labor day – The Lost Abbey

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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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.)

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