Brewer’s Log (Blog)

It’s the Fourth of July. I am sitting at Churchill’s Pub here in San Marcos. It’s an English Pub (so the sign says). But they also happen to serve great craft beer and their bottled beer list is unrivaled in these parts of town. It’s 11:48 in the AM and I needed a beer after swimming this morning. (Feel free to interject whether the 20 Ounces of yellow liquid I just ordered is even beer) With all the flag waving and hymns to our beloved Stars and Stripes I will see today, I decided today would be a great day to sit and write about the impending takeover of an American Icon known simply to most as Bud.

By now, everyone knows that In Bev is trying to acquire AB. And since today is literally a Red, White and Blue Day, it makes sense that I might finally want to write about this topic. I suppose as a Patriotic American and a Brewery Owner, I should be concerned about In Bev coming into our country and bullying their way into our land of the free. Thing is, I really don’t give a flying you know what. Mostly, it would seem that Beer Karma is bitting AB in their collective ass.

See for too long, there has been enough Arrogance coming out of St Louis to fuel a space program. This idealism of Americana, which has been wrapped around every can and bottle of Budweiser, is seemingly about to be crushed like that same can of beer on a frat boys forehead on a Friday night. Clearly, this hostile takeover bid is a gut check. And I for one am not sure how the AB we know and all “Love” survives this. The Busch family seems to have lost touch with reality and the changing landscape of brewing fueled by my great friends and the instigators of the Craft Beer Movement. People want flavorful beer. It’s a pretty simple premise.

But at this very moment, the largest American Brewer is under attack from another very powerful brewing giant. And one that I might add seems well positioned to take down the #1 Brewer in the world. How can this be? How does the biggest brewer in the world get toppled by a “lesser and surely “inferior” brewing company?

More importantly do we as Patriotic drinkers even care? I mean as an American, I am concerned for the loss of jobs and inevitable displacement that will come from the shakeout. When In Bev comes marching in, there will be a reorganization for sure. That’s to be expected. There’s nothing we can do about that. What concerns me more (and not enough to write my congressman) is the loss of the last big American Brewer to foreign concerns. We have lost Coors to the Canadians and Molson as well as Miller to the South Africans. Does this portend well for Yuengling? Does this instantly take them into a new stratosphere? Don’t know. But it’s crazy to consider how much of the total beer produced in this country would be owned by foreign entities. That seems so Un American? I find a certain measure of interest in the fact that a Belgian owned company is on the march through America. During WW I and II it seems that everyone marched through Belgium. Today, the Belgian Mega group of In Bev is returning the favor. Should we have seen this coming? Why is it happening now?

Well my friends, it comes from growth and the need to be public. As a public company, AB has backed itself into a proverbial corner. In doing so, In Bev has forced the Busch family to come out swinging like a runt in school yard fight. From my vantage point, it would appear that this little battle brewing is like a classic cartoon where the bully is puts his hand on the forehead of the “little runt” all the while, the little dude keeps swinging at air. I know the AB guys have an army of lawyers but how much muscle do they have? About 5.0% of total shares is what I am told the Busch family controls. That isn’t a position I would like to be in. And I am sure that they never considered anyone would mount a hostile takeover.

So this Fourth of July, I just consumed one Stella Artois in an act of Patriotism. I suppose you would argue that I should have consumed a Budwieser. But, as they have yet to roll out Budwieser American Ale, I took a pass. With the emptying of my glass, I have moved on to an Arrogant Bastard. It’s a lesser known beer with plenty of attitude as well. It’s my kind of attitude. The one that says ” You’re probably not going to like this beer…” It’s very refreshing this attitude thing. The other guys who pimp the Red White and Blue have been telling us a lie all these years “We know of know other beer in the world that tastes like this…” Yeah right, it tastes nothing like the beer that we’re all drinking these days. Today, I am going to celebrate our country’s great independence even though we’re in the midst of an invasion. It’s an invasion that promises to change the landscape of brewing. What remains to be seen is when they redraw the boundaries of AB what the new map is going to look like. For the most part, I couldn’t care.

Memo:

It’s official, we have to be the most confusing brewery on the planet.  Or at least it would seem from the emails and online chatter about our beers.  I posted a bunch of new information this week and sat back and watched as a bunch of postings and emails about Isabelle Proximus poured in.  - So, in the interest of clarity, here are more details and confusing tidbits.  We produced 17 oak barrels of this beer.  We yielded about 350 cases of the beer as well as six 1/2 bbl kegs.  Some of these kegs have been served for special tastings and events like Brouwer’s Cafe, Five Guys and a Barrel and a dinner we hosted here at The Lost Abbey.  We have six 1/2 bbls left and one will be on tap this weekend during the Isabelle release at the brewery.  I can’t wait.   For the release on Saturday, we have allocated 200 cases of the beer for sale.  If they do not sell out on Saturday, we will then offer them to our Patron Sinners and Saints. 

We have also allocated 100 cases of this beer to be sold throughout our distribution territories and we’ll be designating on premise places like Brouwer’s, Monk’s Cafe, Toronado(s) and O’Briens to cellar this beer.  This way when you visit these world class establishments,  you’ll be able to find Isabelle Proximus.  We will be putting this in their hands at a reasonable price point which should keep all these bottles below $40 in the market.  As we don’t have enough beer to satisfy all of our distribution needs,  we decided to increase the allotments to specific bars who have been part of the Belgian Beer movement and suppport great craft brewers from around the world.  At this time, O’Briens is the only bar to have receieved any.

Each of the participating breweries in the project will be allocated 10 cases of beer.  These 10 cases are for their personal cellars.  No questions asked.  They cannot legally resell them at their breweries so we just figure they’ll keep them for special occassions.  Maybe if you’re lucky and special enough, this could be you.

You’ll notice that leaves some cases for The Lost Abbey.  These cases will be used for Promotional tastings and the like.  We feel a beer like this should be shared for many years to come.  We also will be setting a percentage of the profits aside from this batch to send the 5 Brett Packers back on the road. Rumor has it that they will be pointing their collective compass towards Piozzo, Italy on a visit next summer. 

Brouwer’s Imagination Saison.  Yes, we only made 43 cases of this beer.  We will be selling 35 cases and 4 half barrels of this beer to Brouwer’s.  They will be the only ones who have it.  It will be entered into the 2008 GABF and most likely we’ll put a keg of it on the floor for tasting at the event.  No bottles will be sold at The Lost Abbey.

Ne Goeien Saison.  This is a 100% Bottle only release.  We made 234 cases.  Most of these cases will remain in Southern California.  We will be shipping a few cases to Monk’s Cafe as Tom Peter’s and Hildegard are great friends and they will want to be able to drink this beer when they visit.  We didn’t make any draft of this beer as we felt there wasn’t enough to go around with cases.   

Witch’s Wit.  This is brewed and done fermenting.  It is our Lost Abbey Summer Seasonal and we have very high hopes for it.  The Grapefruit flavor came through incredibly well.  We anticipate this being a full release to all of our distributors with draft for Southern California and Arizona.

That’s it for now.  We have to get back to cleaning up for the crush on Saturday.  Can’t wait!
See you then

I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar when I was younger.  I just felt it was something that I would REALLY like to know how to do.  And, I wanted to write songs.  Thing is, I tried to play guitar.  And I sucked at it.  Chalk that up as another one of lifes failures I suppose?   At the end of the day, it means that I can’t sit down and collaborate with another singer/songwriter and compose a song and chords to go along.  Yet, my job as a brewer means that sometimes, I get to do exactly this, albeit in a different medium.  Instead of lyrics and chords, I get to use hops, yeast and malt.  Not too shabby of a trade off.

Back when this year began, I commented to a fellow blogger that I felt 2008 was going to be the year of the Collaboration between Brewers.  From what I have seen, I am quite the prophet.  It wasn’t hard for me to imagine this being the case.  Last year, I had traveled to Belgium to work with the DeProef Brewery on a beer called Signature Ale.  This union of American ingredients and creativity coupled with the technical brewers at De Proef yielded incredilble results.  It made me want to work with more brewers from Belgium.

In the fall of 2007, I was in Denver for The Great American Beer Festival.  I ran into Hildegard van Ostedan and her husband Bas from Brouwerij Leyerth which is known better as Urthel.  It was during a judging session that Hildegard and I began discussing brewing a collaborative beer together.  We had met 3 years earlier in Belgium during the 24 hours of Belgian Beer.  Our paths crossed from time to time.  It wasn’t until we were at a table judging Belgian and French style beers last fall that we agreed we should get together and work on a project.

We left Denver knowing she’d be traveling to San Diego in April.  It was decided that she would come brew with us on the Monday prior to the World Beer Cup and Craft Brewers Conference.  Via email, we began discussions.  From the get go, Hildegard made it clear that she wanted a very traditional Saison styled beer with a “firm” bitterness.  No problemo we replied.  If there was thing we do well here, it’s firm bitterness.  A simple recipe consisting of Pilsner Malt a splash of wheat and some hops was devised.  We pointed our collective compass at 5.5% ABV and set out to “Collaborate” that day.

The day began around 7AM and finished about 3PM with another round of beers to celebrate the brewing process.  It was an excellent day on all fronts.  We actually brewed a batch of IPA that day as well so Hildegard was exposed to a full brew day at Port Brewing.  Her husband Bas sat quietly at the bar and sketched out some thoughts for the label.  It’s the first time in my life that I have been drawn as cartoon (that cruel picture of me from 7th grade doesn’t count)! 

We have sent the label off to print.  It’s pretty cool.  I’ve put my name on two bottles of beer in the past but never my face.  I suppose after 12 years of brewing professionally, I’ve earned the right to splash my mug on a label?  Either way it’s a done deal so we just have to roll with it.    As it was a Collaborative beer, I decided to allow Hildegard to name the beer.  She chose the phrase Ne Goeien.  This is a Flemish phrase which tranlates loosely as “A Good One.”  If you walk into a bar in Flanders and order Ne Goeien, you are telling the bartender to give you a good beer.  It’s simple and Flemish.  How cool is that?

We’re waiting for the proofs on this label to come back to us from the printer.  We expect that it will be on the shelves the 2nd or 3rd week of July.  It was packaged back in May and has been taking up space at our brewery ever since.  We made 234 Cases of this beer and when it’s gone, there will be screams of oe ta meulick (how can this be?) at the brewery.  All in all, it has been a fantastic experience.  Sure, Ne Goeien Saison joins the list of beers we just didn’t make enough of.  It sucks.  Just like not being able to pick the intro to Stairway to Heaven on a guitar.  But, life goes on.

Okay,

We’re going to try to play catch up around here.  It seems that I am always behind schedule with things relating to new releases and the infinite amount of new beers we seem to unleash.  First things first, we have lifted the moratorium on new beers (thanks Rex).  Last week, we brewed a new batch of our Summer Seasonal.  It is a Wit bier brewed with Grapefruit honey (Thanks Rex the honey guy) and some grapefruit zest (thanks Terri and Sage for all those fruits).   

If you recall back in May, I mentioned in my first blog in months that we wouldn’t be brewing any new beers for a bit.  That was a half truth.  Mostly it was a half truth as we had already brewed two new beers that resting in our brewery but wouldn’t be released for a while.  How did this happen?  What does this mean for me your loyal Lost Abbey drinker?

Since I love a good back story, let’s dive into another one here.  Last October I went to Seattle to launch our line of beers with Click Wholesale.  During my time in Seattle, I visited Brouwer’s Cafe (home  to Seattle’s most amazing dracft and bottled beer list) and spent some time with Matt Bonney the owner.  Matt drilled me on the subject of our limited releases.  Brouwer’s “had” to have them.  I explained that our Non Denominational Ales and limited releases were produced in incredibly limited quantitities and as such, we just didn’t have enough to go around at this time. 

I mentioned this would not always be the case but presently, we demand far exceeds our production.  I countered that we at The Lost Abbey would be more than willing to work on a very small scale to create a unique beer for Matt each year that would be sold only at Brouwer’s Cafe (maybe Bottleworks?)  Matt seemed to think this was an acceptable solution and he tasked us with creating a Saison styled beer for the Original Release of the Imagination Series.

Those of you who have met/shared a drink with me understand that I am a huge fan of Saison styled beers and will jump at any chance to work one into our production.  It so happened that we were considering a new beer to mark the start of the Lenten Holiday in February.  It was to be a very low alcohol beer made with some unmalted wheat, oats, Amarillo and Simcoe hops fermented with a Saison strain of yeast.  We released this beer as Carnevale and partied the night away.

A portion of this beer was diverted at bottling time to our small grundy tank.  It was spiked with Brettanomyces Anamolus and packaged for Matt and Brouwer’s Cafe.  Bo and I felt that the addition of the fruity Anamolus Brett working with the citric American Hops would be a slam dunk.  It was!  The beer dried out to a very nice level and the Brett is available in the nose but not so overwhelming.  For all intense purposes, it is a smashingly drinkable summer beer.  Which is good.  Because, Brouwer’s is about to receieve the shipment of this beer in early July.

One last note about this beer.  It was sort of a stealth project.  We really didn’t talk much about the beer around here as we were always waiting for it.  It was brewed in January.  We then waited for the Brett to do its’ job.  Then we waited for the artist to create the label.  AND most recently, we waited for the TTB to approve that label.  Now that we have gone to print with it, we are waiting for the labels to arrive.  It’s nice to be done with it all.

However, the waiting has only served to heighten the awareness of this beer and increase the expectations.  This past April, we entered the Brouwer’s Imagination Saison in the 2008 World Beer Cup.  It won a bronze medal in the 91st and final Category of the competition.   This was the beer that literally delivered us to the podium for the Small Brewery of the Year Award.  Without the Brouwer’s Beer, we would not have earned enough points.  So thanks Matt for giving us a little push.  It doesn’t take much to motivate us around here.  We can only hope that you’ll find yourself in Seattle soon enough AND that Matt has some left.  There were only 43 Cases and six 1/2 bbls produced of this beer.  Simply put, you will not find it on sale in San Marcos at the brewery.  Sorry!  There is a rumor on the street that this beer was an overwhelming success and as such the 2009 version of Carnevale may take on more of the attributes from this version…Stay tuned.

It’s true.  Saturday June 28, 2008 Isabelle Proximus will officially go on sale at the brewery.  Of all the beers that we have produced in our two and a half years in business, this one comes with the biggest expectations.  It has to.  It has the biggest back story of any beer we have ever produced.  And that my friends is saying a LOT!

Perhaps you’d like to humor me, if you will, as we take a journey back in time.  It’s November of 2005.  I am sitting in a coffee shop in Solana Beach working on my laptop.  We’re in the midst of acquiring the old Stone Brewery (currently the home of Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey).  I am reading some email when I come across an invitation from my good friend Sammy at Dogfish. 

Apparently, he’s working on his second book entitled “Extreme Brewing.”  He’s requested that I join him, Rob Tod from Allagash, Adam Avery of Avery Brewing Company as well as Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River on a pilgramage to the Holy Land of brewing that is Belgium.  We’ll be joined by Lorenzo Dabove (the prince of Payontenland) who will act as our Embassador of Breattnomyces while we’re touring numerous of the best Gueze and Lambic producers in Belgium.  It’s a trip not to be missed.

We book our flights in early 2006 and all head to Belgium for what promises to be a once in a life time opportunity.  As part of our Ambassador like duties, Sam has requested that each brewery ship 6 cases of two different beers over for press and enthusiast tastings and dinners.  In this way, we are never empty handed when it comes to discussing our beers and breweries with the respective Belgian Brewers we are to meet along the way.  For our part, we ship Pizza Port Solana Beach SPF 45 Saison and Cuvee de Tomme over.

On our journey, we visit Cantillon, Drie Fontenien, Boon and other great breweries.  It becomes clear in the course of all of our conversations, that there is no one way to make sour beer.   As we travel from one brewery to the next all sauced up on sour beer, we begin to envision a project back at home.  It is decided that an homage to the storied production of Lambic is what we should attempt. 

I offer Port Brewing as a great place for this experiment and homage to take place.  When we built this brewery, we made a concerted effort to focus on barrel aged beers.  As such, we have excess capacity in our barrel room for a beer of this scope.  Somehow, we manage to get everyone on board and in November 2006  we are suddenly all reunited in San Marcos at Port Brewing.  We’ve gathered to make a run at immortality.  Or at the very least, we’ve gathered to drink Margaritas, watch women with questionable morals dance on our bar and all the while hope we won’t screw up a whole batch of beer.

By now, you’re probably wondering why Isabelle Proximus?  Well, funny you should ask.  When we were in Belgium both Vinnie and Rod had acquired International Cell Phones.  When we landed in Belgium, they switched them on.  The words Bel Proximus streamed to life.  There were then ensuing numerous guy jokes about the size of their respective “Bel Proximus’s.”  At the end of the day, we couldn’t call it anything BUT Bel Proximus.

Except of course, there is a brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan that uses the words Bell’s Brewing and as such, there was a conflict at hand.  We agreed at the end of the day that our dear old Bel Proximus would live on in a kinder gentler feminine form and henceforth has been known as Isabelle Proximus.  BTW, she’s WAY sexier than the Bel Proximus we ditched.

There were so many great parts to the making of Isabelle Proximus.  Just getting the five us us to brew in one location was pretty damn sweet.  Did I mention the beer tastes pretty good too?  And now we return to the back story…  I wanted the project to have great diversity and not just be a sour beer produced by Port Brewing.  As such, I asked each of the breweries to deliver 4 Oak barrels to Port Brewing along with house cultures from their sour beer program.  It was my thinking that this would be a great way to create flavors and diversity outside the scope of solely our bugs and barrels.  Vinnie sent some American Oak barrels which we can certainly taste in the finished blend.  Sam sent some cultures from the Festina Lente project they had worked on.  Without a doubt, they lent a nice fruit component to the beer.

One large base beer was brewed that November day under the direction of 5 American Brewers and our crazy Mexican Muse Don Julio.  The goal would be to take the same base beer and then age it on different cultures contributed by the participants of the trip.   We fermented the base beer with our lager strain at 80F because that’s what we had around and figured it truly wasn’t going to matter what we used.  The beer was racked into barrels ten days later.  The beer spent the next 16 months doing whatever it damn well pleased.  It did quite well.  We filled 18 oak barrels with Isabelle Proximus. 

At the end of the 16 months, we had one tragedy in the barrel and it was summarily dispatched by our illustrious tasting panel.  All told, we ended up blending 17 Oak barrels worth of beer.  We think it is an excellent homage and one that exudes the energy and passion for brewing we found on our trip. 

This past April, we reconvened the Brett Pack here at the brewery and launched Isabelle Proximus in front of about 100 of our closest friends the media.  It was a stunning night.  Rob Tod said it best that night.  “This tastes way better than I would have ever imagined.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself Rob!  Beers like this don’t come around very often.   I am personally very excited to be a part of something that has a great back story.  It’s right up my alley.  We look forward to Isabelle Proximus finding you wherever you may be.

We’ve targeted some of the best on premise accounts (read bars) around this country and each of them will be receiving no less than 10 cases of this beer.  In this way, it will appear on beer menus thereby giving a wider audience a chance to meet Isabelle Proximus in person.  This week, Isabelle Proximus is set to hopefully take the brewing world by storm.  It’s good to dream.  It’s better to dare, dream and execute that vision.  I’d like to think that Isabelle Proximus will take more than a few sour beer lovers over that proverbial rainbow.  And for that, I am thankful to have met such a talented group of brewers.   They make my job look easy.

This past Saturday, they announced two very important set of awards for excellence in brewing.  Yesterday, we had the distinct pleasure of attending the 2nd Installment of the San Diego County Craft Brewers Festival and Competition.  It was an amazing event featuring over 250 of the best beers to be poured in San Diego at one time.  The selection was staggering.  I for the life of me can’t remember the last time I attended a County Fair where they were pouring Drie Fontenien, Dogfish, Malhuer and many other great beers.  Made me want to sneak off and see if Bessie the Cow was in agreement.  MOOOOO would have been confirmation enough.  Special Thanks to Tom and Chad for organizing the competition and one of the better selections of beer we will have access to this year.

As part of the San Diego County Fair, there is now a Commercial Craft Brewers Competition.  You may recall that last year at this innagural event, we at Port Brewing graced the stage 5 times for our beers.  We shared the title along with Firestone Walker for most awards earned.  This past May they held the second competition and when the rauch settled, we at Port Brewing had earned 6 ribbons for the 10 beers we entered.  With our six awards, we continue to set the competition circuit on fire.  Combined with our incredible success at the 2008 World Beer Cup and the 2007 Great American Beer Festival, we are truly pumped by the collective success of our beers.  For those who care to know which beers scored well with the judges.

Gold Ribbon- Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout

Silver Ribbons- Veritas 003, Cable Car, Older Viscosity, Gift of the Magi

Bronze Ribbon- Red Poppy

Not a bad haul for us.  Chad also pointed out during the awards ceremony, that when you include the Pizza Port family of beers, we earned a total of 16 Awards.  If you throw out the Ribbons for Mead Categories which we didn’t enter, there were 75 Total Ribbons possible.  With 16 Ribbons in tote, the Port Brewing family of brewers put their stamp on this event with resounding success.

When I got home last night, I fired up my computer and was surfing the net when I came across the results for the 2008 National American Homebrewer’s Competition.  It was staggering!  This nationwide competition featured over 5600 entries.  To put this in perspective, the 2008 World Beer Cup that just concluded this past April judged some 2800 entries and was the largest Commercial Competition in the World!  The Homebrew Competition featured double the number of entries.

I want to take a moment to send a shout out to Julian Shrago.  Many of you in Southern California have no doubt crossed paths with Julian here at Port Brewing/ The Lost Abbey.  We’re blessed to see Julian and Nigel (his English Bulldog) no less than once a month even though he lives behind the Orange Curtain in the OC. 

Julian is one of the best homebrewers any of us know.  In fact, Sage calls him the best brewer no one has ever heard of.  Me, I think of him as the Great White Hype.  I don’t know of too many homebrewers who have as much recognition as Julian does around here.  I’m beginning to think that he’s more famous than my ego.  In fact, my ego went shopping for a dog today.  He mumbled something about needing a four legged co pilot.  Silly me.  I thought he wanted to bring man’s best friend into our life to chase the cats around the brewery.

Either way, Julian’s award comes with a major kudos from us at The Lost Abbey.  You see, Julian won a silver medal in the Belgian and French Ale Category.  There were only 317 entries in the category!!!  DAMN!  That is some kind of competition.  It’s been a great weekend for us around the brewery.  We went to the San Diego County Fair and were decorated for our excellence in brewing.  Our Pizza Port bretheren were rewarded as well.  Topping it all off, some of our best friends earned awards at the San Diego County Fair and The National Homebrewers Conference.  All in all, I would say it’s an inspiring weekend.  Congrats to Julian and my brothers at Pizza Port.  A job well done on all fronts.

(late night edit) Just got word that Tovarish Imperial Stout brewed by Julian Shrago was the Best of Show winner at the San Diego County Fair Homebrew competition today.  Apparently Julian has a large “S” tatoo on his chest and is afraid of Kryptonite?

PS, there’s a batch of Tovarish Imperial Stout on tap in Solana Beach at the Pizza Port that Julian brewed with Greg and Yiga sometime last month.  It’s tasty…

Happy Birthday Sydney (2)

We just came off a record month for Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey.  It felt great!  It also means that we have a ton of brewing to do as months like April pretty much kick our collective asses.  Everyone put an amazing amount of effort forward and it was rewarding to see us sell so much beer.  The problem with record months is that they tend to wipe out inventories.  At least this past April did.

So for the entire month of May, we have been playing catch up.  As such, it’s required an extraordinary amount of hours and in the struggle to get inventories caught up, Sydney’s 2^nd Birthday was all of a sudden upon me.   You know the part where I have to stop thinking about beer and find cool gifts for my baby girl?

But having a brewer in training at home means birthday gifts take on a whole new dimension.  Sydney is now 2 years old and is almost old enough to understand what is going on.  She will certainly understand next year that when mention the word birthday, she can expect all kinds of new and very cool things.  I heard Charlie Papazian is putting the finishing touches on “The Joy of Homebrewing for Toddlers.”

This year, Maureen and I decided that we wanted to get Sydney her very own kitchen.  I have zero problems with this part of the equation.  After all, if she chooses not to be a brewer than maybe she’ll entertain the culinary art and follow in the footsteps of Chef Vince.  Dad’s are allowed to dream you know.

Being the instructor and Brewing father that I am, I wanted to get Sydney a really kick ass kitchen.  I mean even normal kids can have the standard “My First Kitchen.”  Yet, what I was looking for was the Deluxe “My First Beer Enthusiasts Kitchen.”  I started with some phone calls to local toy stores.

Me: “Hello, I am looking to see if you have a toy in stock?”

Them: “Sure!  Do you know what it’s called?”

Me:  Yes, I have a few items.  First, do you have any Brewer’s First Kegorators?  I am really interested in the 4 tap model with Nitrogen faucet and if possible, I’d like to upgrade to the model with the Beer Engine?”

Them: “Sir?  Have you been drinking?”

Me: “That’s Duuh dot com.  It’s something I try and do each day.

Them: “I’m not sure I understand!”

Me: “Well, I own a brewery.”  What else do you need to know?

Them: “Thanks for the clarification sir.  I’m still unsure about this “My first Kegorator you asked for.”

Me:  What’s not to understand?  I have a brewer in training.  She NEEDS this toy.  Screw Barney unless of course, he looks like Issac from the Love Boat and knows how to properly slow pour a Guinness.

Them:  “Sir, you do realize that we monitor these calls for Quality Assurance?”

Me:  “CRAP!  That’s right, I told her mom I would take care of the My First Line Cleaning Tank too so that the beers would be of the highest quality.  Any chance you have one of those in stock?”

Them:  “Sir, have you been drinking?”

Me:  “Need I remind you it’s people like you that drive me to drink?”

Them: “Tell your daughter Happy Birthday.  Sorry we weren’t of more assistance.”

Me: “You’re too kind.”

We had to buy a plain old ordinary my first kitchen.  Sorry Sydney.  Daddy tried to get you a better model.  So it came time to put it together.  I went to the fridge (the adult sized food one) and pulled out a beer.  At least some refreshment would help me simmer down from my letdown.  I pulled the “My First Kitchen” from its box and began laying out parts on the floor. 

One of the boxes had all of the accessories in it.  Excited about the possibilities, I tore into the bag looking for miniature cans of Malt Extract, Barley and hops.  NOTHING, Nada, Zip!  It was obvious that my wife and I had neglected to purchase a properly stocked My First Kitchen.  It was lacking all sorts of essential toys for the Homebrewer in Sydney.  I picked up the phone and called the local homebrew store.

Me: “Listen, I know this is going to sound crazy but I’m looking for a Junior Homebrew Kit for my 2 year old daughter.”

Them:  “Well sir, the government states you must be 21 to consume alcohol but they only require you to be 18 to make it….  Did you say she’s 2?”

Me: “Yeah, you got a problem with that?  She loves Malt Liquor and has a penchant for Old Viscosity.”

Them: “Sir, I think I am supposed to take down your number and call child protective services now!”

Me:  “So, you don’t have a kit for preschool aged brewers?”

Them:  “Sir, we don’t even have one for High School Aged children although it’s not illegal to sell these supplies to 18 year old students.  Not that I have mind you.

Me:  “DAMN! This is going to be harder than I thought.”

I found myself working through the details of My First Kitchen and I was able to successfully complete the building with nary a problem.  Except of course that I just rendered my daughters first kitchen complete and there wasn’t enough beer in it for my liking.  I started looking at the cabinets imaging the cupboards loaded with lambics, Barleywine and Stouts.  Sydney would dig that.  Trust me.  She really would.

Seriously,

It’s been almost three months since I blogged last.  I’m pretty sure that no one noticed my absence.  It’s not like I forgot how to write.  It just seemed that everytime I sat down to type, I was exhausted from the brew day or there was something more pressing going on at the brewery that needed my attention.

However, it’s May 9th 2008 and I’m blogging DAMNIT!

So what should I blog about?  There’s only about 400 things I need to say.  So in no particular order here goes nothing.  First and foremost, we’re expanding.  Or at the very least, we’re trying to make the building smaller through addition.  In the past month, we have added three used tanks from our good friends at Dogfishead.  It’s not  terribly important but we added a 120 bbl Fermenter a 150 bbl Conditioning tank as well as something known as Elvis.

Tanks for more beer are great.  They are wonderful additions to our brewery.  What is not a wonderful addition is the plumbing and installation required by all of these massive units.  Vince has his work cut out for him in terms of getting these up and running.  We also are swapping out the old solenoids left from the original brewery.  They suck and our temperature controls need to be upgraded.  When it is all said and done, we will have gained so much more control over our fermentations, I think it’s scary.

In February we acquired more oak barrels.  Specifically, we added 100 new Brandy barrels and 50 more Bourbon barrels.  Since then, we have filled 50 Brandy Barrels of Angel’s Share which we hope to release in time for Christmas.  We’ll be filling the other 50 in the next month.  This will mean a plethora of Angel’s doing their work all summer long at The Lost Abbey.  Sounds divine if you ask me.

Did I mention that we bought a 2nd forklift?  Nothing screams you’re growing like another forklift.  It’s a real beaut too.  2002 Propane 4 wheel unit with custom rims and low profile tires.  I’ve threatened the boys in the brewery that we’re gonna get the interior (read seat) Tijauna tuck and rolled with some sick new paint to match.  Green metalic flake anyone?  In order to accomodate the barrels, we needed this new lift as we have warehouse space across the street for storage.

A couple of weeks ago, the Craft Brewing World decended on San Diego.  It was a chance for every local brewer to do their part and shine.  We at Port Brewing hosted so many brewers.  It was a special week for us.  The highly anticipated Isabelle Proximus was launched.  It turned into an amazing beer and we can’t wait to get the barrels reloaded and make more.  The beer has been labeled and should see the light of day in late June- just in time for the summer swelter.

Last weekend, we hosted our 2nd Anniversary Party.  In true Port Brewing fashion, we rolled out 3 beers for the weekend.  The buzz around the brewery seems to be that the Cuvee tastes as good as last year AND don’t even get us started on the 2nd Anniversary Ale.  If there’s one place there isn’t a hop shortage, it’s those bottles we filled- 11 pallets worth!

Perhaps  the coolest thing we accomplished last weekend was the release of Inferno Ale.  I have been dying (not literally) to get this beer (and more importantly) the label done.  This has to be one of the most detailed pieces of label art out there.  It’s too bad that Seans painting skills get shrunk to such a small scale.  It definitely will be one of the coolest shirts we have when it’s all said and done.

I have put a moratorium on new beers for the next few months.  Don’t ask me the timeline.  I don’t have one.  What I do know is that since January of this year, we have launched or brewed Moon Lit Sessions, Shark Attack, Port 2nd Anniversary, Serpent’s Stout, Carvnevale, Inferno, Hildegard’s Saison and Holy Water.  It’s time for me to stop imaging and conceptualizing new beers every 20 minutes.  I’m having a hard enough time keeping track of where these beers are. 

We’re launching in the Bay Area at the end of the month so we’re working hard to load up on all of our year round releases at this time.  Once we’re done with them, we’ll probably lift the moratorium and get back to what we do best- keeping crazy new beers rolling through the brewery.  Sounds good to me.

Hopefully we’ll see you soon.

The Ebay Wrap Up

It’s been a couple of weeks since my Last Call article was published in Beer Advocate.  It was a soap box based piece that Jason and Todd Alstrom let me publish without editorial intereference.  I have mad respect for them letting it go to print as it was originally authored.  It was the least edited peice I have ever written.

There has been a tremendous reaction to this Op/ Ed piece.  In many ways, it served the purpose that was intended.  I wrote a lightning rod column hoping it would spark conversation about beer.  I think it’s a safe bet to say that the article did its job.

I have followed the threads from the beginning on BA and even over at Ratebeer as well.  The range of responses was impressive.  Some sympathized with my position.  Others felt it was just legalese I should ignore.  There was also a strong contingency who felt that I was so off the mark and called it misguided ire.  It appears that a healthy dialogue was engaged by all.

Now that the conversation has died down and most have spoken their peace, I thought I would take a moment to reflect and offer why I wrote the piece and what I was hoping to acheive.

Yes, it’s true our beer is a commodity that “can” be resold and even traded.  Is it legal to sell beer on Ebay?  I’m not a lawyer and nor do I play one on TV.  But I am an incredibly passionate brewer who takes an enormous amount of pride in what I do.  So tell me how I am supposed to NOT be offended by the language of these auctions? 

The piece was authored for Beer Advocate.  It was my intention to point out the innadequacies of Ebay beer based auctions. Help me understand how we’re collectively Advocating Beer if we continue to allow these auctions to take place. Maybe, it’s your position we’re Advocating Beer by offering it to consumers who can’t normally attain these bottles?  Maybe it’s something else?  I don’t know.  Many of you felt compelled to tell me so.   

Last fall, numerous auctions of our beer were added to Ebay each day.  And with each and every auction, the standard legalese headers  accompanied the resale of our beers.  No where else in the world do these taglines accompany the sale of our beer.  Not even our government with all of its infinite wisdom applies such conditions to the sale of our beer.  So yes, I take umbrage with language and conditions required to “legally” sell our beer on Ebay. 

I’m not Naive. I ”get” the cover your ass function they serve.  But since they aren’t required for me to sell my beer, then I don’t ”have” to be ok with them. I may be the only one on this soap box which is fine by me.  I just get sick and tired of reading those silly conditions. 

I appreciate all the responses from my letter to Ebay.  It’s great to see enthusiasm for beer everywhere.  There’s a saying about opinions and assholes and how everyone has one. And now that I’ve gotten this off my chest, we can go back to enjoying beer for what it is.  A damn fine  libation and not some incidental liquid.

 *&^% Ebay

Last fall, we began releasing a series of new beers at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey.  A curious thing happened, they started appearing on Ebay only moments it seemed after they went on sale at the brewery.  I started researching the legality of sales of beer and wine on Ebay to better understand these auctions.  What I found was a bunch of legalese that was required for each auction that essentially devalued the liquid we worked so hard to place in the bottle.  With this in mind, I drafted a letter to Ebay.  I sent the letter to my friends at Beer Advocate.com and  Jason and Todd printed it in the February edition of their magazine.  As many of you blog readers out there are not subscribers to this magazine, they have graciously agreed to let me post it here.  What follows is the copy from the article.  It is food for thought

Last Call
By Tomme Arthur
As printed in BeerAdvocate magazine Volume II Issue I.

 My Dearest eBay,
Lately, it has come to my attention that many of our limited seasonal and special release barrel-aged beers have been popping up for resale on your eBay mere hours after they were purchased. My friends tell me I should be ecstatic that our Lost Abbey and Port Brewing beers have developed this status. “Enjoy the ride,” they say.
It’s just that there are so many new fully unopened bottles of Lost Abbey beer(s) being sold on your site that I am worried they’ll soon lose their original still-in-the-box Star Wars X-Wing Fighter-like collectible status. Do you know how bad that would SUCK? But mostly, I am writing to let you know that I take umbrage with the language of your alcohol auctions and the incredibly ridiculous conditions you apply to the (re)sale of these bottles on your site.
I particularly LOVE the first condition that must accompany each auction of “Collectible” bottles of beer on eBay. It’s a strong opening, one that truly sets the tone, don’t you think? “The value of the item is in the collectible container, not its contents*.” This strikes me as an absolute joke. But then again, so do collectible action figures.
True beer advocates recognize beer is an incredibly complex beverage. It is not some incidental liquid banished like a genie into a bottle for eternity. And as long as we’re being perfectly honest, I thought I would share that we at Port Brewing even chose to cork-finish our bottles, ensuring the libations we skillfully produce each day can be consumed at a moments notice anywhere in the world. HOW COOL IS THAT? I KNOW! I feel the same way about it.
As much as I LOVE the first condition, No.2 just tickles my inner Elmo. “The container has not been opened and any incidental contents are not intended for consumption …” This has to be the stupidest thing I have read since I passed a head shop where I saw the sign “These Incredibly Ornate and Skillfully Hand Blown Glass Pipes are intended solely for the Legal Smoking of Tobacco Products …” Clearly you, like everyone else in California, are suffering from chronic back pain and are filling the pipe with something a wee bit more “fragrant.”
I would be remiss if I neglected to speak of No.3. “The item is not available at any retail outlet, and the container has a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of the alcohol in the container.”
But here is where I get confused. You see, the bottles being auctioned today were available at my brewery with liquid in them! I guess incidental liquid in eBay land is more valuable? CRAP! I hadn’t considered that when we wrote our business plan. I for one am not looking forward to telling my investors that we’re making incidental liquid. Is it even cool to be an incidental liquid maker? It sounds like a bed-wetting disorder.
I wonder if I even need a permit for this? Hopefully, no one can die from drinking the incidental liquid we bottled. I know beer doesn’t kill, but this whole incidental liquid thing has me at a loss. (Memo to self: Ask our friendly Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau agent about carbonated incidental liquid production. Maybe we don’t have to pay taxes on this stuff?)
I have to run now. I just got a phone call from one of my closest friends who operates a brewery in Santa Rosa. I left a message warning him about the dangers of incidental liquids and how he was preparing to deal with it in 2008. He wasn’t worried. Told me it was an election year. He also reminded me that as far as the government is concerned, my partners and I own a brewery. “Indeed,” I told him. “We’re both in the business of producing a legal alcoholic beverage. We have the permits and pay the taxes to prove it.”
He suggested I ought to convince you the liquids inside our bottles are not incidental contents and they most definitely ARE intended for consumption today or 20 years from now. That is the reason for this letter. And since we’re being so open with each other, I thought I would remind you that with all of our forthcoming specialty releases, we intend to place intentionally amazing contents in these bottles. So, from here on, I respectfully request you note the following simple statement: ALL bottles of Port Brewing or Lost Abbey beers ARE intended for consumption—regardless of the age of the beer.
Thanks for listening. I knew it wouldn’t take much for you to see things from my perspective. The last thing the world needs now is an incidental liquid disaster. I’m so glad we got a chance to speak. I feel so much better.
Tomme Arthur
Director of Brewery Operations
Owner and Brewer
Incidental Liquid and Incredibly Collectible Brewing Company
aka Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey