Named the Best Small Brewing Company in the world at the World Beer Cup when it opened in 2006, The Lost Abbey/Port Brewing Company dual-personality operation has continued to excel, especially the avant-garde, Belgian-inspired The Lost Abbey component. Acclaimed master of barrel-aging Tomme Arthur crafts sour, Brettanomyces-spiked, and liquor-laced beers of mind-boggling diversity. On the Port side, brilliantly hopped West Coast-style single and double IPAs rule the day. In 2015, acclaimed San Diego brewer Tomme Arthur launched The Hop Concept featuring The Hop Freshener Series, a hop-forward line of quarterly releases predicated on simplifying the way consumers understand the most popular style of craft beer — the India Pale Ale. Tonight, at 6 p.m., Arthur visits Peaks and Pints for a night of all three breweries. We constructed a beer flight in his honor — Craft Beer Crosscut 12.1.17: A Flight of Tomme Arthur.
The Lost Abbey Gnoel de Abbey
8.5% ABV
The Lost Abbey’s seasonal Gnoel de Abbey is a fresh take on the winter warmer. Partially aged in bourbon barrels means it drinks like roasted chestnut-flavored coffee that’s been respectfully spiked with bourbon. Beginning with aromas of freshly brewed espresso, Gnoel has hints of cocoa, vanilla, holiday spice, finishing with a crisp coffee bitterness. The body is so light that we forget we’re drinking a barrel-aged beer.
Port Brewing High Tide Fresh Hop IPA
6.5% ABV, 60 IBU
Tomme Arthur grabbed enough fresh hop Simcoe and Amarillo to can his High Tide Fresh Hop IPA, which he ages in the can for a few months to help the hops blend seamlessly. The nose is still strong with green hops. It’s a citrusy IPA drenched in notes of tangerine and stone fruit from the judicious amounts of Simcoe and Amarillo hops, finishing with a crisp hop bite and a smooth piney finish, thanks to Centennial hops.
Port Brewing Wipeout
7.5% ABV, 78 IBU
Tomme Arthur’s version of a West Coast India Pale Ale brewed in the San Diego style; Wipeout IPA gets its attitude and flavor from Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade and CTZ hop varietals. While the hops are vibrant and dank, there is just enough pale malt to balance the resinous finish. It’s a classic West Coast Amarillo/C hopped IPA with fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/pine hops and moderate bready malt flavors with a aggressively bitter/drying finish.
The Hop Concept Tropical & Juicy
8.5% ABV, 85 IBU
The Hop Concept’s Tropical and Juicy double IPA garners its namesake flavor profile by concentrating on Mosaic, Galaxy, Vic Secret and Citra hop varietals. Well-blended citrus and tropical fruit — orange, lemon and pineapple — as well as pine hits the nose. On the tongue, expect grapefruit juice notes and some orange — sweet but not too sweet. It’s an intensely bitter DIPA with strong citrus character, a nice nose and flavor and well balanced.
Port Brewing Hop-15 Ale
11% ABV, 182 IBU
First brewed in 2002 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Pizza Port in Solana Beach, California, Port Brewing‘s Hop 15 was imagined and designed by Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby. The two brewers dumped 15 different hop varieties to the beer every 15 minutes for an award-winning double IPA with a huge hop flavor of tropical and stone fruits. Bolstered by a spicy hop finish, this Hop 15 offers orange marmalade and ripe mango with pine and pepper and resin, providing a thorough tour through Hopville without allowing any element to dominate.
