high tide – The Lost Abbey

August 22, 2012

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

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 Local Hop — 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

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.

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October 4, 2011

Video: The Making of High Tide IPA

Recently we shared photos of Tomme’s trip to the Yakima Valley to harvest the fresh hops that go into our High Tide fresh-hopped IPA. Well, the beer has now made it to draft and bottle and is hitting store shelves and taps throughout our distribution network. In honor of the 2011 High Tide we created a short video that takes you through the making of this delicious, fresh hop bomb. Enjoy!

August 31, 2011

What’s on Tap for Labor Day Weekend

Not only is it going to be sunny and in the low 80’s here in San Marcos for Labor Day weekend (okay, it’s always sunny and warm in San Diego), but we’ve also got a whole bunch of cool stuff on tap to celebrate the traditional end of summer.

Check this out:

Open Labor Day

we’ll be open Monday, September 5 from noon to 4pm for tastings, as well as bottle sales and growlers fills so you can head off to your Labor Day parties and barbeques properly stocked with great Port & Lost Abbey beers.

Bourbon Angel’s Share Release

The much anticipated bourbon barrel-aged Angel’s Share will go on sale when the tasting room opens at 3pm on Friday afternoon. While this beer is going out to our full distribution network, if you’d like to be among the first to pick up a couple bottles, this weekend is your opportunity.

Special Taps

In addition to Bourbon Angel’s Share, we’ll be putting a couple of really special beers on tap in the tasting room.

Fallbrook Estate Pale Ale: (Click here for the photo gallery)
A delicious pale ale made entirely with hops grown right here in Northern San Diego County. After the hops were picked and delivered to the brewery, a number of folks showed up to volunteer to pick the fresh hop cones from the vines by hand. Even though it took several days, the results were fantastic!

We only ran one batch of this beer, meaning we won’t be bottling or distributing it. As a result, your only chance to sample it will be in the brewery.
Repoterrior Collaboration Lager: (Click here for the photo gallery)
This is a collaboration beer between Allagash, Avery, Dogfish Head, The Lost Abbey and Sierra Nevada that the guys brewed together a couple months back when they were all visiting Sierra Nevada.

The description from Sierra Nevada is as follows:

A distinct 5.5% ABV session-lager brewed with elemental, native terroir from the following collective of brewers: Sierra Nevada (wild rice, beets, cucumber, mint and carrots), Avery (Colorado alfalfa honey), Allagash (Maine purple potatoes), Dogfish Head (free-range Atlantic Ocean “beach” wood), and Lost Abbey (cage-free Pacific Ocean “beach” wood).

Born out of a backroom conversation in a Boulder restaurant and blooming into a full-blown cornucopia of a collaboration, Repoterroir is a coming together of like-minded craft beer compatriots. Brewed at Sierra Nevada’s brewery in Chico, CA this sessionable lager beer reclaims the earthbound mantle of terroir from the grape-soaked, buttoned-down world of wine and re-purposes it in a new sudsy sense.

Featuring natural ingredients contributed by each of the five breweries, this unique and earthy beer is complex and layered but ultimately drinkable. Using the full repertoire of skills from more than 86 combined years of brewing knowledge and skill, this lager combines traditional (and not so traditional) ingredients into an ideal summertime brew.

Repoterroir was an extremely limited draught-only brew, and the only places it will be available is in the tap rooms, tasting rooms and restaurants of the collaborating breweries.

We only have a couple 1/6th barrel kegs, so if you want to try this brew, we recommend you show up sooner rather than later.

High Tide Brewing

Finally, as if all the other stuff wasn’t enough, we just got word from Yakima that the hop harvest is on! We’ll be expecting a truckload of fresh-picked hops arriving sometime Friday night and will start brewing the 2011 release High Tide wet-hop IPA that night.

We’ll be brewing around the clock throughout the weekend, so if you drop by you’ll have an opportunity to see the beer being made right there in the brewhouse.

If you’ve ever been curious as to what the brewing process (and/or a ton of wet hops) looks like, this will be your one and only opportunity in the Abbey for this year.

(Please note: because the tasting room is in the brewhouse and they will be brewing, for guest safety our guided brewery tours will be cancelled.)

September 9, 2010

High Tide Progress and an Expansion Update

As you can see from the photos, I spent Labor Day Weekend working the brewhouse at Port Brewing.

First and foremost, the High Tide Fermentations (there are three tanks going) have progressed along nicely. We are at terminal gravity for all three tanks and tomorrow, we will begin preparations for the conditioning phase of the beer.

It’s great when they let me back out there. Brings a smile to my face to shovel grain. And yes, I am being serious. As DOBO (Director of Brewery Operations) I often find myself behind the scenes doing all manner of things except brewing. It sucks. But that’s the reality sometimes. That being said, it’s been a very exciting week.

Yesterday, a second truck carrying Simcoe Fresh Hops left Yakima, WA. and is doing the Convoy thing. Not sure if The Bandit is along for this ride or not, but we’re ready. The Fresh Hops will arrive in the early afternoon and head straight for our refrigerator.

On Friday they will be stuffed into body bag-sized sacks and tied off to the insides of the conditioning tanks. It’s crazy how much work goes into prepping for their arrival and usage. But it’s all worth it in two weeks when we tap that first keg of Glorious Hop Infused High Tide IPA.

This is now the 5th year we have produced High Tide. For this years undertaking we brought in 1,100 lbs of Fresh Cascade Hops for the brewday. An additional 720 lbs of Simcoe will be added to the tanks before the weekend. Given how vibrant and green those Cascade hops were, we could be talking about a seriously dank batch of beer. I can’t wait to see how green and stinky the Simcoe’s are as well.

Seems like only yesterday we were brewing that 1st batch of High Tide in our single warehouse. Fast forward to today and we’re in the final stages of securing rights to a 3rd warehouse for Port Brewing. Last fall we moved our Distribution Center across the parking lot to make room for more beer. Later this week, we hope to sign the dotted line on the old Aramark building to our east. This is one of the few buildings in our block that Stone didn’t occupy when they were tenants here. It’s exciting for everyone.

Gordie may be the happiest as we’ll be moving the bottling line out of the office area and expanding the conveyor lengths with new accumulation tables as well. Matt is giddy with glee as a guy can be as he is slated to have his very own office. Now he’ll have a place to hang that diploma from ASU that he rarely puts to use. The Head Cuban is strutting around like a proud peacock as he’ll have his own desk to sit behind and wave at people through the window just like me. David is counting the days until he has more space to build orders in his warehouse since we’ll be moving all of the raw materials and glass out of his warehouse.

Yet, I might be have the biggest grin from ear to ear as we’re going to build an even bigger lab area with dedicated grow rooms for our critters, wild yeast and bugs. It’s super exciting to think about what we’ll be working with in those rooms. It also means we can finally talk about a real growth curve for the barrel aged sour beer program. Not having enough bugs and critters going is always a problem. I think we’re close to alleviating those concerns. And for that, I am thankful that we have another building expansion to deal with this fall.

GABF is next week and there is a whole slew of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey support heading to the Rockies. Look forward to the GABF Competition summary to appear on Friday September 17th in the early afternoon. The judging will have taken place and ballots will have been cast by then. The only thing left to do is sit back and wait for the best 2 hours of our year when our friends, competitors and great brewers get to reap what they sow. We have entered 15 beers between the two brands this year. There will be lots to read about.

Stay tuned.

September 7, 2010

Photos from High Tide brewing weekend

Despite a couple of minor setbacks (an emergency root canal for our head brewer, and a hop truck break down that had it arrive 10 hours late) our Labor Day weekend brewing of High Tide fresh/wet-hopped IPA turned out to be a big success. The beer should be out by the end of the month and will go into our distribution network from coast to coast. In the meantime, here’s a few photos to show you what brewing a fresh-hopped IPA looks like.

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