Port Brewing/Lost Abbey News – Duck Duck, Veritas, The Next Box Set and More

We reached out to Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey to see what 2013 has in store for the San Marcos, CA craft brewery.  We talked about many items including new beers, the return of some old favorites, plans for the next box set and more. Cheers!

1. What will be 2013’s special products be?
We are targeting Older Viscosity and Duck Duck Gooze making their return.”

2. Any chance of the return of Saints and Sinners?
“As of now, there is no discussion to bring back the club in 2013.”

3. Is the Veritas series continuing or ending or now just something tied to Barrel Night?
“We will release a Veritas beer each year for the barrel aged night. If we determine there are other versions we wish to get out, we will make them available when it makes sense.”

4. How were initial sales of Ultimate Box Set. How many boxes made/sold and will we see a return in 2013?
“There were 500 sets for sale made available to the Lottery winners. Less than 50 boxes were sold to the general public.

We sold every last one of the Box Sets Tomme would let us sell. He held a few as gifts for friends, family, VIPs and the like, but either way, the UBS’ are all gone. (We could have easily sold double the number if they had been available.)

As for whether we’re doing it again or not, Tomme hasn’t said anything one way or another, but I doubt he’ll do the exact same thing again. His idea was to be ambitious experimental, and over the top — not really to create a “program” per se. Mostly I think Tomme wanted to sort of re-capture that vanguard of what he’s always been about in craft beer — risky, boundary-pushing and not necessarily meant to be done more than once.”

5. How is the Port Brewing brand doing?
“Sales are up.”

6. Any new beers to the core lineup of Port, Lost Abbey?
“Yes, look for a press release about a new Port Beer in the coming weeks.”

7. Any new metros/markets for Lost Abbey/Port Brewing?
“For the first time since we opened our doors in 2006 we have no new territorial growth scheduled for 2013. We plan on working diligently with our current distribution partners to strengthen our position in markets we are currently serving.”

8. Any chance of a ramp up of those unicorn beers (Cable Car/Yellow Bus)?
“More likely a ramp down as we continue to drink(deplete) the bottles we currently have.”