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Anniversary Schedule of Events

Attending our Sold Out 5th Anniversary Celebration? Not attending but interested in lurking outside and seeing what’s going on? Well, we’ve ordered up some great weather (partly sunny, mid-60’s) and put together an amazing list of everything in store for the day:

All Day Events

official hashtag

#port5th

(tweet it!)

Live Webcast
We’ll be broadcasting live all day! Andy Killion (aka @Metromixsd !) will be covering the entire event live with interviews, chats and fun. If you’re attending, you’re invited to step into the broadcast booth and say hello to everyone. If you’re watching from your computer, tablet or phone, you’re invited to chat with Andy and his guests via our Ustream broadcast channel!

Live broadcast begins at 11am PDT.

Click here to download the phone app and watch the broadcast.

Barrel House Tours
Explore the mysteries of the Lost Abbey barrel archives with Barrel Master & Lead Brewer, Ryan Fields. Ryan will be leading two tours per session. Each tour takes approximately 30 minutes and is limited to 35 people. (Register early to ensure your slot. This fills up quickly!)

Session One Tours: 12pm | 2pm – Session Two Tours: 5pm | 7pm

You must sign up to go on the tour! Registration will be at the entrance to the barrel house.

Live Music
This year we’re pleased to host not one, but two live bands in the brewhouse for your listening pleasure. Session One will be host to the vintage-tinged garage, folk, rock and roll sounds of Kiera and the Lesbians. Session Two will be our favorite lounge lizards, The Professors, and their special brand of surf-styled rock and roll. Music starts at noon.

Food, food, food
Chefs Jason Danderand and Steve Owen will be steaming, smoking, BBQing and frying their way through a whole raft of San Diego-style street foods. Street food not your thing? The magic pizza trailer will also be on hand to cooking up pies fresh and hot! Water and soft drinks will also available courtesy of Dr Pepper.

Food and drinks will be in the outdoor pavilion next to the barrel house.

What’s On Tap

What’s a brewery birthday party without plenty of beer? The brewers have dug deep into the archives to fully stock both bars (the main bar as well as our new barrel room bar) with a huge array of Port Brewing & Lost Abbey beers. All of the following will be on tap at the main bar as well as in the barrel room:

The regulars (1 taster ticket)

    Port Brewing 

  • Anniversary – Hoppy, Strong Pale Ale
  • Hot Rocks – Stein Lager
  • Mongo – Double IPA
  • Old Viscosity – Dark Strong Ale
  • Panzer Pils – Imperial Pilsner
  • Santa’s Little Helper – Imperial Stout
  • Shark Attack – Double Red Ale
  • Wipeout – West Coast IPA
    The Lost Abbey 

  • Avant Garde – Biere de Garde
  • Devotion – Belgian Blond
  • Judgment Day – Belgian Quad with Raisins
  • Red Barn – Saison
  • Saison Blanc – Light Saison with Green Raisins & Pepper
  • Serpent’s Stout – Belgian Sweet Stout
  • Ten Commandments – Belgian Strong Ale

The Specialties (3 taster tickets)

  • Ad Lib (2011) – Special Limited Release Blend made with Rye Barrel Serpent’s Stout, Bourbon Midnight Expression and Bourbon Judgment Day. Only 50 five gallon kegs of this are going into distribution, so this may be your one and only chance to try a legendary Lost Abbey one-off blends!
  • Angel’s Share – Brandy Barrel (2011) – Barleywine aged in Brandy Barrels
  • Framboise de Amorosa (2011) – Raspberry Sour Aged in Wine Barrels
  • Red Poppy (2011) – Flanders-style Red with Sour Cherries aged in Wine Barrels
  • Older Viscosity (2011) – Dark Strong Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels

…Expect other “secret” specialties throughout the day as well! (Watch for the DOBO lurking about.)

Remember, eight taster tickets come with your admission, but additional tickets will also be available for $1 each.

Whew…

See you there! (And if not, we’ll see you on the web.)

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Video: Grain Silo Becomes a Giant Barrel

If you’ve ever been to the brewery, you know that it’s a humble building in the middle of a nondescript industrial park where all the buildings look the same. We used to tell people “look for the grain silo out front”, but even that three story tank was hard to find because it was the same color as the building and tucked behind a tree.

So in April of 2011 we commissioned artist Sean Dominguez (the same artist who does all of the paintings that become the Lost Abbey labels) to transform our silo from a drab off-white cylinder into a 30-foot tall “wooden barrel” that would be nearly impossible to miss. Over the next several weeks, armed with a fistful of paintbrushes, a few cans of paint and an industrial lift, Sean did just that.

In this, the second entry in our new video gallery, Lost Abbey’s multimedia man, Ryan Tillotson, captures Sean at work and collapsing 2 weeks into an interesting 3 minute time-lapse video. Enjoy!

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Libri Divini – March 2011

The Official Newsletter of The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing
Volume 3, Issue 1

In This Issue

The Director’s Chair

Tomme Arthur, Director of Brewery Operations

Greetings from the DOBO.

By the time you read this, Mike and I will be somewhere in Europe. We are embarking on a long beer infused journey. I am very excited about the places and people we are off to see.

We’ll start the tour proper when we land in Aberdeen, Scotland. We’ll meet up with Jeff Bagby (Pizza Port), James and Martin from Brewdog, spending two nights dodging the Loch Ness Monster and warming our bellies with the finest Speyside and Highland Malts available. Should this leave us cold, we’ll Sink a few Bismarks attempting to warm our bellies.

We have a visit scheduled with their cask supplier. It is my hope to find types of barrels and wood expressions currently lacking in our barrel program enabling us a wider range of flavor possibilities. We’ve also scheduled a pint night in Aberdeen at the Brewdog pub. We shipped over some Mongo, Wipeout and others. I think the peeps will be quite pissed when we’re done with them.

Friday we hope a plane from Scotland over to Brussels. Mike and I will set out to taste a ton of Lambic and sour beers hoping to remind our taste buds that not all beer should be hoppy. Saturday will find us stalking the halls of Cantillon. I am excited to see what the new expansion looks like. We’ll throw back some beers with Jean at Moeder Lambic if all goes well.

Sunday is hope the train day. St. Niklaas here we come for Zythos (the 24 hour Belgian Beer Festival). This will be a great chance to see what’s new since I was there last. Monday could very well be the high point of the week (beer wise). Henrik(who handles our beer in Europe) has set up a plan enabling us to go blend a batch of Lambic with Armand from Drie Fonteinen that will sold in the European market. This will afford Mike and myself a real look into the blending process that we have never seen. It promises to be exceptional.

Tuesday morning has us jaunting off to Denmark (my first trip to Hamlet’s home). We’re going to be hosted by NOMA which in 2010 was named Best Restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine. Now, I’ve done a ton of AMAZING dinners but none of them come close to the prestige of this restaurant. I feel blessed we get to do this and honored to be represent American Craft Beer in such a special way. Look for pictures of this on my twitter side of things.

Thursday we fly back to the states. Mike will return home. I on the other hand will be detouring through Boston to spend some time with the Alstrom brothers attending the Extreme Beer Fest on March 12. It’s going to be a crazy trip. One that promises to be filled with some serious beer and fuzzy mornings.

It’s the longest trip away from home and the brewery in a long time. So I hope things are okay in my absence. I suppose that’s why I hired all these new people in the last 2 years?

Carnevale Masquerade 2001 Recap

This year’s Carnevale Masquerade celebrating the annual release of Carnevale Ale was bigger and better than ever. Despite rain, hail and near-freezing weather almost 300 folks showed up in their finest masquerade accoutrement to celebrate with live music, great food and (naturally) fantastic Lost Abbey & Port beers.

2011 Carnevale Masquerade at Lost Abbey

And speaking of the food, in the spirit of the real Venetian tradition that inspired our Carnevale, Chefs Vince and Jason took it up a notch this year by smoking two whole pigs stuffed with whole chickens stuffed with sausage, potatoes and onion. Accompanied by the crab salad, slaws, vegetables and fresh bread pudding, we can say without hesitation that all the evening’s guests were in “hog heaven”.

If you’re interested, we’ve posted a photo album from the evening’s fun. You’ll find it on our website here:

And if you’re looking for our GABF award-winning Carnevale ale, draft kegs are heading into our distribution network right now, and bottles should be available within the next few weeks.

Beer Release: Framboise de Amorosa

March 19, 2011

Framboise de Amorosa painting
Framboise de Amorosa, our lusty, barrel-aged raspberry sour makes her second appearance in the Lost Abbey tasting room on Saturday, March 19.

For those who aren’t familiar with Amorosa, she begins as Lost and Found poured into red wine barrels and tarted up three times over a period of 12 months. The result is a fruity, round, luscious beer that is sweet and a touch sour perfectly softened by smooth oak characteristics — a real delight from first sip to last.

As with last year, the 2011 Framboise de Amorosa is a very limited release so bottles will only be available for purchase in the Lost Abbey tasting room. (Draft versions of the beer will reach limited distribution.) Bottles are 375ml size and $15 each with a six bottle maximum per person.

We do expect Amorosa to sell out quickly, so if you would bottles, you should probably arrive at the tasting room earlier rather than later. All the details on the release are on the website here:

5th Anniversary Party

Mark your calendars! Our 5th Anniversary celebration has been set for May 14, 2011!

Port / Lost Abbey 5th Anniversary party

Once again we’ll be breaking the party into two four-hour sessions (11am-3pm and 4pm-8pm) and providing food, music and, of course, great Port / Lost Abbey beers. We will also celebrate the day with two beer releases — Our spring seasonal IPA, Port Brewing Anniversary Ale, and a new (still secret) Lost Abbey Anniversary release.

The 5th anniversary being the traditional “wood” anniversary you can also expect DOBO Tomme Arthur to delve into his barrel archives and pull out some truly amazing stuff to tap.

Tickets will be $15 per session. Guests will receive a commemorative tasting glass, food and 8 beer tasting tickets. Additional tasting tickets will be $1 each. Look for tickets to go on sale on the Lost Abbey website in early April.

New Beer Releases

Here’s what’s new and upcoming in new beer releases:

Add us to your calendar

Add Lost Abbey's calendar to your computer or smartphone

Speaking of calendars — if you use Outlook, iCal, or Google calendar, or you’ve got an Android, iPhone, iPad or Blackberry, you can add the Lost Abbey events calendar to your own and get updates on all our releases, appearances and events automatically. The process only takes a minute and you’ll be connected to everything that’s up at Port / Lost Abbey!

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Photos from Carnevale 2011

Here’s the first in several series of photos from our Carnevale Masquerade last Saturday. (If you missed it, you missed a good one. Live music, masks, great beer, two whole pigs stuff with whole chickens stuffed with sausage, potatoes, apples and spices… ah, but we digress. Anyway…)

We’ll have more to post later as we sort through them looking for the best (as well as photos of all our masquerade winners). If you’ve got photos from Carnevale, feel free to send them to us or post them on Facebook and tag us in the photo. We’ll make sure to add them to our gallery!

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The Other TEA Party – You Decide

Be a Patriot - Vote for Beer!
Be a Patriot - Vote for Beer!

Forget about sitting around the TV on election night waiting to hear what empty suit will be elected to office to do whatever it is when empty suits get elected to office. (Spend money, usually.) We’re giving you the chance to vote on something that really matters.

As you may know, we have a beer series called T.E.A., an abbreviation for Traditional Experimental Ales, a variety of beers — sours mostly — that include real tea from our friends at Republic of Tea. To date, we’ve only released one (code named the “Arnold Palmer” for it’s light, lemonade / iced tea flavor), which was available at Stone Brewing’s 14th Anniversary celebration.

What you may not know, however, is that our brewers have been working on a variety of T.E.A.s with a number of different flavors and styles. And being the democracy-minded folks we are at the Lost Abbey, we’ve decided to let you pick which one makes it’s way out into the world.

So, election night, Tuesday, November 2, 2010, we’re turning our tasting room into a Town Hall where you can come in, sample all the T.E.A.s and vote for which one you think is the best. The winner will go on to become the next Lost Abbey Veritas release.

The details:

  • What: The Other TEA Party – Public T.E.A. tasting and election
  • Where: The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing Tasting Room
  • When: 6pm – 9pm, Tuesday, November 2, 2010
  • How Much: $1 for a 4oz taster (16oz. tasters will also be available if there’s enough to go around)

Members of every party — especially the Beer Party — are welcome to vote, but the polls close promptly at 9pm, so get there early so your vote can be heard!

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4th Annual Barrel Party Night

Join brewmaster Tomme Arthur as he
once again ventures into the legendary
Lost Abbey barrel archives for an intimate
evening of exploration into the mysteries
of barrel-aged brews.

Limited to 125 guests, in addition to experiencing some of the world’s most coveted beers, attendees will also enjoy hors d’ oeuvres prepared by Lost Abbey chef in residence, Vince Marsaglia, and receive a bottle of our new Veritas release, 008.

The Details

  • What: Lost Abbey Fourth Annual Barrel Night
  • When: Saturday, November 13, 2010 – 7pm to 10pm
  • Where: The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing, San Marcos, San Diego County, CA
  • How Much: $80 per each; $150 for a pair

Tickets must be purchased online. Click here: http://www.lostabbey.com/shop/event-tickets/

Strictly limited to 125 guests. Tickets for last year’s event sold out very quickly, so make sure to purchase tickets early.

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Boos & Brews Night 2010

Squash! Knives! Pizza! Beer! What could be a better combination?

Boos n' Brews Night

Join us at the Lost Abbey for a night of brews, pizza and a whole lot of really creative pumpkin carving in preparation for All Hallow’s Eve on Sunday.

You can bring your own pumpkin or pick one up at the brewery!

The carving starts at 4pm and the pizzas will be here at 6pm.

Pumpkins and pizza are free, but pumpkins are limited in supply (so get there early if you’re feeling crafty with the squash).

Beers are all our regular (very reasonable) price.

The Details:

  • What: Boos n’ Brews Night at Lost Abbey
  • When: Friday, October 29, 2010 – 4pm to 9pm
  • Where: The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing
  • How Much: Free!
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You Decide: Which Lost Abbey Beer should be in 375ml bottles?

As you may know, earlier this year we switched our 375ml bottles to the groovy “mini me” bottles you see in the photo here.

Which beer in 375s next?
Which beer in 375s next?

They’ve been such a big hit that we now regularly get requests to offer other Lost Abbey beers in the half-sized containers. Problem is, we don’t have enough glass to put every one of them in the smaller bottles (they come from overseas, so it takes a while to get more), so we need to pick just one beer.

Unfortunately, picking the beer has turned out to be more complicated that we thought because everybody around the brewhouse seems to have their own opinion as to which one it should be. But rather than going down our traditional dispute settlement path (we don’t need to get into specifics here, just know that it involves a pair of tongs, some dish soap and a full barrel), we’ve decided to do something new — we’re going to let you choose.

So for the first time ever, we’re opening the polls to allow you to vote on which beer we should begin packaging in 375ml as well as the traditional 750ml bottles. Take a moment to pick your favorite and we’ll announce the winner in a couple of weeks. (And don’t try stuffing the ballot box, you can only vote once.)

SUPER OFFICIAL BALLOT

[poll id=”2″]

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2010 Pre-Stone Anniversary Brunch

Beer and Breakfast! What's not to like?

It’s that time again!

Join The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing crew for our annual pre-Stone Brewing Anniversary brunch on August 21nd, 2010 from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.

We’ll be boiling, frying, griddling and baking up a hearty breakfast that includes eggs, bread, potatoes at plenty of tasty things made from pork — all of which you can wash down with our big tap list of award-winning beers.

As always, the food is free and the beer (a very reasonable) regular price. Our doors open at 8:30am to give you plenty of time to carbo-load before heading up the hill to the Stone party.

To get directions to the brewery, » click here.

Bring your appetite and see you there!