Problem is, you really don’t want to deal with the hassles of driving between the two locations.
Good news. You don’t have to.
The Lost Abbey is actually very close to the party’s location at Cal state San Marcos (a mere 4,800 ft as the crow flies), and there’s a number of options including the train, bike trails and walking paths that are just about as quick as driving your car between places. Here’s how to get there from here (or vice versa) without climbing in a car:
The Train
One of the best kept secrets around here is the Sprinter — the light rail system that runs between Oceanside on the coast, and Escondido inland. You can hop on the train at San Marcos city center (Lost Abbey’s station) and off it again 3 minutes later at Cal State San Marcos (for the festival). The Sprinter is also bike friendly, so if you’d rather pedal than hoof it, you can.
Lost Abbey is a few minute(s) walk from the San Marcos City Center station, as is the Cal State San Marcos station from the festival. With a bike it’s less than half that time.
Trains run once an hour and the fare is $2 each way, or you can buy a $5 round trip pass that will take you from Oceanside to Escondido and back again (very convenient if you’d rather leave your car at the transit station or if you’re going all train via the Coaster, MetroLink or Amtrak).
Tip: Take the Inland Rail Trail (it’s on the map) to/from Sprinter and Lost Abbey. The trail avoids the street lights and a steep hill, so you’ll travel all that much quicker.
If you’re into the whole human-powered thing, it’s still pretty easy to go between Lost Abbey and the Anniversary Party just using your feet or a bike. (The distance is actually shorter than driving because you can cut through the parking lots and use the sidewalks and bike paths to avoid car routes.) If you’re driving and then hoofing/pedaling, make sure to park your car at Cal State San Marcos early and roll down the hill to Lost Abbey. You can have breakfast and burn a few carbs going back to the Stone event. When your Session is over your car will be waiting nearby.
Tip: Cut through the Old Spaghetti Factory / LA Fitness parking lot between Twin Oaks & Rancheros (it’s on the map). Cars have to drive around it, but you’ll cut 1/2 a mile off your trip each way.
Hard to believe it’s already August, but here it is. Around the Abbey we’ve been so busy that we almost didn’t notice summer is just about at an end. Since spring we’ve been brewing so much that we’ve passed our total production for 2010 and are in the midst of yet another expansion to meet demand.
As part of that expansion we recently moved fermenters 7 and 8 (aka: “Heaven” and “Hell” since that’s what had to be moved to get them into the brewhouse) into our production area next door in anticipation of the arrival of a couple more big fermenters in the next few weeks. Tomme’s also made mention of acquiring a couple of new grain silos which will prevent us from running our current one dry each week (it’s hard to make beer when you have no malt).
Moving "Heaven" for more beer
All this new equipment will allow us to keep ramping up production and eliminate some of the off and on shortages we’ve been experiencing. And while there’s no expansion of our distribution territories planned just yet, who knows — 2012 could present some new opportunities for us.
Things have been busy over in the tasting room as well. Even though we’re a tiny operation compared to many of our San Diego craft brewing compatriots, we’re on track to see almost 60,000 (yes, 60,000!) visitors this year. To handle all the new folks we’ve already added an additional 20 taps –for a total of 44 handles — and we’ve got some exciting new remodels in the works for the fall. Look for an announcement with details some time after Labor Day.
All told, it’s pretty good stuff and we owe it all to you, the Faithful. Thank you. You keep drinking and we’ll keep brewing.
New Faces: Meet Ryan Tillotson
Ryan Tillotson, the man behind the lensRecently you may have noticed one the addition of some new multimedia components — photo galleries, video shorts and live broadcasts — the Lost Abbey website and our social media pages. (And if you haven’t noticed, why not?) All this is the work of our new Multimedia Supervisor, Ryan Tillotson, who recently joined us after graduating from film school up in the Los Angeles area.
A gifted guy behind the camera, Ryan is tasked both with documenting life here at the Abbey, and providing you with an informative (and hopefully interesting) look inside the operations of a small American craft brewery.
Beyond providing daily snapshots from around the brewhouse, Ryan has also produced the first two of our “making of” videos (Hot Rocks, La Cruda and Ten Commandments), and our time-lapse silo video. He’s also the man who directed our live broadcasts from the Anniversary Party and Christmas in July. Over the next couple of months you can look forward to plenty more from him.
Ryan’s in the brewhouse most weekdays and a few weekends as well. You’ll also catch him at events around town and some big national ones such as the GABF. If you happen to bump into him anywhere, make sure to say hello. Who knows, he could make you Internet famous…
Stone Brewing’s 15th Anniversary party is just a week away, and as usual we’ll be serving breakfast at the brewery for everyone who wants to carbo-load before heading up to the first session a “stone’s” throw away at Cal State San Marcos.
Beer for Breakfast, August 20, 2011
Our dynamic-duo of chefs, Jason Danderand and Steve Owen will be manning the Magic kitchen and griddling, grilling, frying, smoking and steaming their way through a monster buffet of rib-sticking breakfast foods. As always, the food and fun are free, the beers are regular price.
Each summer we host an intern who spends several weeks with the brew crew learning how to make beer the Port/Lost Abbey way. (We’re not really sure if this hurts or helps in the real world, but whatever.) Our first intern five years ago was named Larry, and even since then we’ve always referred to the summer intern as “The New Larry”.
This year’s Larry (number 5) is Travis Herman who hails from the East Bay area up in Northern California. Travis recently left a career in bio-research and for the past five weeks has been working long hours learning the craft of brewing from the ground up. (Biggest lesson: “brewing is a lot of hard work.”)
Travis’ internship ends today and he, along with his dog, Hudson, who came down here with him, is driving back to Northern California this weekend to rejoin his wife, who is six months pregnant. A quiet, friendly guy with a wry sense of humor and a quick brain, we’re all going to miss him around here and wish him the best of luck in starting his career as a brewer.
If you’re ever in the Bay Area and happen to run into Travis, feel free to call him “Larry”. He’s only one of five to have earned the title, so you know he’ll appreciate it.
End of Summer Sale
Shirts all 25% off through Labor Day
With summer winding down we need to clear some room to make way for new stuff expected this autumn. As a result we’ve put all of our Port and Lost Abbey tanks, T’s and shirts on sale in our online shop. Now through Labor Day (September 5, 2011) you’ll find all these oh-so-cool wearables marked 25% off. Stock is limited to what’s on hand (read “no backorders”). so if you want the best selection you should shop sooner rather than later.
Join The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing crew for our annual pre-Stone Brewing Anniversary brunch on August 20, 2011 from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.
Breakfast! Beer! Lost Abbey!
As always, we’ll be frying, griddling, baking and boiling a hearty, 5 star breakfast that should be the start of every great craft beer celebration. The menu includes eggs, potatoes, pancakes and plenty of tasty pork-based meats — all perfect for pairing with our epic tap list of award-winning beers. Best of all, breakfast is free and the beer (a very reasonable) regular price.
Doors open at 8:30am to give you plenty of time to carbo-load before heading up the hill to the Stone party.
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.
