Abbey Scribe | June 17, 2009
| July 16, 2009 | ||
| 12:00 am | to | 9:00 pm |
Port Brewing & The Lost Abbey Night at Papago Brewing Company in Scottsdale, AZ. Appearance by Tomme Arthur.
Address:
7107 East McDowell Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85257
(480) 425-7439
www.papagobrewing.com
Note: Please check Papago Brewing website for more information.
Tomme | March 6, 2009
Today is session # 25 and it’s off to Lager Land for today. I don’t visit lager land too often. I’m not a hater but at the same time, I’m rarely get excited about lager. For those of you who visit The Lost Abbey, you may witness on occassion my affinity for a certain “stinging” Lager of sorts. You see, I drink Mickey’s Malt Liquor from time to time. It pretty much leaves people scratching their heads. Me, I don’t care. I drink Mickey’s for one simple reason, it’s the only beer I can drink AND shut my brain off at the same time.
Now, this doesn’t mean that I turn into a babbling fountain of idiocy. Nope, turning my brain off means that when I am drinking Mickey’s, I am not analyzing the beer for how well it was made or how coarse the bitterness lingers. That’s what brewers do. We drink beer and deconstruct the production of every single thing we pass through our lips. It’s what we are trained to do. As such, I have this completely ridiculous inability to drink things without dismissing (or championing) them. It sucks sometimes.
So, you’ll often find me nursing a Mickey’s Malt Liquor on Fridays and Saturdays during our tasting room hours. I prefer the Grenades over the 40 ounce bottle. I’m a big boy but my arms get tired of holding the 40 ounce bottles. Besides, the grenades stay colder and go down smoother. You know in a taste of cold sort of way. An extra added bonus of the Grenades is that they have puzzles under the caps(called Rebus). I suppose that is one way to deal with adult ADD.
Perhaps your wondering how this all came to be. It’s not like I haven’t been “out” of the Mickey’s Closet for some time now. I suppose it goes back to that fateful April 1st in 1998. Tom Nickell had the bright idea to replace all the handles on the Pizza Port Solana Beach Bar with Mickey’s taps for the day. (Looking back, I can only imagine how much glory the sales rep felt that day!) We also ordered two 1/2 bbls of Mickey’s Malt Liquor for the bar. Scooter was tasked with writing up the sign for the promo. $1 pints and $6 pitchers was the pitch. Scooter(his real name) broke out a giant black marker and wrote on the Mickey’s Banner (graciously supplied by the distributor). It said in all its’ glory
“GET DRUNK AND FIGHT LIKE THE IRISH.” And no, I wish I was making this up. The first keg lasted 2 hours and at one point I think every patron in the building had a Mickey’s Pint or Pitcher in front of them. All at once, everyone was transported back to their youth and describing awful malt liquor experiences. That April 1st was my first foray into Mickey’s Malt Liquor land and certainly not my last. You see, over the years, Mickey’s Malt Liquor has been an unwaivering wing man of sorts for me. Mostly, you’ll find me drinking Mickey’s when nothing else strikes my fancy. That’s my brains way of saying shut it down.
So today is Lager Day in the blogosphere. I’m glad to be able to finally profess my love for one of the most decorated Malt Liquours of all time! Sure, it’s not often you find a brewer who professes admiration for beers that don’t make them think. But that’s exactly what Mickey’s does for me. I think every brewer needs to be able to steal sips from a bottle without putting any thought whatsoever as to how the beer was made. Thank you Mickey’s from the bottom of my heart. Now if you’ll excuse me please, I have a curb to go kick…
Tomme | December 8, 2007
It’s Friday night. I’m sitting at the bar and there are patrons sampling beers including our two Christmas Beers- Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper Imperial Stout and The Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi. Me, I’m having a huge glass of Gift of the Magi. Teri brought in some cheese for the tasting bar tonight so we’re having Humboldt Fog with Garlic Crisped Crackers. We’re also having some Brie with Roasted Onion and Black Pepper Crackers. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not. Stinky cheese Plates on Friday nights is awesome.
So, now that I have the beer and food pairings and my bonus points out of the way, I should probably dive into the topic at hand.
I grew up Catholic and Christmas means something to me. It means that I grew up celebrating Catholic Religious stuff- you know like Jesus, Reindeers, Wooden toys and stuff. Fast forward to today, and some of that luster is gone. I’m not sure which year it went away. But somewhere in my youth to adolescence movement it went by by. You know the part where we say Merry Christmas?
Personally, I hate this notion that we shouldn’t offend anyone and as such we should wish them “Happy Holidays.” Sorry, screw that. NOT Screw you, but Screw that! I like Christmas. So Merry Christmas to you and yours.
At Port Brewing, we make not one but two Christmas beers. I like Christmas that much. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy the waiting in line to buy presents part. I certainly loathe the what color sweater might I be getting this year type gifts. But mostly, I am not a fan of the “Unspirited Christmas.” You know, the Christmas where everyone is too busy to notice that at the end of the day we’re supposed to at the very least be Thankful? It’s too much Dickens and BAH Humbug for me.
However, as a brewer each year, I am presented with the fantastical opportunity to connect with celebrating beer enthusiasts each and every year who are truly in touch with the meaning of christmas. And for all you South Park fans out there, it’s not HAM!
I decided that this blog would be about our newest Christmas beer called Gift of the Magi. I could easily have written about the last 11 years worth of batches of Santa’s Little Helper (can we have a blog session someday about Simpson’s inspired beer names too)? But Santa’s Little Helper is old school like Burl Ives, Bing Crosby and the Little Drummer Boy.
So this evening, I thought I would share my thoughts on our new friends the Magi. When I set out to design a Christmas Beer for The Lost Abbey, I thought about the things that I truly enjoy each and every year in beers for the holiday season. For what it’s worth, I am not a huge Wassail fan and Munich Malt doesn’t come bearing plates of Fruit Cake around here too often. I like spiced beers but right now, nothing stands out in my mind as a spice that I would like to evoke. Besides, I appreciate Anchor’s Christmas beer and love that they keep the spicing a Fort Knox like secret.
So tell us about the Gift of the Magi you say. Initially, it was my plan to find a way to incorporate Gold, Frankincese and Myrh into the beer. I actually think it’s possible to do this but at the end of the day, it just seemed like to big of a gimmick for what I wanted to accomplish.
And you ask? What was it that I wanted to accomplish in designing and releasing another Christmas beer? First, I wanted something memorable. I’m not a fan of anything that doesn’t attempt to stand out. So, it had to have perspective. So we brewed a more contemplative Biere de Garde which we dry hopped and spiked with Brettanomyces at bottling. That ought to take care of the standing out like the kid picking his nose in the back row of the 5th Graders performance of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” each year.
But I also felt it needed to say “Merry Effin Christmas Jesus is the Reason for the season keep Christ in Christmas Away in a Manger, here’s your religion in a 750ml bottle (Thanks Jeff) don’t worry about not going to church this year. Hopefully, there’s enough panache in each bottle that God Fearing Heathens (our Sinners and Saints alike) will find their own personal savior each time the cork is popped.
The taste is something I think will resonate with our patrons. The beer pours with a muted and glowing orange opacity. You might even say it radiates the colors of a candle burning in a manger. The aromas are bold with notes of honey, candied fruits and herbal hops. The first sip presents faint sweetness and a long dry finish with noticeable hops. At this time, the Brettanomyces has yet to really assert itself.
It is my hope this Christmas Season that there will be an Epiphany of sorts after the first of the year when these friends of ours will arrive. And when they do, our Magi will come bearing gifts of Alcohol, Hops and Wild Yeast. That my friends will make me very Merry. Because as we know, Christmas is about giving more than receiving. Here’s to hoping that The Gift of the Magi continues to give to each and every beer drinker seeking the meaning of Christmas in a bottle.
Tomme | November 3, 2007
Here’s a round-up of everyone who contributed to Session 9 (in no particular order). Enjoy.
Thanks to all who contributed and made this a great beer blogging day.
On The Web :.
