(San Marcos, CA) – Director of Brewing Operations at Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, Tomme Arthur, was part of a Google+ Hangout with All About Beer on Wednesday to discuss the company’s Ultimate Box Set. Here is what we learned…

The Ultimate Box Set, as some readers already know, consisted of twelve “Track” beers released individually throughout 2012 and was released as a “box set” in December. Each beer represented a popular song (or “track”) with artwork paying tribute to the song’s concept.

The initial goal was to produce 1,050 bottles of each beer, the goal being 350 bottles available on release day and 700 bottles held back for the Ultimate Box Set.

The first release comprised of only three barrels but they realized that they needed to go to four barrels per release so the total barrels allocated to the program was close to 50.

Those ~50 barrels are part of Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey’s experimental program which totals approximately 250 barrels. Those barrels are ones that they may hold onto for longer than a year, may be blended into other beers, and may never see the light of day. The brewery has another 600 or so barrels dedicated to “programmed” releases like Red Poppy, Older Viscosity, etc..

The company won’t do the Track series in 2013 as it re-tools and gets new beers into barrels for inclusion in a future series. A few beers will return though new ones will be mixed in.

What was the most popular?

Arthur says Track 3 sold out in three days whereas others sometimes took 18-20 days. Track 3 was a non-fruited sour.

The All About Beer panel enjoyed Track 4 the most though Arthur said it wasn’t the most popular with buyers at the brewery.