Lost Winds Brewing Celebrates 1st Anniversary with November 4th Party

Lost Winds Brewing will celebrate their 1 year anniversary on November 4th.

They will be throwing a huge party and want you there!

San Clemente’s Lost Winds Brewing wants you to join their 1 year anniversary celebration. So mark your calendar for November 4th and get ready to party with beer, food, and live music. Because you’re sure to have a blast!

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. Lost Winds is a 10 BBL brewery offering a wide variety of beers, with an emphasis on Belgian styles. They also have a barrel aging program with both traditional and wild fermentations.

Head Brewer Brandon Winneker creates the delicious beers that have established a dedicated, beer-loving following. Brandon 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. He also held other jobs such as cellaring, filtration operations, and procurement in order to learn more about operating a commercial brewery.

Tim Thralls and Brandon Winneker

Discussion with Tim Thralls

Founder and Managing Partner Tim Thralls sat down with me to discuss the past year and upcoming anniversary celebration.

Tell me a little about how your first year has been.

Busy! I knew it was going to be a lot of work but never to this extent. And it’s all good, all positive. First of all, there are so many moving parts to running this business that keep us constantly on the go. From a business point of view, I’m busy from early morning until the start of our regular business hours. And then we have the uniqueness of opening mid-day and going into the night with our Tasting Room operations. In addition, toss in support to festivals and special events. So the key word is busy, but all great and a lot of fun.

What has been your biggest surprise since you opened?

I continue to be amazed by the fantastic interest and support we have received from the San Clemente community and elsewhere. The way we have been embraced by the community and rapidly grown repeat customers is a very pleasant surprise.

What Lost Winds beer sells the most – your flagship beer?

Our biggest seller both on-site and off-site is TropiClemente India Pale Ale (IPA). IPAs are so popular. Our other two big sellers are Saint Lasuen Belgian Golden Strong and Stairway IPA.

What are your plans for the 1st Anniversary celebration on November 4th?

We’ll host an event similar to our grand opening celebration. A beer-pouring station outside will complement a couple of adjacent food vendors. We’ll have a DJ and live music. We’re going to tap an anniversary ale specifically made for this celebration. We’ll also have some (probably 3) delicious cask-conditioned ales on tap.

You entered beers in this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF) contest. What was the experience like?

Surreal, amazing and exciting. Just to be in the company of so many brewing icons that have influenced me over the years was wonderfully fun. GABF is so communal and social. It reinforces the camaraderie and support shared throughout the craft brewing industry. We didn’t bring home any medals this year but we’re proud of all our beers. Also, we’re very excited for and congratulate Artifex Brewing and our other neighbors who did win medals in this year’s GABF.

Tim hopes to expand Lost Wind’s distribution further over the next year to more restaurants and bars/pubs. He also plans more barrel-aged and sour beer releases for 2018. In addition, Tim expects to expand the brewery size over the next year.

Cheers to Lost Winds Brewery for their successful first year of operations! I’m looking forward to their continued success as well as my next Lost Winds beer. You can find me in their Tasting Room regularly. Be certain to say hello.