In celebration of Santa coming to town for The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing’s Christmas in July, We took Santa out on an LAV, thanks to the US Marine Corp and Toys for Tots. So when you see a couple of amphibious vehicles storming the brewery, don’t be worried, it’s just Santa making a grand entrance.
How Much: Whether you’ve been naughty or nice through the first half of the year, as long as you bring an unwrapped toy (valued at $15 or more) you’re in! Did your dog eat your toy along with your homework from 1995? Not a problem, for just $15 at the door you’re set to join us for food, fun, entertainment and photos with Santa all included! (Beers are all regular price)
Our annual beer release and party to benefit the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots Foundation!
Join us for a day of Christmas time festivities, great food and beer to celebrate the release of bourbon barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper and collect toys and cash to benefit the Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots foundation.
How Much: Photos with Santa, food and entertainment are all FREE when you bring a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15. No toy? That’s okay. Give a $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots at the door and you’re in! (Beers are all regular price!)
Events on tap:
Beer releases:
2012 Bourbon Barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper – 22oz bottles; $15 ea. / 6 bottle limit. Bottle sales begin at 12pm.
Food & Beer:
Food – Entrants will receive a ticket good for food at any of the four vendors in our mobile food court
On Tap – All of The Lost Abbey & Port Brewing’s full regular tap line-up, plus a few secret specialties (more on those as we approach the event…)
Activities:
A Visit from St. Nick
Santa Claus loves to visit us while he’s on vacation in San Diego! He’ll be dropping by the brewery from 12pm – 5pm so you can get you, your friends’ and family professionally photographed with him. Santa’s photo schedule will be 12-1, 2-3, 4-5 & 6-7
Toy Drive — Bring a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15 or more to benefit Toys for Tots
Giving Tree – Make an additional $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots (above & beyond the unwrapped toy) and you get to select a gift from the Christmas Tree. Gifts will include rare bottles, Port Brewing & Lost Abbey gear and tickets to our legendary Barrel Night during San Diego Beer Week.
Christmas in July at The Lost Abbey!
Join us for a day of Christmastime festivities, great food, beer and music to celebrate the release of bourbon barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper and to collect toys and cash to benefit the Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots foundation. Last year we raised over $10,000 in toys and cash donations — this year we’re trying to beat that!
Events on tap:
Beer releases:
2011 Bourbon Barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper – 22oz bottles; Release day only: $12 ea . Regularly: $15 ea. ; 4 bottle limit. (Yes, this beer will reach our distribution network in limited quantities.)
Food & Beer:
Food – We’re doing a real Christmas meal! We’ll be serving fresh smoked turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, yams, fresh-baked rolls and dessert
On Tap – All of The Lost Abbey & Port Brewing’s regular 21 tap line-up, plus a few secret specialties (more on those as we approach the event…)
Activities:
A Visit from St. Nick Santa - yes this guy, The REAL Santa, will be on-hand for photos
Santa Claus loves to visit us while he’s on vacation in San Diego! He’ll be dropping by the brewery from 12pm – 5pm so you can get you, your friends’ and family professionally photographed with him in the Barrel Room. Live Webcast
We’ll be doing a live web broadcast — this time from a platform high above the tasting room floor where our intrepid Anchor, Andy Killion, will cover the festivities. If you’re not able to attend, you’ll be able to watch the broadcast from your computer, tablet or smartphone via our brewcam page here*.
* Download the Ustream Smartphone app for Android and iPhone here.
Toy Drive — Bring a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15 or more to benefit Toys for Tots
Giving Tree – Make an additional $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots (above & beyond the unwrapped toy) and you get to select a gift from the Christmas Tree. Gifts will include rare bottles, Port Brewing & Lost Abbey gear and tickets to our legendary Barrel Night during San Diego Beer Week.
How Much: Photos with Santa, music, food and entertainment are all FREE when you bring a a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15. No toy? That’s okay. Give a $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots at the door and you’re in! (Beers are all regular price!)
Schedule of Events: To ensure that we’re not mobbed all at once and that everyone has a chance to get their photos with Santa, enjoy the food, music and get a ticket for the Giving Tree, we’re breaking the day into two equal sessions with exactly the same stuff in both sessions. The schedule is as follows:
Session 1
(12:00pm – 3:30pm)
12:00 – Doors open; Block 1 of Giving Tree Tickets available. (2 ticket max per person)
12:30 – Santa Arrives for photos
1:00 – Live Music: The Firkins; Food is served!
2:00 – Live Music: The Professors
3:00 – Giving Tree Drawing #1
3:30 – Session 1 ends
Session 2
(3:30pm – 7:00pm)
4:00 – Session 2 starts; Block 2 of Giving Tree Tickets available. (2 ticket max per person)
From the Director’s Scribe’s Chair What we did on our summer vacation
Editor’s Note: This spot is normally reserved for a few words from our director of brewery operations (DOBO), but Tomme’s off doing important DOBO things, so our Abbey Scribe, Sage, is filling in for him this month.
I am staring at a calendar above my desk that tells me the Great American Beer Festival is exactly three weeks from today. GABF? Already? Where did the summer go?
Oh, that’s right, we’ve been busy. So busy, in fact, that not only did we not get a vacation, we missed the July issue of this newsletter altogether. Let’s see… Cuvee punted to football season, Santa showed in July, our buddy Russ brought strawberries, the Witch came back witty as ever, and we found the Road to Helles to be paved with great beer. Plus, the brewhouse boys became the brewhouse boys and girl, the tasting room got a little more elbow room and we had everyone down for breakfast before Stone Brewing’s anniversary party.
Add that to a release angels and demons in the Abbey tomorrow, a tidal wave of fresh hops in a week or two, Denver mid-month, a return just in time for a beer and boobs and finally, a fine (and long-anticipated) Cuvee de Tomme to finish September.
Yikes. And I thought we were busy.
I’ll tell you what. You catch up on what’s new at Lost Abbey below. Me, I need to go and find a bigger calendar.
Christmas in July Wrap-up
Christmas in July 2010Back on July 24th we held our annual Christmas in July party and fund raiser. If you’re not familiar with our (non)holiday shindig, each year we celebrate the release of barreled Santa’s Little Helper (aged in bourbon barrels for a year) with a Christmas party and fundraiser to benefit Toys for Tots. There’s food, music, photos with Santa and — of course — great beer, so it always ends up being quite the celebration.
This year we raised nearly $10,000 in toy and cash donations for Toys for Tots. Thanks to the generosity of our guests that day, a lot of kids will have have a better Christmas than they might otherwise.
For those of you who weren’t able to attend, we have a huge photo gallery of the day’s festivities. If you did come to the party, we’ve also posted all the Santa photos, so you can pick yours up (just in time for Christmas card season!)
At her age it might be premature to call Devon Randall “the Most Interesting Woman in the World”, but she’s certainly on the right track to earn the title.
A Berkeley grad who’s conquered real estate, climbed mountains, run with Alaskan sled dogs, and sailed a catamaran from South Africa to Trinidad in just a few short years, even Vladimir Putin would have a hard time not being impressed with her achievements.
Devon discovered craft beer while still living in Berkeley and quickly took to homebrewing. Two years later she found herself living in Santa Monica, California, and traveling south in her spare time to San Diego to learn what she could about the beer Mecca. It wasn’t long after, in her typical fashion, Devon decided to make a “dramatic” change, dump her current occupation, and jump into craft brewing with both feet even though she didn’t have a job waiting.
At first she made the 90 mile from LA to San Diego trip daily volunteering at breweries and learning what she could. This eventually led to some part time work at The Lost Abbey where her talent and abilities were quickly realized. She made the move from Santa Monica to San Diego in June and became an official member of our brewhouse team in August.
These days you’ll find Devon doing everything from brewing to bottling, soaking up as much knowledge as she can with an eye towards being a “famous girl brewer” with her own brewpub down the road. Given all she’s already accomplished, we have no doubt she’ll succeed.
If you happen to see Devon in the brewery or at a Lost Abbey event, make sure to say hi and buy her a beer. (Saisons are her favorite.)
Upcoming Events
September 17-19 Great American Beer Festival | Denver, CO
This is the big one. The one where, as the DOBO says, “we bring the noise”. Look for us in the Lost Abbey and Port Brewing booths in the Pacific section of the festival itself as well as our peeps making appearances around town during the week. (follow us @lostabbey on Twitter to find out where we’ll be.)
September 24 Beer for Boobs | Lost Abbey Brewery San Marcos, CA
Help us & our friends at White Labs support support the Susan G. Komen philanthropic trust and The 3 Day event to help find a cure for breast cancer. $10 gets you you a commemorative Beer for Boobs pint glass and two pints of any Lost Abbey or Port Brewing beer on tap.
New Beer Releases
August 28, 12pm — 6pm Deliverance
Our first release of the embodiment of good versus evil in a barrel-aged blend. Part bourbon barreled The Serpent’s Stout, and part brandy barreled The Angel’s Share, this is our most anticipated release of the summer. (May reach limited distribution)
September 25, 12pm — 6pm Cuvee de Tomme
A release pushed back repeatedly by cool weather and barrels unwilling to create the beer any faster, the 2010 vintage of Cuvee finally emerges after nearly a year and a half in the barrel. (May reach limited distribution)
October 4 High Tide
Our autumn fresh-hopped IPA, the release of this one actually depends on the timing of the hop harvest. The past two years the harvest & brew dates were in the first week of September. Based on that we anticipate the release by the first week in October. (Will reach full distribution)
Join us at The Lost Abbey for our second annual Christmas in July celebration and fundraiser to benefit the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots Foundation.
(Click here to get on the Guest List!)
Food – Authentic San Marcos-style BBQ; slow-cooked to perfection
On Tap – All of The Lost Abbey & Port Brewing’s regular 21 tap line-up, plus a few secret specialties
Activities:
A Visit from St. Nick – Get your photo with Santa Claus in the Barrel Room
Live Music — 1st session: Boneyard, 2nd session: The Professors
Toys for Tots drive and fundraiser
Toy Drive — Bring a new, unwrapped toy values at $15 or more to benefit Toys for Tots
Get a Gift, give a gift — For every bottle of Gift of the Magi sold ($12 $10) we’ll make a $1 donation to Toys for Tots
Giving Tree – Make an additional $15 cash donation to Toys for Tots (above & beyond the unwrapped toy) and you get to select a gift from the Christmas Tree. Here’s a partial list:
Cable Car
Churchill’s Finest Hour
Cuvee de Tomme
Red Poppy
Sinner’s Blend
Yellow Bus
Tickets to the Lost Abbey Private Barrel Night
There are only 100 gifts under the tree per session, so make sure to get yours early!
The Details:
When: Saturday, July 24, 2010; Two sessions: 12pm to 3pm and 4pm to 7pm. Beer and bottle release sales begin at 12pm, food and music at 1pm, santa arrives at 2pm.
Where: Lost Abbey / Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, San Diego County, CA
How Much: Photos with Santa, music, food and entertainment are all FREE! We are, however, asking everyone who attends to bring a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15 or more to donate to Toys for Tots. (Beers are all regular price.)
Tomme & SantaHere in San Diego, even when it’s supposed to be Christmas time, it rarely truly feels like Christmas. In December each year, other parts of the country, throw on their best Christmas sweaters and sing about how the “weather outside is frightful.” Us, we head for the beach and roast Marshmallows (not Chestnuts) by a bonfire. Yet, each year we at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey do our part to support seasonal beers with the production of not one but two Christmas beers- Santa’s Little Helper and Gift of the Magi.
Last August when we produced the 2008 Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout, we put a plan in motion to age a portion of the batch in Bourbon Barrels for a Christmas in July promotion that I wanted to do at the brewery. Last weekend, we had another kick ass event at the brewery (thanks to all of our volunteers who supported us)! There were great new beers in bottles and on tap (including the first release of Duck Duck Gooze). Chef Vince of course whipped up some amazing pizzas and The Professors sounded as tight as they could in a brewery environment. Santa Claus even paid us a visit. All told, it was a great event for the patrons of Lost Abbey.
But what truly made the event memorable was the overwhelming support that we received for Toys for Tots. As part of our Christmas in July promotion, we asked attendees to bring one unwrapped toy (valued at $15) in exchange for entrance to the party. I must say that I was blown away by the generosity of our people and clearly they understand that together we can make a difference. We raised over $10,000 worth of new toys from this event. Those who didn’t bring toys were asked for a cash donation and $1,500 was sent to the Toys For Tots Foundation as well.
It gave me goose bumps on Saturday night to stand next to all the great toys that we collected. It meant an awful lot to me that we were able to take something (like beer with the associated stigmas) and do great work for kids. Just a few of the bins of donated toys
I know that beer and children can be very taboo in our society but if you look at what we accomplished this weekend, I know this is not always the case. Personally, this was an incredibly gratifying and rewarding day. Many children will need help in order to celebrate Christmas this year. Knowing that our beer brought so many people together for this cause is an exceptional feeling.
So, to everyone who was there on Saturday and gave a little bit to help brighten the Christmas morning of so many children, I say thank you! Christmas in July has landed here at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey and will remain on our calendars each year from here on out.
Sure it’s hot outside, but it’ll be cooler than ever at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey’s first Christmas in July Celebration and Fundraiser, Saturday, July 25, 2009 from noon to 7pm.
Toy Drive – Bring a new, unwrapped toy values at $15 or more to benefit Toys for Tots
Giving Tree – give a $15 donation to Toys for Tots & you get to select a gift from under the Christmas Tree (Gifts include many rarities from our barrel archives – Isabelle Proximus, Cuvee de Tomme, Veritas `04, and more!
The Details:
When: Saturday, July 25, 2009; 12pm to 7pm. Beer and bottle release sales begin at 12pm. Santa arrives at 1pm. Food and music begins at 3pm.
Where: Lost Abbey / Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, San Diego County, CA
How Much:Food, music and photos with Santa are FREE! We are, however, asking everyone who attends to bring a new, unwrapped toy valued at $15 or more to donate to Toys for Tots. (Beers are all regular price.)
Update – July 17, 2009:
A full schedule of events as well as the tap and bottle availability list may be downloaded here:
2011 Bourbon Barrel-aged Santa’s Little Helper – 22oz bottles; Release day only: $12 ea . Regularly: $15 ea. ; 4 bottle limit. (Yes, this beer will reach our distribution network in limited quantities.)
I am staring at a calendar above my desk that tells me the Great American Beer Festival is exactly three weeks from today. GABF? Already? Where did the summer go?
At her age it might be premature to call Devon Randall “the Most Interesting Woman in the World”, but she’s certainly on the right track to earn the title.
