytime soon.
However, as we went about remodeling the bathrooms, painting and designing a thoughtful and colorful office area, we spent all of the money budgeted for improvements. I guess, we never really looked at the 25 foot long bar and thought about the need for bar stools while we were slaving away. Still, at the end of each day, we would be exhausted from all the construction work.
One day, in a moment of amazing clarity, (some would say divine inspiration) I looked around and noticed that inverted kegs seemed to be almost the right height for bar stools. That was the day I ended the pain and suffering of soles everywhere and soon, we started kicking back after work on stainless steel bar stools. Seems the price for these was mighty choice as FREE works especially well if you have tapped the bank account trying to get open.
Weeks went by and we kept plugging away on our construction never really giving much thought to replacing the bar stools we were using. We spent April brewing and got in our first shipments of malt. Since we needed some Dextrose (Sugar) for our Avant Garde and Lost and Found beers, we suddenly had some nice, almost soft, tops for our bar stools. It wasn’t the best thing in the world for comfort sake but form doesn’t always follow functionality.
May approached and with it came our opening. We had a party for the Stone employees on Cinco de Mayo. Sensing the need for more bar stools for our friends, I ordered up some extra bags of Dextrose and we suddenly had a bar full of happy customers and friends. It felt good to look out over the bar and see people enjoying our beers while actually seating down. The following day we opened for business and our first customers rolled in.
I was very nervous about the lack of proper seating but everyone soon took it in stride. We met Sage and his wife Terri. They showed up the following weekend and she had her own bar stool in tote. This started a mini trend. Next thing I knew, Ken rolled up with his own hot rod bar stool. We began discussing more bar stools and I was really getting motivated to buy some for the bar.
But then a funny thing happened. I started to see people appreciate the simplicity of our design and they took to the character of the sacks. In my mind, these customers reached a whole new plateau of awareness and I started referring to them in my head as the “Sugar Sack Gang.” These people, like us, cared more about the beer in the glass then their proverbial comfort. And that is pretty damn cool.
Let me also state that I am neither their leader nor the Grand Pubbah of this band of merry drinkers. Rather, I am only one of them. There are many days when I can be found sitting on these bags of sugar. Even now, I am composing this from there. Perhaps the most interesting nugget about these bags is that more often than not, they start off pretty soft. We’re not talking Charmin two ply soft here. Rather, we are talking I’ve sinned this week and a little punishment for my sins kind of soft. This happens every so often when the malt company loads them on the top of the pallet and I swear my song is sung to the angels on high. Of course, there have been weeks were I sinned enough to banish those bags to the bottom of the pallet whereby, they were smashed under the weight of my indiscretions.
But I am here to tell you that these people in my “Sugar Sack Gang” are really smart. And I know, they know that you should never look a gift horse in the mouth. Although a bag of rock hard sugar seems like less than a gift, it still has the ability to get two soles off the floor after a very long day and for that, I am thankful.
5 Months?
When we show people our Lost Abbey labels, they unanimously approve of the artistic impression that they make. Nothing makes me more proud than to hear the words “your labels are so beautiful.” It tells me that it was all worth it. And then they talk about the beer inside and I know we are on the right track. For an inspired life is a life worth living.
Starting last October, Gina, Jim, myself and Vince met every Wednesday night after work and began working on the artistic direction for the new brand. When developing a brand as rich in connotations as The Lost Abbey, everything has to be perfect. Wanting things to be “just right” required an enormous amount of energy. There were always revisions and corrections to be made- week after week. For those who care to see the process, we have archived many of the versions at our brewery and you can view them on our walls and see the progressions of our meetings.
It’s not easy to develop a new brand and identity from scratch. It’s your baby and the artistry of a label can and sometimes is the one thing that people will look at before purchasing. It has to be powerful. It needs to be approachable and ultimately, it needs to convey the spirit of the brewery. The success of brands is not by accident.
In developing The Lost Abbey, we set out to tell a story. Every brewery has its own unique story. It revolves around the same premise. There are hundreds of brewers making the best beer in the world. Many of them take the same 4 ingredients blend them together to make beer. How they tell the story of their existence determines their success in the business.
Each of our beers will tell the story of beer as art. It starts with a talented artist. His name is Sean Dominguez. You can view his work at www.artbydomo.com. Working with Sean has been tremendous. His ability to paint and sketch the visions for our beers has been first rate. As we are still developing new beers each month, we get to meet and see the artist at work. One of the best parts of the project is each month when the new art for our labels show up. There is nothing cooler than seeing an acrylic oil painting on canvas in your conference room of a beer that you have brewed. If you have visited the brewery, you probably have seen these pieces hanging from our walls.
As a writer and a creative person, I am tasked with completing the wording for the labels. In my quest to tell the story of the brewery and each beer, I am sometimes more verbose than space permits. As such, you will find only a fraction of what is known as the back story on each label. If you dig a little deeper on our website, you can read the entire back story for each beer and my inspiration for brewing the beer.
I typically write these stories at the end of the day after working in the brewery. These stories remind me that while we work in a concrete stainless jungle each day, there is a deeper connection to life found in the stories behind our beers. It is my job as a brewer to create the story of the beer in the bottle and on the label of the bottle. But most importantly, I must also find a way to make the story memorable enough that our patrons want to retell the story. Mankind’s history has been one of stories and symbols. And for many years, it was an oral history passed down from generation to generation in the form of stories. It is my hope that The Lost Abbey and our storied beers will inspire a similar oral tradition replete with rich symbols, art and tales worthy of being told and retold.
So please read along as we develop new stories for each one of our beers. I get almost as much pleasure out of writing these pieces as I do brewing. For me, they are both creative opportunities to express myself and my thoughts to The Lost Abbey faithful. If you like what you see, pass it on or drop me a line at tomme@lostabbey.com
From the post:
…incredibly flavorful and smooth, just this perfect golden Belgian-style nectar that couldn’t have been better. Need to find more of this ASAP!