w/Tomme Arthur and Vince Marsaglia
2/6/07
Monk's Cafe
The beers of Tomme Arthur
coming out of Pizza Port Solana Beach have been known around the world
and have won awards too numerous to count. Tomme's imaginative use of Brett,
hops and fruit have made for some of the best beers in the world. Well,
he has finally purchased the old Stone Brewery and transformed it into
Port Brewing Co. so that he can supply the markets that have clamored for
his creations for many years. His new line of brews are titled "The Lost
Abbey Series" and are available in 750ml bottles in select markets.
Once again, he has come
to Monk's to treat us to his new creations and chef Adam Glickman's culinary
creations.
The first selections we
received were Lost Abbey Avant Garde(bottle-conditioned), a biere de garde
style of 7%abv made with toasted malt and En Garde(draft), a tart, Bretty
style. They were served with a goat cheese, tomato and bermuda onion tart,
a lot of food and beer to start!!
Next up was Lost Abbey
Red Barn(draft), a spicy, tripelesque brew made with black pepper and grains
of paradise. A nicely spiced Crawfish Etouffee arrived which was perfectly
complemented by the beers.
By this time, people were
wondering how they were going to eat the rest of the meal! Only 2 courses
down and 3 more to go!
Lost Abbey Lost and Found(bottle-conditioned)
and Amazin Grace(draft) were poured next. The former had a fruity nose
and lots of alcohol warmth and flavors of dried cherries with a slightly
medicinal accent and the latter had a phenolic nose with a Brett dryness
and again dried cherries. A large Chicken Roulade with Ardennes Ham, Pere
Joseph Belgian Cheese and Spinach made us just shake our heads in frustration.
