GABF 2008

October is one of my favorite months. I get to celebrate my birthday, attend the Great American Beer Festival and at the end of the month I get to steal mini candy bars on Halloween night after Sydney goes to bed. All in all, it’s a pretty great month. Chocolate always makes me feel better. Especially when it’s stolen from a 2 and a 1/2 year old. Sorry, I’m sick like that.This year, I am heading to Denver on October 7th which also happens to be my 35th birthday. Some guys like to celebrate their birthday for a week on end. I suppose that will be me this year since the best beer festival in the world happens to coincide with the annual glorious celebration of my arrival into this world.The 2008 Great American Beer Festival promises to be liquid chaos for my liver. Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey will arrive in Denver as the 2007 Small Brewery of the Year as well as the 2008 World Beer Cup Small Brewery of the Year. This means that there will be an enormous amount of attention (and pressure) on us to continue our winning ways. I’m fine with that. I personally love the pressure and added expectations that go along with our past success. It’s just part of the business. As in years past, I believe we have an exceptionally eclectic range of beers. AND more importantly, they may even be better than the ones we sent to the competition in 2007. Sometimes, I think I sound like a broken record. But it’s true. We’re becoming better brewers having refined some of our processes and our beers reflect it.With 8 days left until I board that plane for Denver, I’m most looking forward to this Saturday. This will be the evening tasting of the beers we’ve entered in the competition that we do each year before we leave for Denver. As in years past, all of the brewers will gather to sample each others beers from the bottles we packaged for the fest. It’s one last look into the mindset of our brewers (from Pizza Port) as well as affording me an introspective moment to reflect on our Port Brewing and Lost Abbey beers.On Saturday, we will gather at Jeff Bagby’s house in Cardiff to sample all of the 2008 entries. This truly is brutal work I might add. You want to talk about having thick skin? You better have Alligator thick skin as we brutally rate each others chances. All told, we’ll sample almost 40 different entries. Port Brewing and Lost Abbey will be sending 11 beers to the GABF in 2008. Typically we would send 8 entries. This year, we couldn’t contain ourselves. We have released so many great beers in the last year that just begged to be entered.As many of these beers are incredibly unique and easily recognizable, I will wait until Friday October 10th to post my comments on our beers, their categories and what I believe our chances are this year. So please check back in the coming days and maybe, you’ll get an idea of what’s in store for us this year. But, for the sake of a wee bit of a tease. “Yes Noah, I like our chances this year. I like them more than a little. Yours too.”

Hop Harvest 2008

I’m sitting at the airport in Seattle. You see, this past week, I boarded a plane and headed for Yakima, Washington to attend the 2008 Hop School put on by our friends at Hop Union. This is the third time I have been asked to speak at the school which allows brewers to get a first hand view of hop growing, processing and logistics. I spent Monday- Thursday in Yakima talking hops. On Thursday I headed to Seattle to do some promotional work with Click Wholesale our Washington state distributor.On Monday, having flown from San Diego to Seattle, WA. I met up with David Edgar. I have known David since his days as the President of the IBS (Instute of Brewing Studies). He now works as a representative for White Labs, Hop Union and Rastal. As we had recently ordered our new Lost Abbey glassware through Rastal, it was my first chance to thank David for his assistance on this project.We shared a couple of beers at the airport and boarded our flight to Yakima, WA. After checking in at the hotel, I headed back to Hop Union World Headquarters and sampled some beers with Ralph Olson. Ralph and I sat down to discuss the state of the hop growing world and what can be expected for future harvests. I will be posting my notes from this conversation in another blog. Ralph hoped that our conversation would enlighten some brewers and give them some clarity about the global situation with hops.Tuesday morning came WAY too early as we raged against the dying of the Yakima light that evening and well into the next. I unfortunately drew the dreaded short hop shoot which meant the early AM teaching slot. After a short introduction and tour of the facility, it was go time. As I had only 5 hours of sleep in my system, it was needless to say a brutal talk at best.My talk was on the cost and difficulties associated with starting a new hop farm. This past summer Sheldon Boren and his brother had planted some 200 Centennial Rhizomes (hop plants) in Fallbrook, CA. Fallbrook is about 20 minutes north of our brewery and is well known as an avocado growing region. There are numerous brewers who undertook hop farming this year as a means to an end. Many of these breweries are hoping to grow enough hops in the coming years to develop sustainable hop supplies allowing them to make Fresh Hop or Harvest Ales.When Sheldon approached us about planting hops, we told him we would be thrilled to have local hops at our disposal. It’s no secret, at Port Brewing we love hops! It’s apparent in our Wipeout IPA, Hop 15 and Shark Attack. We also happen to make a Fresh Hop beer each year known as High Tide. This is one of my favorite beers even though it may have the highest pain in the ass factor of anything we do which is amazing given our propensity to do absurdly weird things to our beers (yes I know Caramelized fruit seems easy in hindsight).While my primary goal of being in Yakima was to work as an instructor, I also needed to work out the kinks with Ralph relative to our Fresh hop needs. They always say be careful what you wish for. I for one couldn’t agree more! When we launched High Tide in 2006, we felt the market was ready for a Fresh Hop beer in the bottle. There were tons of these beers being made but few to none existed on the shelf. In 2006, we brewed one single 30 bbl batch of High Tide Fresh Hop Ale. It sold out in two weeks.In 2007 we made the commitment to a triple batch of High Tide. This was a very big step up for us. As High Tide features two additions of Fresh Hops one week apart, it was a logistical nightmare to schedule the brew. I still remember the look on Jason’s Face (our UPS Driver) when he rolled up to deliver. He was more then eager to get the 270 lbs of Fresh Hops off his truck. Either he was very sleepy or concerned about the Sheriff’s Department and their canine unit. The 2007 version of High Tide featured Fresh Centennial and Simcoe Hops. The 90 barrel triple batch sold out in 2 weeks. It was a fantastic beer.Fast forward to 2008. It’s now Hop Harvesting time and we’re gearing up to make this years batch of High Tide. I for one am very excited. Having just come from Yakima, where I was able to secure the hops we need, you can understand why I am anxious to get home. If all goes according to plan, you will find us brewing 240 barrels of High Tide Fresh Hop IPA this weekend. It’s going to be great and painful at the same time. 240 barrels is eight batches of this beer. This will also be the largest batch of a seasonal beer Port Brewing has ever released!On a production schedule, it means we will be brewing round the clock for two days in a row inorder to get er done and keep the hops fresh. I’m not looking forward to the 3 AM side of life but days like these don’t come along that often. We’ll suck it up and brew like mad men to make sure we can supply High Tide to as many of our distributors as possible.Next week, we’ll get our second set of Fresh Hops in and we’ll then move the beer to the conditioning tank where we will dry hop (Wet fresh hop?) these two very large batches of beer. About one week later, we will start the bottling process and hopefully have beer ready to go in late September. I can’t wait for this beer to be back on tap. It is so fresh and hoppy.Now, I would also like to point out that the guys went out to Sheldon’s Field today and helped pick his hops. And, rather then take our locally grown hops and burn them out in the big batches of High Tide, we have decided to do a special extra dry hopped version of Hop 15. This will be a growler only beer available at the brewery. First year hop plantings don’t yield enough hops for our batch size. However, it would appear that we have enough to dry hop an extra special small batch of Hop 15 which seems like fun to me. Look for this version of Hop 15 to be on tap at the brewery on Friday September 19, 2008.For those of you who happen to come by and visit the brewery this week, please be kind to our brewers. We’re going to be conducting our very own sleep deprivation experiment. I for one am staring about 70 hours of work in the face. If we happen to be having a conversation and I fall asleep in a fit of narcolepsy, please don’t take it personally. Weeks like this come around very infrequently but at the end of it all, it’s so worth it. High Tide is coming! Go tell it on the mountain, Ralph and Ralph are Hop Gods and in them we trust when it comes time to make our beloved High Tide.

Apparently Our Angel’s Speak the Queen’s English

On Wednesday morning at 4:30 AM I was rustled from my sleep by the sound of my Blackberry roaring to life with incoming emails. Apparently, something was VERY important. Turns out, it was. I rolled over and flicked the scroll wheel of fortune on my PDA to find an email from Jolly Old England announcing that we were big winners (tell me something I didn’t already know I thought to myself).Our cask of Bourbon Angel’s Share was named Best in Show at the 2008 Great British Beer Festival in London and the emails (all 6 of them) confirmed this. All told, there were 46 casks of American Beer on display at the largest cask conditioned beer festival in the world and somehow, our beer was deeemed the best Yankee example. Bravo! Smashing! Cherrio I say! Well played… How efffin cool is that? As a big proponent of cask conditioned ale for all these years, it’s a nice feather in my cap to have sent beer across the pond and suceeded at such a high level. Considering our casks nearly went to Africa and back, it makes it doubly cool.I am also going to take a moment to congratulate the first runner up my buddy Matt who is the brewer at Mayflower Brewing Company. It’s pretty impressive that the first and second place beers came from two breweries who have been in business a whopping three years combined! Perhaps the coolest part of the award (for Matt and myself) is that Northern Arizona University can no lay claim to being a great brewing school. It’s a little known fact that Matt and I both attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff (at the same time no less)! As such, it is certain that NAU should start rewriting their promotional literature for propsective students to include an underground brewing culture that ferments world class brewers. Or as of Wednesday, at the very least it graduates brewers who understand the art of cask conditioning.If you throw in Jim Roper (Brewer at 4 Peaks in Tempe, Arizona) you end up with a great cask conditioning class. Somedays, I laugh when I think of the three of us in school at the same time. And to think, Flagstaff didn’t get a brewpub until my senior year of college. I’ve considered after talking to them that it’s even possible we had a class or two together. And to think, none of us declared a science as our major. Yet, I can’t help but think it might be time for Moms and Dads to send their aspiring brewers to Northern Arizona University. Clearly, there was something in that Flagstaff water that produced three pretty good brewers.Congratulations Matt. You deserve the kudos (even the ironic ones that come from a Brewery named Mayflower Brewing Company sending beer east and winning). As for us, we’re ecstatic that our Angel’s speak proper English. Lord knows the rest of us around here certainly don’t. Sage asked me for a quote last night about this victory for the press release. I went with the vanilla ”It feels good.” He pressed for something a little more savory.I don’t think I emerged with a brilliant enough quote for him. He said it was like pulling teeth with me (if he only knew how much laughing gas I was on). True I replied. But, I reminded him that we never send beer out the door without wanting to impress. At the end of the day, The Angel’s Share is one of those beers. Sure, we could have fired up two casks of Wipeout IPA and they would have tied some taste buds. But, I made a decision that day. Some guys are happy to be invited. Us, we aim to knock down the door like an uninvited cousin on Thanksgiving.Yesterday was a good day. We got great news from England and Chicago. Both were about Real Ale. I also learned at 4:30 AM Pacific Standard Time that the Angel’s working out in the brewery speak the Queen’s English. Apparently they aim to please here and abroad as well. So last night, I decided that I should aim to please my taste buds and reward myself for a days hard work. I fired up the Ipod, hit play on Yellow Submarine and swam my way through a bottle of 2006 Angel’s Share. I suppose I should apologize to the Queen Mum today for my actions or at least my Karaoke laced singing. Nah, that would take all the fun out of it.

Happy Birthday America- Can I get A Stella Artois please…

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.

From the Dis-information department

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

Ne Goeien Saison

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.

Brouwer’s Imagination Saison

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.

Isabelle Proximus is coming!

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.

Congratulations

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 StoutSilver Ribbons- Veritas 003, Cable Car, Older Viscosity, Gift of the MagiBronze Ribbon- Red PoppyNot 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 2nd 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.

I’m Back…

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 imagining 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.

Who would you invite to dinner?

The premise for this Blog was thrown out there by my good friend Stan at Appellationbeer.com. He asked for us to put together a list of 4 people you would invite to dinner and what would you serve them. Clearly, I could write one of these per day and not be done after one month.But when I got down to it, this is the first one that I wrote. I may work on more as the month goes on. It’s a fun question to say the least.William Shakespeare- First of all, I feel like I have read enough of his stuff to actually “know” the man. The burning question I have, is did he really pen all those poems and plays. As I have not lately to Padua come, but many of his greatest characters and play were set in Italy, I would offer an Italian Beer- Wayan from Casa Baladin to be served with the first course consisiting of Mixed Green Salad with a Citric Orange Balsamic, sliced apples and candied pecans alongside Maytag Blue Cheese. Italy is home to many great characters like some of Shakespeare’s best and I would love to share my stories of Lorenzo and Theo with him.Next up would be Adolphus Busch- Lord knows he isn’t the first person that comes to mind when you think beer and food. Maybe it’s his fault. I’m certainly not fond of having to call a beer Czechvar for no good reason. But, I think it would be a challenge to show him that American and Beer don’t mean just his. And lately, I have grown tired of the new AB slogan that touts Budweiser as “The Great American Lager.” As such, I would have to show my new good friend Adolphus the errors of his ways by sharing either a Victory Prima Pils or a Sly Fox Pikeland Pils (it comes in a can so bonus points for that).With this course, I would serve Baja Style Beer Battered and deep fried Fish Tacos. I believe that these Gentlemen would enjoy a regional specialty dish. The Cilantro on top of the tacos combined with the cheese and beer batter would be a seamless pairing for these two Greater American Lagers.Third on the list would be Brian Wilson. Every beer dinner needs a neurotic or brooding sort. Who better than Brian Wilson the front man of the Beach Boys? Clearly, his life hit Rock Bottom and he has rebounded. Like many, I am enamored with Pet Sounds and would spin that album during this course so that we could talk nuances and symphonic cord progressions. I would also let William dive into the lyrical mind set of a genius at work from another Genre.For Dinner, we would have Rack of Lamb. By now, I would hope that Bill Shakespeare was drunk enough to invoke the Falstaffian Muse and allow one of his greatest characters to join us for Merry food and pots of ale. Rack of Lamb would be Rosemary infused and glazed with a light plum sauce. We would have some fingerling potatoes and seasonal roasted root vegetables. It would be a heavy course but certainly one for the senses. The beer would be Lost Abbey 10 Commandments. This dark farmhouse ale is founded on Caramelized raisins, honey and Rosemary and pairs incredibly well with this sort of dish.Lastly, I would hope to have Thomas Jefferson on hand. It’s no secret that he and George Washington were fans of Ale. I choose Jefferson as I picture him to be one hell of an orator. Beer and food is about conversation. Why wouldn’t you want one of our Fore Fathers there to show them that the foundations of liberty they provided echoes true today in the beers that we produce.As dinner was incredibly filling, I would skip dessert. And, while I am not a smoker, I would certainly think that Cigars would be in order. This is mostly due to a desire to sit back and watch some incredible writers, thinkers and movers converse about most likely all things not beer. With that in mind, we would offer a selection of beers for the cigars. They would be Sam Adams Utiopias, Dogfishead World Wide Stout and Avery The Beast. Any of these would get us through a long evening of rich dialogue. All of them together could start a revolution. Or maybe they already have?

The Angel’s Release Party

Over the weekend, we rolled out the 2007 Brandy Barrel Aged bottling of The Angel’s Share. Since we first released this beer in November of 2006, it has become a media darling, an online tradeable commodity and for some, a profit center. Some beers just have all the luck I suppose.Many of our most passionate fans and locals have been eagerly awaiting the 2007 version as their 2006 stocks have been depleted. For this years batch, we extended the contact time on the oak by 2 months and we used the Brandy Barrels from the first batch a second time. These freshly emptied barrels will now be moving sideways into our Cuvee program where we hope to gain some more complexity from the newly emptied barrels and their spiritous remains. It’s good news for Cuvee fans as more barrels equals more bottles each year.I’m going to keep this blog way shorter than most. Essentially, I am exhausted from the weekend and don’t feel too much like writing. Yet, I wanted to make a point to thank everyone (in print) who volunteered for the weekend to help us successfully release the 2007 bottling.Here’s the most important details for consumers then:The 2007 Brandy Barrrel Aged Angel’s Share yielded 173 cases of 12 x 750ml cork finished bottles. This years batch can be delineated from last years batch through the inclusion of Copper Foil on the labels. All of our barrel aged beers will now include Foiling enabling consumers to buy with confidence. Next year, in 2008, we will begin Vintage dating our specialty releases as well.This past weekend we sold 15 case of beer to our Patron Saints locally. These were picked up on Friday. We also sold 16 cases to our non San Diego base Patron Saints through our e commerce on Friday as well. On Saturday, we sold 75 cases of The Angel’s Share to the general population. The doors opened at 10AM and by 2 PM. We were out of beer. We also have reserved 28 cases from our Barrel Aged Beer tasting that we did back in September. Each ticket holder from that night got to reserve their 6 bottles of The Angel’s Share without having to worry about standing in line.All told we have 134 cases that have been spoken for. We also will be selling two cases each to some of the better specialty beer bars in San Diego. This will take us to about 150 cases for this release. The other 23 cases will be used for promotional work and beer dinners and our brewers cellar. It’s simply amazing to me that so much beer can disappear so quickly. But it did. And, it would not have done so without the help of our amazing volunteer(s) at the brewery.I wanted to finish today by taking some time to thank all those people who helped us make Saturday a spirited and uneventful release. Prior to the release on Saturday Mary Jo and our Webmaster David compiled Excel files allowing us to categorize and supply Patron Saints with beer. David also executed the online sales flawlessly.On Saturday morning, I was first met at the brewery by Damian and Lona. You should all know who Lona is, as she was the one who logged everyone in. Damian personally stacked all 75 cases in the lobby and then assisted in making like Santa on Christmas day.Tim showed up next and made sure that we were ready to roll during the crush of the morning. He also alerted me to the ebay post on the bottles from this release. Mary Jo and Adam showed up a few minutes later and I walked them through the system I had prepped, hoping it would handle the long day ahead. They were soon joined on the front line by Terri and Sage. Many of you should thank the “beer fairy” and Angel who slung beers all day. Gina rolled in shortly thereafter and we had a crew in place to handle it all.When we opened the doors at 10AM I didn’t know if we had enough staff to handle the eager consumers. After about 1/2 hour it was easy to see that our preparation was paying off. All told, it took most people less than an hour of standing in line to get their beer. We kept meticulous counts on who was buying, how many beers they were buying and throughout it all, our concern was always the people at the back of the line.I’m proud of our system and the way it worked. It isn’t rocket science or FBI tight. But it’s a system that we now know works and we can improve on. Yet, the reason I wrote this post is that I’m frankly veryproud of everyone who busted their ass on Saturday to ensure a smooth operation. There were only three “true paid” employees working the release that day. But, everyone else working isn’t doing it for money. Nope, they love beer. And that’s exactly the kind of help any young company needs. So next time we release something special, take a look around and spend a moment to say thanks to the people helping you. We all need a little beer Karma from time to time. Even the elves at Christmas time.

And away they go…Port Brewing San Marcos+ The Lost Abbey

Hey,It’s me. You know that balding guys ego. He’s asleep right now and he neglected to blog about his beers so I thought I would do it for him.I’ve said it before and it bears repeating, I don’t show up in Denver to loose. Sure that’s a hell of a statement but why wouldn’t you want to win? It’s the biggest and most prestigious event in the United States. Each year, we send 8 beers and every single time we enter, I expect that 50% of them will medal. Clearly, that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself. But hey, that’s what egos are for…This year is certainly no different as we have again entered 8 beers. I’d like to stand here and tell you that all 8 are medal worthy but that simply isn’t the case. Tomme waited all week to post this because he thought some of the beers sent were incredible unique. That’s him you know- Fearless. I think he’s stupid too. But that’s just me. The ego keeping things real.If you’re reading this, the judging sessions have all ended and all that is left is the awards ceremony today where we get to see how well breweries have done this year. This year, the Great American Beer Festival judged over 2800 beers in 75 separate categories. First up for Port Brewing Co will be category #7 and the place where we have placed Judgment Day. This is the Specialty Beer category and beers in this division require unique fermentables. Judgment Day is made with raisins and finds itself being measured against 16 other beers. This one made Jeff’s list.He could be right! Three years ago, at Tomme’s insistance, Eric Rose entered a Belgian Style Dubbel with Raisins in this category and went on to win the Gold Medal. It was his first ever GABF Medal. The judges have shown an inclination to accept the merits of brewing with raisins as a unique ferementable and without a doubt, Judgment Day is a beast of a beer in that department. If we hit the board with our first entry, we may hit the ground running and never look back.Up next, we have # 11 Experimental Beers with 35 Entries. Here, Tomme has entered one of his numerous small batch blends called Veritas 002.He is very excited to be sending a beer in this category. When he thinks of all the beers and flavors he wants to create, this is what it is all about. Often, this is a wide open field with too many unknowns to handicap well. Veritas 002 is no different. It is a collaborative blend of sour barrel aged beer, Redstone Black Raspberry Nectar and Old Viscosity. This is a unique drinking experience. Even me, his ego, loves it!Yet, not one of our tasting panelists picked this as a medal winning creation. As his ego, I was crushed. He tells me to get over it. I don’t know if I can. Each liked the creation for its perspective but none wanted to endorse it. I am personally enamored with its ego stretching boundaries and am thankful he sent it. Based upon last night, so are many of the beer drinkers on the floor.After the Experimental Beers, we’ll catch our breath for about 30 seconds waiting for Category # 12 and the newly created category known as American Wild Ales with 12 Entries. A brewer friend of Tomme’s recently said they probably created this category with Tomme and Vinnie in mind. As his ego, I couldn’t agree more as this is exactly the sort of category that Vinnie and Tomme can do well in.Cable Car has been called many things since it was released earlier this summer. John Hansell of Malt Advocate Magazine tabbed it as the “best American Sour ale I have ever had…” Since it was blended, I have watched Tomme tell people in no uncertain terms that he feels it is the best bottle of beer he has ever produced. And trust me, he ain’t taken to hyperbole often. That’s my job!Cable Car was a special blend of three oak barrels which was created for the Dave Keene and the world famous Toronado at 547 Haight Street. Dave Keene will be in the audience today and should this beer medal, Tomme has promised to drag Dave Keene on stage with him. Tomme told me last night if is only going to win one award this year, he wants this one so that Dave can see the stage from another perspective. Both Vinnie and Bagby have stated the same. Let’s hope we go trifecta on the Toronado beers and give Dave an amazing day.Once we have ridden the Cable Car to its destination, we’ll focus our efforts to Category 16 Wood and Barrel Aged Sour Beers with 20 entries including our world famous Cuvee de Tomme. The Cuvee has gone dark in the last few years lurking seemingly beneath a burdening shadow of greatness.I’d like to see this one make like Lazarus and rise from the dead. It remains one of the most uniquely produced American Beers out there. This batch is the first batch we ever blended for bottling and it remains to be seen if the sum total is greater than any of its parts. This is another new category created for Tomme and Vinnie and it looks like we’re crapshooting here. I like this beer. I just hope we’re not left wondering how we’re ever going to get back on the podium with this one.Post Cuvee, we’ll slumber through Lager Land waking only long enough to cheer for PBR and Mickey’s all the while waiting to see if Sandlot can go Big Time like before and sweep through the lagers as in the past. I don’t think it will happen. There are just getting to be too many beers for this to go their way again.After the Lagers, we’ll watch Pizza Port make it’s stretch run through the Ale categories. Our next beer will be in Category #45 with Hop 15. This is the biggest Dog that we have sent. It will easily get its ASS kicked by better more deserving beers. I hate typing that but it’s true.It’s a production nightmare to make this beer in San Marcos and we’ve been chasing this beer all summer. For those of you playing along at home, we promise to get Hop 15 back to the podium. It is a damn fine beer. But if you’re betting the farm on one of our beers, just remember with Hop 15, I don’t drive tractors either.After Hop 15 gets trounced(by Jeff and Vinnie), we’ll sit back and cheer through Belgian Beer land as our friends pick up the slack. We’ll pause at Category 62 for Belgian Style Specialty Ales with 58 entries including and our Ten Commandments. This is our Anniversary beer made with Blackened Raisins and Rosemary. It doesn’t really fit a “true” style guideline and it really only “sorta” fits here.At the tasting, this beer fired like an uncaged sprinter and never let up. The problem is, that even though this beer exudes confidence, like me, this category sets up more often than not of late to smash individualism. We’ll remain committed to making this great batch of beer even if we never find a home for it at the GABF.It’s possible that we could catch a flyer on uniqueness and earn extra points for subtle spicing but in the end, Tomme’s pretty sure we’ll get passed over. If it wins, he’s promised to High Five Jeff for a beer finally getting its due. It remains to this day, one of their most inspired and well thought out beers even though it never seems to win anything. A vote for Myopia then?Oh CRAP! He just woke up…I’m posting now without finishing this blog. I hope he doesn’t mind. Me, I love being his ego. It’s a pretty cool job with tons of fringe benefits. Sometimes, I wonder what life would be like if I had a sucky ego job?

give me money

And away they go…Part two

As we move south from San Clemente, we make a short detour in Carlsbad to visit the 10 beers that Jeff Bagby is sending to the festival this year. My liver was threatening to go Screen Actors Guild on my ass and require a stunt double to get through this side of the tasting. My agent of liquid refreshment calmed him down. For those playing along at home, Jeff tallied 5 medals last year. Most expect that he’ll “fall” back resting on his laurels if you will to only 3-5 this time. I’m in the 3-4 camp myself.First pony out of the gates for Carlsbad was:Good Grief Brown Ale: This beer was on top of the world at the San Diego County Fair competition in June. A great English Style Brown Ale with loads of depth. Unilike little boy Chuck who never seems to actually make contact with that ball, Jeff booted this recipe straight through the uprights. Unfortunately, this one may find him more on his back this time. A great beer that lacks “La Cruda.” Ask me why…the psychiatrist is in. .05 cents please.Port Truck Stout: This is essentially the same recipe as the Seaside Stout that is brewed in Solana Beach. It is an awesome Dry Irish Stout when it fires. This one is so close to being perfect. We loved the finishing power of this beer. This category can be quite the dog and pony show but I like some of Jeff’s other beers better. Would be in my Superfecta pix with a nod to sympathy and the recipe I love.Great American Brown: This is a recipe that Jeff developed to send to the GABF for the first time last year. Guess what? It won. Seems to have all the properties required of a winner. It’s on my list of beers with ??? marks which is better than the ones I wrote nothing about. Maybe for some. I’m ambivalent which means I’ll pass at this time.Sticky Stout: The beer that “shocked” the world last year. This is basically your Gold Medal American Stout winner. Anybody else remember the two headed monster of Noah on Jeff’s Shoulders across the stage? Don’t expect the monster this year. Noah moved on to San Clemente…Could this be Yiga’s Year? Me thinks so. Go for Gold.Sharkbite Red Ale: Jeff has pretty much owned some version of the Red/Amber/Imperial Red category since he was with me in Solana Beach and then on his own at Oggis. The man knows Red Ales. Me, I am raising a Red Head. Either way, they’re both special and his beer shines. I’m reserving the right to say I told you so. But, I am not betting this one as I want to wager on other beers. A Sunday favorite with the others.Beech Street Bitter: Jeff knows hops. Really, he does. This is an example of great skill with those little cones. An English Style IPA that brought home the eggs and bacon last year. I am calling for a two peat. A very tasty beer worthy of our judges attention this week. Bank on this one. I am.Wipeout IPA: Your basic well hopped American Style IPA. I liked the taste of this beer. Hard to find ways to stand out in a sea of 120 beers. This one has potential. It has won in the past and is poised. Although, if I am betting IPA, I go San Clemente by a nose. A very small nose indeed.Poor Man’s IPA: This was your runner up last year to Pliny the Elder in the double IPA category. Since Vinnie built in Santa Rosa, we’ve pretty much all been Pliny’s Bitch (even me once). That being said, I am staking my handicapping skills that this is the year that Pliny takes a half step back so that a Poor Old Working Man can bring home the goods. Gold Medal. Nothing else matters here.Hop Suey: It’s a little known fact that a Pizza Port based Double IPA has won a medal at the GABF every year since they launched the category some 5 years ago. No other brewery can make that claim. This beer has never won but damnit it should. With that being said, Jeff wins two medals in the same category this year. Gold and Bronze. This beer wreaks. It wreaks like Fuzzy Bud. Very Fuzzy indeed.547 Haight Street: The world famous Toronado had a 20th anniversary party this past summer. Perhaps you sampled this monster then? If so, you’d know like me, this is a WHOA Joey Lawrence sort of beer. I like it. I prefer the Shark Attack more. However, the sentimentality kicks in here. There are at least 3 of the Toronado 20th Anniversary beers entered in the competition. Would be pretty kick ass to see all three win. It could happen.That’s it for Carlsbad. Jeff owned the Pizza Port Stage last year. I don’t see any reason for slowing down. It may not be 5…3 certainly wouldn’t suck. The cream rises to the top. Here’s hoping the Carlsbad boys have the ability to rise above the altitude one more time.By my count 3-5 medals. I am taking the middle road of 4.

And away they go…Part one

It’s that time of year. The Grand daddy of all brewing competitions is upon us. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your brewing engines. It’s fall and the kids are back in school. It must be time for the Great American Beer Festival.If you are a professional brewer, chances are, you have had October 13th 2007 circled on your calendar since May. Today, hundreds of brewers, sales rep and owners will convene in Denver to see how well their beers stack up in what the late Michael Jackson once dubbed “the most well organized and professional of all beer competitions.” He’s right you know.Each and every summer, brewers like me register for this grand spectacle wanting the same thing- to win and win big. It’s simple really. This is the olympics of beer and if you’re like me, you want to do well on this grand stage.Each year, we are required to submit our bottled beers for evaluation by the judges. This year, the judges will sort through some 2800 beers in 75 different categories. It’s an arduous task to say the least.It’s become a tradition for the brewers of Pizza Port and Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey to save extra bottles not sent for evaluation so that we can sample them before we leave to gauge our chances at winning. This past Sunday, October 7th (my birthday), we did just this.As there are 3 Pizza Port locations plus the Port Brewing Facility, we were staring some 34 beers that needed to evaluated. These beers ranged from German Wheats, through a realm of IPA’s and finally culminated in Strong beers and Experimental Offerings all told, it was a crazy tasting.I thought I would share with our readers the notes from our evaluations and offer what we think is a glimpse into the possibilities we envision for Saturday during the awards ceremony. In this role, I am acting like a handicapper at the track and giving you my thoughts on our beers and their relative chances of landing us in “the money.” So without further ado, here is the list of the beers and their chances.Pizza Port San Clemente:T Street Wheat- Nice beer with redeeming qualities. Tough category. Beer could use more body and yeast properties= We prefer othersBa Donka Dunkel- Somewhat tired sample (brewed in May). At its peak, this had a chance. Will be running at the finish. Just not in the same direction as the medal winners.Chronic- A perrenial favorite of Amber beer drinkers along the coast. I have never been a fan of this beer. It shows promise after getting a slight tweak earlier this year. Competition in this category is spotty and often sets up for the new guy. Me, not convinced enough yet.Pier Rat Porter- A powerhouse beer with ample hops and interest. Should get very close to coming all the way with this one. I fear the hop presences but it might not be enough to trip up this black stallion. It gets a nod on my sheet as one to beat and will end up in the money.Pig Dog Pale Ale- This one underwhelmed the tasting panel. Great recipe but out of sorts in the bottle right now. If you feel like going 75-1 to win be my guest. I’ve got others requiring my attention.El Camino IPA- The biggest field in the competition with 120 entries. This is almost a never win proposition. Except, this beer has its merits. A very solid entry that would not suprise finding its way home.DoHeny Double IPA- This recipe has proven in the past that it can play with the biggest of big boys taking home a gold medal 4 years ago. It certainly has that look in its eyes this year. I prefered the Carlsbad beers and somebody is going to have to take down Pliny. Looks promising but I think it will fall just short.Way Heavy- Rough like a young colt. Given some more time to mature and seasoning, it’s a major score. We like this one for the spring edition of World Beer Cup. Not today. But you heard it hear first. April of 08 is when we’ll loosen the purse strings and take a chance that they too will be “way heavier” at World Beer Cup.That’s it on the San Clemente Pizza Port front. When the dust settles, It is my opinion that Noah will have earned his first GABF solo medal and will truly come to understand the difficulty of this competition. I almost never put my money in first year head brewers to do well. It’s a brutal environment.San Clemente Pizza Port equals one GABF Medal in 2007

The Crossroads

Welcome to the Crossroads.It’s 2007. We are in the midst of what many are calling the most amazing time in the history of beer in our country. So my friends, welcome to the Crossroads of American Brewing. In 30 short years, we have bolted from the basement of brewing and have catapulted ourselves into a pool of the most diverse and progressive thinking brewers in the world. We’ve left our storied but diluted American Brewing History behind us. Now we are fully united as a nation of loose cannons firing shots across every sacred brewing bow in the world. And you know what? It feels good.Actually, it feels better than good. Why? Because some of the most creative and interesting beers are being made right here in my proverbial backyard.Sure there is a measure of egotistical Americana involved in a statement such as that. But it’s true. In the last 30 years, we have gone through a revolution of brewing from 65 breweries to over 1400- the likes of which we may never see again. During this transition from pallid watered down lagers to more uniquely American full flavored ales and lagers, we have witnessed the rise of an American Brewing Scene which is inspiring brewers from here to Timbuk 2.We’ve resurrected styles of beer that were headed the way of the Woolly Mammoth. Extinction is not in our nature as brewers. We believe that our beers live and breathe and that somewhere, even if in a remote corner of South Dakota, there is a consumer who needs our beers. And these days, it seems like there really is a need for these beers.The internet has fueled a global trading empire for the smallest batch beers. It’s impressive to see beers from Norway and Denmark routinely show up on our bar during samplings. It’s not like that guy walked into his local 7 Eleven and asked them to replace Natty Light. Or did he? I’m starting to see our Wipeout IPA in 22 oz bottles on the shelves of 7 Elevens. I think Global Warming might be causing Hell to slip into some sort of Beer induced perma-freeze? It’s crazy. And at the same time, It’s down right exciting.So, today I feel like I am truly standing at the Crossroads of American Brewing. We may finally have reached the proverbial Tipping Point- that one place and moment in time where things shift for the better and only later can we look back and view the momentous accomplishments with better clarity. Sir Isaac Newton once proclaimed, “If I have seen further. It is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”A solidified beer foundation has been laid by the pioneers and those who blazed the malted trails before us. These breweries are fully invested and dot the new American Beer landscape. In 30 short years our roads have been carved, paved and continually stretched by the great brewers at Sierra Nevada, Anchor, Widmer, Goose Island, Alaskan Brewing Co and numerous others. And they continue to innovate, experiment and refine their beers ensuring they are delivering a World Class beer at every turn. These are the beers of My American Breweries. These are the beers I think of when I hear the words American Beer.And for that, I am thankful to have reached the Crossroads when I did. But the coolest thing about Crossroads is that they have several paths leading in and out of the same intersection. In this way, each brewer wandering down the path that is known as American Brewing has an opportunity to set out in differing directions. This is my favorite part of reaching this intersection. Every time you get there, you always get to make a decision about which direction to set off in.It was inevitable that we would all meet here. When you’re working to grow the whole category of better beer, a party is bound to break out when you start to reap what you have sowed. Today, I see American Craft Beers standing squarely shoulder to shoulder, like giants, at the Crossroads. Our growth numbers are staggering and Americans are clearly embracing flavor and all the excitement our beers offerDuring the last 30 years, we have honed our craft and without fail, we have educated the consumer all the while keeping our feet squarely on the accelerator of flavor. In this way, we are consistently delivering new experiences seemingly on a minute by minute basis. Yet, there are always new crusaders joining our cause. The result is that now that we have reached the Crossroads, we get to greet our new fellow brewers who have journeyed to this place as well.Five years ago, there was no Surly Brewing Co. Captain Lawrence Brewery was only an idea in Scott Vacaro’s mind. And, 60 months ago, there were only a few pieces of scribbles on paper regarding this Lost Abbey. Yet, some of these brewers and their beers now dot the landscape of American Brewing. Don’t for a moment think that people haven’t noticed.So now that many of us have reached this great place known in my world as The Crossroads, it is our duty to offer assistance to those who have come with good intentions. Those seeking The Crossroads like a miracle diet pill will find only a placebo in their quest. For the Crossroads are not found on a marketing map. You can’t ask a focus group for directions and if you happen to find it mistakenly by the Grace of God, don’t be surprised if an Italian Brewer from Delaware asks you to point your car back in the direction you came from. It was a long tiring road to get here.We’ve earned the right to be a little arrogant about our beers. Seriously, no where else in the world can you find this level of diversity being exercised at this highest of qualities. In 30 years, we have scaled a massive mountain and we did it by blazing our own trail. Many of us will be seen as the Giants Newton alluded to. But you’ll need to excuse me for a moment as I am not ready to retire just yet. You see the thing about explorers is that they are always looking for the next adventure.This means that when the time comes to part our ways, we’ll set off going back in a direction possibly from whence we came or potentially, one that we hadn’t realized even existed. Now that I have found this place, I have come to the conclusion that while I like the paths currently leading into and out of it, I typically much prefer the road less traveled.So, if you see a semi bald brewer wearing board shorts, flip flops wielding and a Chainsaw. Fear not. You have found the fearless author of this tome. Every explorer needs the right tools to navigate his or her way. A chainsaw may be the one piece of equipment that allows me to see the forests from the trees. If you want to meet me at this proverbial intersection, I am always in need of companions. Just make sure you bring enough gasoline to keep the Chainsaw running. As a wise Carpenter once opined, ”We’ve only just begun.”

Barrel Room Update

We’ve been open for business for over a year. Hooray Beer!!! When we started this Lost Abbey project, we envisioned a barrel room like no other barrel room we had ever seen in a brewery. With this in mind, we created a sanctuary off to the side of our tasting altar. In this catacomb like room, we stacked row after row of oak barrels inside. It took us almost 6 months to get all 90 barrels full of beer. The good news is that now that all 90 barrels are full, we have acquired some 40 more barrels bringing our total to 130 Oaken Opportunities.About a year ago, when we opened for business, the questions flowed. “How long does the beer sit in the barrels? How many different beers will you be releasing? Does this mean there will be more Cuvee available?” We still get these questions on a regular basis so I thought I would address them here.First, we are producing the following beers from the barrel room at least once a year.Cuvee de Tomme- Currently 9 oak barrels filled- anticipated release date is November of 2007.Older Viscosity- Currently 10 oak barrels filled- anticipated release date is September of 2007.The Angel’s Share(the Brandy Version)- Currently 9 oak barrels filled- anticipated release date is September of 2007Red Poppy Ale- Currently 4 oak barrels filled- anticipated release date is October of 2007.There are also many unique creations that will see the light of day as they mature. So far, we have released some En Garde, Amazing Grace and shortly there will be a special release for the members of our Patron Saints Club.There are a bunch of randomly filled barrels that we will experiment with as we work on blending of casks for future projects. But let’s tackle some of the questions.First, most of the beers in the barrel room will remain in oak for no less than one year. The Angel’s Share and Older Viscosity barrels are typically ready in 6-12 months. The other beers(sour versions) require something more akin to the patience of Job and as such I tell people 12-18 months. For those playing along at home, this is important as we have recently celebrated our 12 month anniversary. The next six months will be about selecting the best barrels and creating awesome blends. I for one am very excited about this.Recently(at our anniversary party) we tapped a cask of The Angel’s Share that was aged in a Bourbon barrel. It was very well received. So well received that I have relented and brewed a batch of The Angel’s Share that will be finished in Bourbon Barrels and sold next year. This way, we can offer two versions of the same beer but with differing wood finishes.This notion of multiple wood finishes is quite common in the whiskey world and is something that I had hoped to adopt at The Lost Abbey. It seems that our Angel’s Share was a natural fit. In the future, we may even look at 1-2 more finishes for this beer if we feel it is justified.This past weekend, our patrons had to duck between the rows of the new oak barrels in order to get to our altar. The questions starting flowing as soon as they were seated. “What are you going to put in the new barrels? Can we expect more Cuvee? What is the first beer you will put in them?”The answers are Yes, more Cuvee. We will be working on a few new projects(that we aren’t willing to discuss right now) and the answer to the other question is Duck Duck Gooze will be the first beer in the pipeline. Just remember that it will be 18 months before this one gets released so we’re looking at January of 2009.It’s funny to be talking about beer 18 months out. Not many people and brewers are writing schedules for this far in advance. Most beer takes 9 days to make not 500 plus days. Maybe I will start speaking in terms of seasons like a farmer. (Holding a bottle)- “Now, this one here took seven seasons to get from tank to glass…” Oops. I forgot, we live in San Diego where there aren’t any seasons.That’s it for the update. Thanks for listening. Apparently, it’s barrel filling season here at The Lost Abbey. We have tons of work to do(nothing new there). And at the end of the day, we won’t even know what these beers will taste like until 2009. Strange But True. Welcome to my World

Sydney’s First Birthday

TodayWas my daughter’s first birthday. She’s now a whopping 365 days old. That makes her sound so much older. Almost old enough to drink Old Viscosity- which I maintain is certainly not her favorite adult libation… or her father’s for that matter!!!Tonight, we’re celebrating. We’re celebrating that after 365 days on this great planet, she’s accomplished some cool things. Like for example, she knows how to pull on the tap handle that daddy points to. She’s yet to learn how to close “said” handle however, like most grown ups, she smiles with glee when the river runneth through said tap. As the maker of said river, I would interject here that it would make me happier only if she learned how to stop said water of life from flowing…details I tell you.For those of you who live in San Diego and visit our brewery, this comes as no surprise. Sydney is a frequent attendee at the alter of greatness we call Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey. She knows her stuff well. We expect her first words to be “world class” or perhaps “Gold Medal…” But then again she may have moved on to the business of life and be willing to blast off a “hey, you owe us $3.00 a pint…” We’re just not sure which way she leans yet. It will be sassy no matter which direction her tongue takes her.I have this bet with her mother that her first word will be LAMBIC. This is only due to the fact that Brettanomyces is too polysylabic. I’m holding that one back for our First Parent Teacher Conference Night.Um, “Mr. Arthur, did you know that Sydney broke off a Brettanomyces reference today…?” She did. That’s my girl!!! Did she make Vinnie proud and reference Pliny too?” I can’t wait. She’s not only a step ahead, she’s one and a half fake ID’s ahead as well. My daughter turned one today and she knows great beer and she knows it better than a one year old can(with apologies to Ava Rae Murray of Pizza Port Fame- who has yet to turn one year yet)!I for one, am looking forward to more conversational opportunities with her when we can discuss the merits of Avant Garde and Cheerios. Both sport a decidely “toasted” quality and at the same time have subtle nuances that need to be discussed on their own. She’s told me as much.Still, I felt it was important to stop for a moment and share this moment with all of you and especially her. So Sydney Happy Birthday. Your Daddy is very tired. He double brewed today. It won’t pay your tuition yet but that’s life. In honor of your birthday, he threw back a chocolate with chocolate frosting cupcake and a bottle of Deus. Certainly this was not a pairing made in heaven. But at the end of the day, a beer made in the Champagne Method needed to be drank. Cupcakes be damned!!!Happy first birthday my little one. Daddy has to go back to work now. Something tells me that college in 2025 won’t be cheap… I think I hear the Angel’s calling. What’s that, there’s a shortage of barrels? Someone tell the Dean, I have his check… I just need to sell a few more cases of the good stuff.

Happy Cinco de One Year Anniversary

It strikes me that if I was a crappy author who didn’t know better, I would start this blog with a half-ass line like…”Gee has it really been a year since we opened our doors? Where has the time gone?” That’s a fantastically original way of opening a piece. Perhaps I should opine or rip off a well worn opening…”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (with apologies to Dickens).Screw all that. I wanted to open my one year blog with a strong first sentence so here goes.I’m tired. Actually, I am exhausted.But things are seemingly getting better (that’s what I tell myself). In the last year, I have slept less than ever before. Worked harder than I even thought plausible and I have done it in the name of beer (our really great beer). And I wouldn’t give any of it back. This thing I do 24-7 consumes me in a way nothing else can. Some would call this work. But brewing beer really can’t be considered work. How many jobs do you know of when, if by 8:30 AM you’re not having a good day, you can auto-fix the problem by pulling a fresh pint? And if the first one doesn’t do the trick perhaps number two will.I’ve come to the realization that this is a lifestyle. One that is infused with copious amounts of passion and enthusiasm. It’s the perfect way to go through life without ever being bored. There’s just so much to see and so many people to meet that one can’t help being invigorated. And much of this energy comes from you the faithful members of The Lost Abbey clergy.By now, I realize that many of you have been paying attention and following along at home. I know this because when I see you each weekend, we reminisce about the week in the brewery and my travels here and abroad. Both come with great stories. Yet, I know that you have been listening each and every time I have enlightened you about our most recent accomplishments.Last May 6th, we opened the doors to a new brewery project. Some of you thought this would be a “sleepy” sort of operation. Since that first day, we have brewed almost 2,000 bbls of beer. We have filled some 100 oak barrels with the most interesting libations possible.During our first year we have filled these barrels with some great beers- many which haven’t even been released yet. And, we also managed to knock two barrel aged homeruns out of the park in our first year. Those of you lucky enough to sample the Older Viscosity and The Angel’s Share know where I am coming from. We made a major commitment to our barrel aged beers when we built that room. Thank God, it has churned out more great beers than Louisiana Hot Sauce.I often forget in the day-to-day bustle to stop and account for what it is we have accomplished or for that matter are attempting to accomplish. This weekend, we are releasing 3 new bottlings alone! This would be a whole year of specialty releases for other breweries. Nope not us. We just call it the month of May. I guess I really am crazy.I sat down tonight and popped a bottle of Lost and Found for my blog. It seemed so appropriate. There are many things that I have Lost this last year and so many things that I have Found. Besides, it’s a kick-ass abbey beer that I spent 10 years trying to get ”right.” And when I drink it, I know that I got it right.This weekend we are adding three new labels to the Lost Abbey line of beers. This brings us to a total of 15 new bottled Port Brewing beer offerings in our first year alone! That is seemingly some sort of death wish or the result of having a clueless loon at the helm of your ship. Breweries do not open their doors, release a whole new second brand of beers and at the same time find a way to package 15 different beers in bottles. Yet, that is exactly the thing that happened around here in our first year. I guess you could say we are resting on our laurels?Was this by design? Hardly. Was it a good idea? Um, did you read my strong opening? But at the end of the day, it was us. It was the Pizza Port of old and me the brewer of new with a bigger brewery on our hands. It’s been fun. It was challenging and at the same time, it’s incredibly ridiculous.It’s my notion that most breweries our size open their doors with a core set of 4 beers and then mix in a seasonal beer or two. But that just isn’t in our blood. Nope, Port Brewing decided that we needed a whole bunch of beers to keep me happy. I call it artistic indifference. You probably call it ADD. Last month, I opened my Celebrator magazine to see my name in print. Typically, this is a good thing.A British author who goes by the name Ben McFarland had this to say about me: “Tomme Arthur pushes more envelopes than a mailman on Crystal Meth.” At least he had the Meth part right. San Diego was the Crystal Meth Capitol of the United States for many years in the late 1980’s. But I don’t need artificial drugs and stimulants. I have you.It’s no secret to me that I am inspired on a regular basis by the people that I meet. Some of you more than others inspire me to reach levels of spontaneity that I didn’t know existed. In this way, you are MY oxygen. You breathe life into my world and sustain all of my creative needs. In every way possible, you act as my elements- the things I need to breathe each day. The sum of these elements in my life is my beer and the things we are able to accomplish at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey.Life ceases to function when we lose the ability to breathe. I for one am grateful for those of you who have joined our crusade. There are too many bad beers out there. It is our belief that we are all in this crusade together, and that working together, we can eradicate some of these bad beers.So a big fat thank you first and foremost to my partners. Gina, Jim and Vince- it has been a stupid first year. Here’s to many more where that one came from. To David our “web guy.” Thanks for holding and pulling together the strings that no one sees. You are the man who manipulates the Marionettes. Our Patron Saints and Sinners owe you big time. As do I.To the people who have volunteered, bottled, and everything else. My heartfelt gratitude to each of you. This place is big. So big, that I forget three people can’t always do the work of 6. To Terri and Sage. Is it my turn to pass out yet? Thanks for teaching me the true meaning of “Masterbrewing.” You’re my biggest fans and as we move forward, no one can replace what you have offered.To Josh Miner who has left us for Drakes Brewing Co. You’ll be missed. It’s a big building that needs help big time. Good luck with the new project and title. You know the phone number. I would be remiss if I didn’t offer a heartfelt thanks to the whole Pizza Port Brewcrew. These guys are the best brewers I know. I miss drinking with them on a regular basis.I wanted to thank the Friday nighters and the Saturday afternooners. McDuggle we’re going to miss you big guy. The pleasure is all mine to each of you who has enriched this project. We may need a bigger bar next year when it’s all said and done.Lastly, to my daughter Sydney. Those are taps. From them flows beer. This is the very liquid that infuses my body and one day will pay for your college. So smile at the nice people. Laugh and let them know how much you love Old Viscosity. Come to think of it, your daddy likes it too…Happy One year to all and to all a goodnight.