Lost Winds Brewing Company Becomes San Clemente’s 4th Brewery
San Clemente just gained some Belgian style or, more accurately, an expanded choice of Belgian beer styles. Lost Winds Brewing Company recently opened in San Clemente, bringing a brewing focus on creating Belgian style beers. Founded by San Clemente locals Tim Thralls, Andrew Mack, and Tim Burke, Lost Winds Brewing is named after Lost Winds Beach – a local beach spot and surf break.
A loose pronunciation of “Calle Lasuen” street that leads to the beach staircase resulted in the name of the Lost Winds beach spot.
Although Lost Winds focuses on creating Belgian style beers, they also provide other options such as hoppy IPAs and stouts. “We are a 10 BBL brewery offering a wide variety of beers, with an emphasis on Belgian styles. The system is brand new and manufactured by Portland Kettle Works. We decided we wanted to support an American manufacturer. They have a great system and support program. In the future, we will also have a barrel aging program with both traditional and wild fermentations.”
Right now Lost Winds Brewing offers six different beers:
- Marine Layer Belgian IPA (5.6% ABV) – “A light Belgian Ale with subtle fruit and bubblegum notes and hazy body, credited to the Belgian yeast. Dry-hopped with tropical American hops, and a nice dry finish.”
- Saint Lasuen Belgian Golden Strong (7.2% ABV) – “A slightly sweet pale golden ale with a fruity character and bubblegum aroma. A deceivingly dry finish.”
- Surfing Pelican Pale Ale (5.1% ABV) – “A pale, refreshing ale with moderate malt character complimented by a fruity Belgian aroma.”
- Stairway IPA (7.3% ABV) – “An aromatic West Coast IPA loaded with juicy and tropical fruit notes, supported by a moderate malty backbone.”
- San O Stout (5.5% ABV) – “A Dry Stout with hints of roasted malt and chocolate, toasty aroma, topped with a nice tan head.”
- San Clemente Saison (4.9% ABV) – “Clean, crisp, and refreshing! This lightly hopped, straw-colored ale consists of clove and citrus-fruit esters, and is complimented perfectly with a light malt character, mild earthiness, and a slight acidic finish.”
You can find a range of beer styles.
My favorite so far is the San Clemente Saison.
My Interview with Tim Thralls and Brandon Winneker
Founder/Managing Partner Tim Thralls dreamed of leveraging his twenty year homebrewing passion into creating a world-class craft beer destination. Hence, he and his partners created a plan for a local brewery and put the plan into action. However, they needed a Head Brewer with commercial brewing training and experience. So each partner began an independent search for a Head Brewer with the right qualifications. And each partner independently received a recommendation from separate sources of a great candidate to interview. When the partners met, they surprisingly discovered that each had come back with the same name – Brandon Winneker. When they contacted and interviewed Brandon, they knew they had the person they wanted. The partners took Brandon to the future brewery site. Upon arrival, they all discovered a delivery truck had arrived early with the new brew house equipment that Tim and his partners had ordered. That discovery clinched the deal.
Brandon Winneker graduated with a degree in microbiology from Cal Poly SLO, where he started home brewing and bottling for college buddies and fraternity parties. From there he decided to pursue a Master Brewer’s certificate at prestigious UC Davis. Brandon also interned at Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon during his brewing studies. While at Deschutes, he worked on 3 types of brewing systems with different levels of automation. After completing the Master Brewer program, he worked for Stone Brewing under the tutelage of renowned brewer Mitch Steele. Brandon worked as an assistant brewer to start and progressed to Brewing Supervisor at Stone Brewing which included training other brewers. However, he also held other jobs such as cellaring, filtration operations, and procurement in order to learn more about operating a commercial brewery. Brandon’s long-term goal is to open a brewery in Seattle near the Seahawks stadium (he has season tickets).
Tim Thralls (left) and Brandon Winneker (right) – Many of the beers at Lost Winds are based on Tim’s award-winning homebrew recipes.
Fortunately for me, Tim and Brandon took some time from their busy schedules to sit down and tell me more about Lost Winds Brewing and themselves.
I know that Lost Winds Brewing is based on a San Clemente beach location but exactly how did you pick that name?
Tim – We wanted a beach-themed name that paid homage to San Clemente. My wife and I were sitting at T-Street one day just brainstorming names. “Pier Brewing” was too generic. “Spanish Village By The Sea Brewing” was too long and boring. As we were sitting there, I looked north and thought “Point Brewing”. That didn’t work. Then I looked south and saw Lost Winds beach. I love that beach. It’s a great beach! “Lost Winds Brewing Company” was perfect for our name. The name is locally known, cool sounding, and almost mystical – even if you don’t know that beach. My wife loved it too. We ran home and I immediately reserved the website URL and started the business name process.
And how about the logo?
Tim – For the logo, I went through an on-line design company. You specify what you want – “idea wise”. Then a bunch of different designers compete to create and perfect the logo design. So I went through 132 different versions of the logo until we finalized the design. I enjoyed the process and ended up with a wonderful design that incorporates the perfect palm tree image.
Did your business plan for starting Lost Winds go as expected and any key lessons learned so far?
Tim – It did. I listened to a lot of interviews with brewery owners. They said that whatever your plan is, you should double the time and triple the money. With that advice in mind, we came in around budget. We opened a little after we had originally planned due to delays in licensing and other things.
The key lesson learned so far is that having a brewery is not just about brewing great beer. A lot of moving parts compose this business. Success depends on finding the right balance of all the activities necessary to keep business operations smooth – brewing, cleaning, ordering supplies, maintaining the business financials, operating the tap room, ordering snacks, arranging entertainment, and more. Having been open for such a short period, I’m certain we have a lot more lessons to learn.
What’s been your biggest surprise so far?
Tim – My biggest surprise was the large amount of interest even prior to opening and we hadn’t even marketed. San Clemente is an awesome and supportive community that appreciates craft beer.
Tell me about the beers at Lost Winds.
Brandon – It’s been great to take Tim’s homebrewing recipes, ramp them up for larger scale production, and have such success right off the bat. We’ve had lots of people drinking our beers, providing positive feedback, and coming back for more.
Tim – In my 20+ years of homebrewing experience, I’ve found that I pretty much like all styles of beer. But when I started learning about Belgian styles and brewing these styles, I’d just get so excited. Because there are so many variations. So I decided I’d always want at least half of the beer lineup at Lost Winds to consist of Belgian styles. And these styles make a great alternative to a market dominated by IPAs. I love IPAs and we brew IPAs too. But I’m so glad to provide Belgian alternatives. And once people try them, most love these styles too. There are some folks who don’t, so we have American styles too.
Have you visited Belgium?
Tim – I have not. I’ve had a lot of Belgian beers. I’ve performed a lot of research on Belgium and Belgian beers, brewing culture, and history. And I’ve homebrewed lots of Belgian style beers. However, visiting Belgium is at the top of my list.
Brandon – I’ve been to Belgium twice. I visited almost all of the Trappist breweries in Belgium – Westvleteren, Westmalle, Chimay, Orval, and Rochefort. The beer culture in Belgium is awesome. There are so many beer styles and so many “killer” beers. And they’ve been brewing great beers in that area for hundreds of years. When I visited Westvleteren, there was a monk who just happened to be in the parking lot. I introduced myself and we talked about brewing and beer. What a great experience!
If you were stuck on a deserted island, what Belgian beer would you want to have with you?
Tim – Anything from Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, or Orval.
Brandon – Any of the Westvleteren beers or Orval.
So far, what’s your biggest selling beer?
Tim and Brandon – So far it’s a horse race between the Saint Lasuen Belgian Golden Strong and the Stairway IPA.
When you visit Lost Winds, take some time to explore the downstairs and upstairs sections. The tasting room design and layout is relaxing and spacious, with barrels sporadically dotting the floor. Tim Thralls completed the woodwork for the bar, wall paneling, and even the tables. The interior doesn’t look like Belgium design. But try the San Clemente Saison or the Saint Lasuen Belgian Golden Strong and you’ll be immediately transported to Belgian style.
