Sage Osterfeld | December 19, 2012

Imperial brown ale brewed with coffee and cocoa is brewery’s first addition to its year-round line-up in two years

SAN MARCOS, Calif. — Award-winning craft brewery Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey today announced a new addition to its portfolio produced under the company’s Port Brewing label. Board Meeting Brown Ale, an imperial brown ale brewed with coffee and cocoa nibs, will join Port favorites Wipeout IPA, Shark Attack Imperial Red, Old Viscosity and Mongo Double IPA, as a year-round offering from the brewery in February 2013. It is the first new beer to be added to the Port Brewing regular line-up since Mongo’s release in early 2010.

“Between our Lost Abbey and Port Brewing labels we produce a really broad variety of beers; over three dozen in all,” said Port Brewing director of brewery operations, Tomme Arthur. “Interestingly, we’ve never produced a brown ale, so Board Meeting seemed a natural fit in our portfolio.”

Port Brewing beers are typically boldly-flavored American and hop-forward West Coast style ales or lagers, and Board Meeting Brown Ale is no exception. An amplified brown ale, the beer is brewed with liberal additions of coffee from local San Diego roasters, Ryan Brothers, and cocoa nibs sourced from famed San Francisco chocolate maker TCHO. Alcohol by volume is 8.5%.

“Board Meeting offers the malty richness and assertive hop presence that you expect in an American brown ale, but enhanced with pronounced roasted coffee and bitter chocolate aromas and flavors,” Arthur said. “I think people will enjoy this beer by itself and at the table paired with meat dishes like pork, roasts and barbeque. I imagine it’d be pretty good washing down a sausage omelet at breakfast too.”

As with the other members of the Port Brewing year-round portfolio, Board Meeting brown ale will be available in 22 ounce bottles and on draft throughout the brewery’s distribution network. Consumers should expect to see it on tap in draft houses and on retailer’s shelves by mid February 2013.

About Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey
Founded in 2006, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey produces an extensive line-up of continental and American-inspired ales and lagers. Under the direction of legendary brewmaster and co-founder Tomme Arthur, the brewery has garnered dozens of awards in its six year history including the 2007 Great American Beer Festival Small Brewery of the Year, and 2008 World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewery. The company’s beers, many of which are aged in oak barrels for 12 months or longer, are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors, and bold, boundary-pushing styles. For more information, contact Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, telephone (800) 918-6816, and on the web at www.lostabbey.com.

Category: Beer Releases, Events and Appearances, News Releases, Newsletters | Comments Off
Tags: board meeting brown, cacao, cocoa, coffee, Port Brewing

Sage Osterfeld | October 17, 2012

Craft Brewery will culminate its yearlong special release series with a limited edition collector’s set

SAN MARCOS, Calif. – October 17, 2012 — Bringing its 12-month paean to classic rock anthems to a shuddering crescendo, The Lost Abbey will issue the complete Ultimate Box Set as a special collector’s edition on November 24, 2012. Limited to a total of 500 publicly available sets, the collector’s edition will include each of the 12 special edition brews (aka: “Tracks” 1 through 12), a custom-designed album sleeve with the full-sized art used on each of the beer labels and liner notes from the brewers — all packaged in hand-built, numbered metal road cases. The Box Set case and album sleeve were designed by Grammy® award-winning art director Matt Taylor of Varnish Studio in collaboration with John Schulz of StudioSchulz. Each of the Sets will cost $450 and be available only by lottery drawing.

The Ultimate Box Set releases began in January of 2012 with the brewery releasing one beer every month with names inspired by classic rock songs invoking Heaven or Hell. The beers covered the full gamut of The Lost Abbey’s signature stylings — fruit and spiced, wood-aged, sours, wild, and spontaneously-fermented ales. Each was issued in 375ml corked, hood-and-wire format, included original label art, and was limited to a total run of approximately 1,000 bottles; 350 of which were sold in the brewery tasting room and had to be consumed onsite. The remaining bottles, reserved for the upcoming collector’s sets, will be the only full bottles ever allowed to leave the brewery.

“This is the most ambitious project we’ve ever undertaken,” said Tomme Arthur, director of brewery operations for The Lost Abbey, and the mind behind the Ultimate Box Set. “Not only have we produced 12 exceptional rare beers, but the original label art and stories associated with each, along with the one-of-a-kind hand-built road cases brought the entire concept together beyond anything I’ve encountered in my near 20 years of brewing. It really is the Ultimate Box Set.”

Because of the extremely limited nature of the collector’s sets, the brewery will not put them into general distribution. Rather, the 500 will be allocated to the public via a lottery with names drawn from patrons who purchased individual Track releases each month in the tasting room. Two lottery drawings still remain allowing those who purchase Track 10 in October and Track 11 in November an opportunity for a full collector’s set.

The final release in the set, Track 12, will issue on November 24, coinciding with the complete collector’s set. This Track, as with the earlier individual releases, will be available to the general public in the tasting room and must be consumed on site. More information on the beer will be posted on The Lost Abbey website in mid-November.

About Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey
Founded in 2006, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey produces an extensive line-up of award-winning ales and lagers. Under the direction of legendary brewmaster and co-founder Tomme Arthur, the brewery was named 2007 Great American Beer Festival Small Brewery of the Year, and 2008 World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewery. The company’s beers, many of which are aged in oak barrels for 12 months or longer, are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors, and bold, boundary-pushing styles. For more information, contact Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, telephone (800) 918-6816, and on the web at www.lostabbey.com.

Category: News Releases, Tasting room | Comments Off
Tags: barrel-aged, beer release, Lost Abbey

Sage Osterfeld | October 16, 2012

For those of you who missed it, our annual pilgrimage to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) landed our brew crew a total of four medals, and resulted in one really lucky guy landing himself an Ultimate Box Set.

GABF Medals:

• Bronze – Track 8 (Category 14: Experimental Ales and Lagers)
• Bronze – Hot Rocks Lager (Category 16: Indigenous Beers)
• Silver – Red Poppy (Category 19: American Style Sour)
• Gold – Saint’s Devotion (Category 70: Belgian Style Ale)

Last Friday, the day before the awards, Tomme posted his thoughts on all the beers we entered. If you didn’t read it, check it out. In hindsight the DOBO was pretty dead on.

Congrats to our whole brew team on an awesome showing (and second highest medal count) at the GABF!

Abbey Got Found

While the brew boys (and girl) were lapping the stage, out in downtown Denver we were playing “The Hunt For Lost Abbey” – a sort of “Where’s Waldo” with craft beer. Players were given clues where to stop to “find Abbey.” if they checked at the right location(s), they had a chance to win Lost Abbey wearables, schwag, and beer. The first to check in at all seven locations and find Abbey, won their very own Ultimate Box Set.

Abbey was ultimately “found” first on Saturday afternoon at Falling Rock Tap House, by Denver resident (and future brewer) Michael Kearns. Congratulations to Michael and everyone who played.

And a big note of thanks to our check-in venues who helped us out — The Cheeky Monk, Euclid Hall, Falling Rock, Freshcraft, Lucky Pie and Taphouse, and Star Bar. Make sure to drop by and say hello to them whenever you’re in Denver.

Category: Beer Releases, Events and Appearances, News and Events, News Releases | Comments Off
Tags:

Sage Osterfeld | June 25, 2012

Port Brewing & The Lost Abbey lands a monster eight medals and Best in Show at San Diego International Beer Festival

Anyone familiar with American craft scene knows that San Diego County is basically what Olympus was to the ancient Greeks — populated by a collection of some of the mightiest brewers and breweries on the planet. This, of course, is a double-edged sword.

Yes, the region is filled will great brews, but it’s also filled with a Pantheon of brewers, judges and professional critics who have already “been there and done that,” making them an especially difficult lot to impress. So it came as more than a little surprising this past weekend when Tomme & Co. spent the afternoon doing their best Spartan army imitation running around the awards platform at the 6th Annual San Diego International Beer Festival.

If you’re not familiar with the SD International Beer Festival, while only six years old, it’s quickly grown to be one of the largest festivals anywhere with nearly 140 breweries from 15 countries and 300-odd beers in competition — including all of San Diego’s brewing Titans and a whole bunch of young, up-and-coming heroes that the rest of the craft brewing world will no doubt soon hear of.

In all, the Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey Brew Crew landed a total of eight medals and the coveted “Best in Show” award (for Carnevale). Given the all the incredible brewers and breweries we competed with, it was a high honor indeed. A great big congratulations to our whole brew team, and all the other amazing breweries who medaled this weekend!

Here’s a list of our medals from the San Diego International Beer Festival:

You can download a list of all the winners here.

Category: News and Events, News Coverage, News Releases | Comments Off
Tags:

Sage Osterfeld | June 6, 2012

Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey queues up four releases for June and July

San Marcos, Calif. – Get ready for the wild and barreled this summer because Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey will be issuing four beers in the next couple of months ; two aged for a year in used bourbon barrels, and two fermented with the wild yeast, Brettanomyces. The releases are as follows:

Mo’ Betta Bretta

An all Brettanomyces beer, Mo’s Betta is a collaboration beer between The Lost Abbey’s Tome Arthur and New Belgium’s Peter Bouckaert. The pair originally brewed this beer in 2004 while Tomme was head brewer for the Solana Beach location of our sister operation, Pizza Port. This is the first time the two have produced the beer since. Earlier this year they also collaborated on a Brett version of New Belgium’s Lips of Faith. A large enough batch of this beer was produced to send it into the full Port/Los Abbey distribution network in both bottle and draft formats. Expected release is the week of June 11, 2012.

The Angel’s Share – Bourbon Barrel-aged

The sixth annual release of our famed barrel-aged barleywine, The Angel’s Share spends a full year resting in used bourbon barrels before release. Limited quantities of this beer will reach our full distribution network in both bottle and draft formats. Expected release is the week of June 18, 2012.

Santa’s Little Helper – Bourbon Barrel-aged

The 2012 release of our Santa’s Little Helper aged in used bourbon barrels for a year. We always release this one in conjunction with our annual Christmas in July celebration and fundraiser. Very limited quantities of this will reach our distribution network in both bottle and draft formats. Expected release is July 14, 2012.

Ten Commandments

The 2012 vintage of our strong farmhouse ale brewed with raisins and rosemary and topped off with a little Brettanomyces at bottling. Delicious when released, by the time autumn, cooler weather and the holidays roll around, the Brett dries the initial sweetness and turns this beer from great to spectacular. This beer will reach our full distribution network in both bottle and draft formats, and should be available on shelves for several months. Expected release is the week of July 22, 2012.

Please note release dates are estimates and subject to change based on the whims of the barrels and brett. Arrival in our distribution network on the East Coast is generally two weeks after the initial release date (to allow for shipping).

Category: Beer Releases, Events and Appearances, News Releases | Comments Off
Tags: 2012, beer release, bourbon, brettanomyces, summer