Lost Coast Brewery

Lost Coast Brewery

Type	Independent
Industry	Alcoholic beverage
Founded	1990
Headquarters	Eureka, California, United States
Products	Beer
Production output	~30,000 US barrels/year
Owner(s)	Barbara Groom Wendy Pound

Lost Coast Brewery is an American microbrewery located in the city of Eureka in Humboldt County, California. The eight beers it produces are based on research of English beers carried out by founders Barbara Groom and Wendy Pound.

History

Lost Coast Brewery is a rare instance of a female-owned microbrewery breaking into the male dominated microbrew world. Groom, a pharmacist, and Pound, a family counselor, began experimenting with the idea of starting their own pub in 1986. Following years of planning, home brewing, and visiting pubs in England and Wales, Groom and Pound purchased the Pythian Castle in 1989. The building went under restoration to house the pub and cafe after being purchased from the original owners, the Fraternal Order of the Knights of Pythias. Lost Coast Brewery pub and cafe is family owned and operated and has been open for business since July 1990. The brewery outgrew its origins in Pythian's Castle and moved to a larger building further down Highway 101 in 2005. As the 46th largest brewery in the US, Lost Coast Brewery is expected to produce 30,000 barrels despite only distributing in 19 states.

Products

Lost Coast is brewing eight beers, including six seasonal beers all influenced by Groom's and Pound's research of English microbrews.

Year-round beers

• Downtown Brown was the first beer distributed by Lost Coast Brewery. It's a lightly hopped dark malt ale, without the brawny taste of a more robust beer. From 1997 through 2000, Downtown Brown was voted the number one beer in the Time Standard Reader’s Choice Awards as well as first place at the 2000 West Coast Beer Fest. In 2002, Downtown Brown received a gold medal at the LA County Fair and another gold in 2003 at the California State Fair.

• Great White is an unfiltered, refreshing ale. Its base is malted barley and unmalted wheat with citrus and Humboldt county herbs. In 2002 and 2003, Lost Coast’s Great White Ale was a silver medalist at the California State Fair.

• Alleycat Amber is a burgundy-orange ale with a sweet aroma, a caramel flavor, and slight bitterness. At the 1997 California Brewer’s Fest, the AlleyCat Amber won both a gold medal and Best in Show. At the California State Fair in 1999 and 2002, AlleyCat was the Bronze Medal beer.

• 8-Ball Stout is a robust ale where malts are roasted like coffee beans to give the beer its color and flavor. This stout was a two-time gold medalist at the LA County Fair in 2004 and 2005. It also won silver medals at the California State Fair in 2002 and 2003.

• Indica India Pale Ale is a combination of hops, herbs, and citrus flavors. The flavor is immense and creamy, with an alcoholic kick. Indica India Pale Ale was recognized as one of the World’s "Must Taste Beers" in the 2003 "All About Beer Magazine".

• Lost Coast Pale Ale is an American-style pale ale with a fusion of hop and malt flavor. Lost Coast Brewery blended a combination of Munich, Chinook and Cascade hops into this ale. The Lost Coast Pale Ale scored a 90 on the 1999 Beer Lovers Buying Guide and was a silver medalist at the 2002 California State Fair.

• Raspberry Brown is Lost Coast Brewery’s Downtown Brown with an infusion of raspberry and chocolate malt flavor. In 2003, the Raspberry Brown was voted best in California by the United States Beer Tasting Championships.

• Tangerine Wheat is a wheat beer flavored with a dash of lemon. According to the LA Times, it is a “charming outdoor sipper as the weather warms, and it has real potential as a food beer”.

Seasonal beers

• Winterbraun is Lost Coast Brewery’s seasonal "winter warmer." This ale has a mild sweetness due to the Saaz hops, and chocolate and caramel malts that are added at the end of the brewing process. This seasonal beer is only available two months out of the year: November and December. Winterbraun placed second in the 1998 World Beer Championship.

• Okotoberfest is a Munich-style lager with a golden-amber color. It's known for its “Munich malt and noble hop character.”

• Double Trouble IPA contains a large amount of hops which its name implies.

Sponsorships

Lost Coast Brewery branched out in 2006, and now sponsors a Nor Cal Privateer mountain bike racing team. There are six members of the 2009 team that will be competing at the US Cup series and many other California events [1].

References

• 1."Lost Coast Brewery: Our Story and Beers." Lost Coast Brewery. 2003. Lost Coast Brewery Co. 3 May 2009 <http://www.lostcoast.com/>.

• 2.Team Lost Coast Brewery Members. "Team Lost Coast Brewery." Team Lost Coast Brewery. 2009. I power BLOGGER. 3 May 2009 <http://www.teamlcb.org/>.

• 3.Matthews, Jayson. "Brewing Up a Revolution." Coast News. Coast News. 3 May 2009 <Jayson Matthews>.

• 4."Lost Coast Brewery." California's Redwood Coast. 2008. Humboldt County Convention & Visitors Bureau. 3 May 2009 <http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=1680>.

• 5.Cusack, Anne. "Lost Coast Brewing Tangerine Wheat." LA Times [Los Angeles] 15 Apr. 2009, Beer of the Month sec.<http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-bom15-2009apr15,0,3859642.story>.

• 6.Sesser, Randy. "Holiday Beer Report: Lost Coast Brewery’s Winterbraun." Randys.org. 2009. WEBFACTION. 3 May 2009 <Holiday Beer Report: Lost Coast Brewery’s Winterbraun>.<http://www.randys.org/2008/11/08/holiday-beer-report-lost-coast-brewerys-winterbraun/>

• 7."Lost Coast Brewing 2009 Limited Release Specialties." The Full Pint. 2009. The Full Pint. 3 May 2009 <http://thefullpint.com/2009/01/07/lost-coast-brewing-2009-limited-release-specialties>.