(Press Release)

SAN MARCOS, CA—After dedicating over the past eight years building two distinctive brands, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey are looking forward to debuting a third line of beers to the portfolio for 2015, branded as: The Hop Concept Brewing, the first beers to be released will be The Hop Freshener Series. Uncomplicated Hoppy Beers from the people who know how to make them.

A quarterly series of India Pale Ales, The Hop Freshener Series will take a different approach to telling a story about beer: It simply won’t tell a story at all; the beer, itself, is the story and the names are the flavors and aroma of the beer. The series will include: Dank and Sticky IPA (February), Citrus and Piney IPA (May), Lemon and Grassy IPA (August), and Tropical and Juicy IPA (November). Each beer will be an exploration into different hop combinations, including the use of a few experimental hops that are new even to the brewers.

Hop Freshener_Label_v2-3

“The team and I are pumped to create four new hoppy beers, working with hop combinations that we’ve never tried before” said Matt Webster, Lead Brewer for Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey. “IPA’s have historically been a specialty of ours, so the chance to hone our skills even more has all the brewers fired up!”

The scale of each quarterly release is key, which will result in a limited bottle run and even more limited draft availability. These beers are designed to enjoy fresh, and when they are gone, it will be a year before they re-release.

“Here at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, we love our IPA’s as much as everyone else. But lately we’ve noticed with so many of them hitting the market, it’s been difficult to know how they taste and smell.  So we thought how could we go about simplifying it for the consumer,” said Tomme Arthur, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Owner of Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey. “And that’s what we’re aiming to do with our Hop Freshener Series.  Consumers will be told directly through the name of the beer what they can expect.  And by committing to small one-time batches, we expect the freshest beer will always be in their glass.”

The decision to feature The Hop Concept as a third brand came as an ambitious yet obvious choice to Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, who continue to produce multiple lineups under the same roof.

“We’re very excited about The Hop Concept, the creation and management of a new brand is borderline crazy, but it’s going to be a fun ride” Media and Marketing Director Adam Martinez said. “We could have hit the easy button, but the direction and spirit of The Hop Concept was so different that we had to give it room to breath, while maintaining the independent and strong identities of Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey.”

The Hop Freshener Series will be distributed throughout the Port Brewing and Lost Abbey distribution territories.  More info can be found at TheHopConcept.com (currently under construction).

About Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey
Founded in 2006, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey produce an extensive line-up of continental and American- inspired ales and lagers. Under the direction of visionary brewmaster and co-founder Tomme Arthur, the brewery has garnered dozens of awards in its seven-year history including the 2007 Great American Beer Festival Small Brewery of the Year, The 2008 world Beer Cup Champion Small Brewery and the 2013 Champion Brewery at the San Diego International Beer Festival. The company’s beers, many of which are aged in oak barrels for 12 months or longer, are universally recognized for their complexity, unique flavors and bold boundary-pushing styles. For more information, contact Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey at 155 Mata Way, Suite 104, San Marcos, CA 92069, telephone (800) 918-6816, and on the web at www.LostAbbey.com