After a great day and tour at Stone last December, we headed over to sample Port Brewing and Lost Abbey before heading home for the day. I'd gotten the idea to combine the stops from a Basic Brewing video; research does pay off.
The Lost Abbey is the former site of Stone Brewing during its early days. We toured the facility during a SoCal MEA trip in October of 2002 on the way back from some great apple pie in Julian.
While that trip deserves another post, my memory of the original Stone is very different than the look of Port Abbey. In short--it seems smaller now. According to the Lost Abbey website, it's actually larger now. I've been pursuing beeriness on location for well over a decade since that initial visit, so my guess is my recollection was inflated by the newness of my hobby. A great memory and I still drink from my souvenir Arrogant Bastard pint glass. 
Back to the future, a solid day of tasting at Stone meant my personal resources for this stop were limited. Samplers were for sale, so I was still able to try a range of their beers. Lost Abbey's Lost and Found plus the Wipeout IPA were new favorites, plus I verified my love of several, including Santa's Little Helper and Old Viscosity. 
Great way to end a day of tasting--the cherry on top of the Stone sundae. Can't thank the Basic Brewing guys enough for this idea. I highly recommend the combination, especially with the new Stone hotel going up in the near future.
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