One of the many perks – beyond watching a roadrunner pace up and down the burm outside my office window right now, not quite sure what his plan is – of living where I do is that I know that the New Mexico Rio Grande Valley is not the Best.Beer.Region.On.Earth.
They worry about such things in Philadelphia (see here and here) and Portland (do I have to type Oregon?) and San Diego.
I don’t have to. Thus I can claim to be impartial. So I’m declaring that in many years when somebody writes a book about the history of artisan beer in America they’ll want notes from the evening of Aug. 25 at Lost Abbey Port Brewing (near San Diego, for those of you participating in the regional wars), because the first Lost Abbey barrel tasting was a watershed event.
Steve at Summer of Beer has a really solid account. I’m impressed how lucid his notes are to the end, including dessert and the final beers. Read it at your own risk – you’ll want to reserve a spot next year.
Add to that an even better review from one of the Lost Abbey’s most faithful over at http://www.mybeerpix.com