Lompoc’s Pamplemousse Citrus IPA

First of all, don’t forget to come and hang out with ME next Tuesday from 4-6PM at Lompoc’s Sidebar for their Holiday Beer Extravaganza!

Early this week, I received a special gift from Lompoc! Two bottles of Pamplemousse Citrus IPA, a Lompoc glass and a grapefruit! I’m so excited to be drinking this beer since I absolutely love fruit beers (even if it is an IPA). My friend and I are enjoying it right now and are falling in love with it. Not too hoppy, you can definitely taste the grapefruit. However, it definitely is a summer beer and not so much of a Thanksgiving / Holiday beer.

Let no risk go untaken: Lompoc Brewing celebrates scurvy old sea captains with year-round Pamplemousse Citrus IPA

Earlier this summer, Lompoc Brewing released Pamplemouse Citrus IPA as part of its mainstay of beers, complementing its lineup of C-Note Imperial Pale Ale (can’t wait to try this at the Holiday Beer Extravaganza) and Kick Axe Dry-Hopped Pale Ale (my staple for Timbers games).

Pamplemousse, French for grapefruit, is a deep golden, medium-bodied Citrus IPA that offers up refreshment that promises to satisfy all the senses. Four hop varieties – Centennial, Chinook, Meridian and Tettnang – along with real grapefruit juice, build a solid hop bitterness highlighted by citrus notes, both on the tongue and in the nose.

Pamplemousse is available on draft and in 22 oz. bottles at all Lompoc pubs as well as in various establishments around the Northwest. The label design, by local brand builders Woody Adams and Andrew MacKenzie of Waamco, features a backdrop of a richly textured deep green tapestry with an intricate hop design; upon that sits a wall-mounted moose trophy sporting an armored helmet, reminiscent of the helmet in Lompoc’s logo. One of the helmet horns is skewering a half grapefruit.

12oz_Pamplemousse_V3 The label design quickly prompted the creation of a mascot: Sir Pamplemousse, leader of the Kingdom of Lompoc. Sir Pamplemousse makes appearances at most Lompoc events and tastings, and randomly about town, sporting a helmet with moose antlers, a sword, a tunic, and clacking plastic grapefruits.

The legend of the Pamplemousse says that a scurvy old French sea captain was the first to discover grapefruit on the island of Barbados.

PAMPLEMOUSSE CITRUS IPA: This deep golden, medium bodied Citrus IPA offers up refreshment that will satisfy all your senses. Four hop varieties along with real grapefruit juice build a solid hop bitterness highlighted by citrus notes, both on the tongue and in the nose. 5.8% ABV | 70 IBU

I love learning the history of breweries, those far away and those I can walk too! Here’s a little bit of the story of Lompoc:

The Lompoc family of pubs began with the Old Lompoc Brewery on NW 23rd Ave. Although the Old Lompoc building had been around for more than a century in a number of capacities – including a carriage house for the 1905 World’s Fair – it didn’t become a brewery until 1996, when then-owners Pete Goforth and Bob Rice teamed up with Jerry Fechter on the project. The original brewery name, the Old Lompoc, was borrowed from the New Old Lompoc House. After a discussion over a game of golf, Goforth and Rice hired Fechter to build and run the brewery. Fechter, a homebrewer, took the short course at the Seibel Institute of Technology to learn all aspects of running a brewery, then got to work.

He built the 440-square-foot brewery with grundies – utilitarian, massproduced tanks on wheels that rolled in and out of the brewery. A local craftsman fabricated a kettle and a mash tun, and the Old Lompoc Brewery was born. Fechter brewed 300 bbls a year for the first few years, distributing them to the Goforth and Rice network of pubs. In late 1999, Fechter, interested in purchasing the property, approached local publican Don Younger. Fechter was looking for an established partner to make Lompoc more reputable. Together they purchased the property in 2000 and re-opened as the New Old Lompoc.

In 2003, Fechter & Younger decided that since they had a brewery, they should have a satellite pub. Hedge House became the second pub in the Lompoc family, opening in December 2003. The addition of Hedge House increased production for the brewery, and by 2005, production demands for the Lompoc brand were outgrowing the tiny New Old Lompoc brewery. Fechter began looking for a location for a second brewery.

The Fifth Quadrant, or 5Q, opened in Dec. 2005, and brewing followed soon after in 2006. With production now in full swing, it was time for another outlet for Lompoc beers. In 2006, a building became available in the Westmoreland neighborhood in SE Portland and the Oaks Bottom Public House was born.

In 2008, the Fifth Quadrant brewhouse began bottling 22-ounce beers, contracting with the mobile bottling company Green Bottling of Portland. Lompoc started to do more barrel aging and in July 2009, opened Sidebar, its barrel tasting room, on the Williams side of the 5Q building. Today, Lompoc barrel ages 15 beers in the 5Q brewery at any one time; these beers are tapped in Sidebar on a rotating basis, and sometimes bottled. The brewery also has an intensive seasonal program, with two to three seasonals on tap at all the pubs at any one time. In a year, Lompoc produces anywhere from 25 to 40 seasonals, some in bottles as well as on draft.

At the end of January 2011, Younger passed away, and Fechter became the sole owner of Lompoc Brewing and its family of pubs. In late spring of 2012, the New Old Lompoc brewery where it all began was razed to make way for a new mixed-use building with upper end retail space. A new pub was built in the exact same location on the block, only in a new LEED Gold four-story, mixed-use building on the block with retail on the first floor and 24 apartment units above. The boutique-scaled project opened in mid in May of 2013 and the Lompoc Tavern rose from the ashes. The new space, now a pub only, features much of the original artwork and tchotchkes from the original pub that started it all.

Finally, don’t forget Lompoc is having their annual Garage Sale from 12-4PM on Saturday, December 13th at Sidebar. Pick up Lompoc hats, shirts, glassware and more at discounted prices. As well as Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Tavern Rat Barleywin, C-sons Greetings and maybe a few speciality bottles from the cellar. Don’t forget the Holidays are just around the corner, save some money and get your loved ones some great gear this Holiday season. Sidebar Barrel Tasting Room is located at 3901A N Williams Ave. See you Tuesday!