The Lost Abbey is one of the most important breweries in San Diego history, and also one of the most unusual. Founded in 2006 by brewmaster Tomme Arthur with Pizza Port owners Vince and Gina Marsaglia, it built an international reputation on Belgian-inspired, barrel-aged, and sour beers while its sister label, Port Brewing, handled the aggressive West Coast styles. Twenty years later, it is deliberately getting smaller, and that choice says as much about the brewery as its medals do.

The basics

• Location: Production brewery in Vista (1347 Keystone Way), leaving by the end of 2026; tasting rooms at The Church in East Village San Diego (1313 J St), The Confessional in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, The Sanctuary in San Elijo Hills, and The Monastery in Miramar
• Founded: May 2006, in San Marcos, by Tomme Arthur with Vince and Gina Marsaglia
• Known for: Belgian-inspired ales, barrel-aged beers, and sours; Duck Duck Gooze, Judgment Day, Red Poppy; the two-label split with Port Brewing

The taproom

The showpiece is The Church in East Village, a 1906 former Mexican Presbyterian church that The Lost Abbey spent more than three years converting, opening in early 2022. It keeps the stained glass, pews, chandeliers, and religious statuary, with 32 taps pouring Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, and the Hop Concept, Tiny Bubbles, and Khárisma brands, plus a 3,000-square-foot outdoor beer garden. It sits a few blocks from Petco Park, so it is a natural stop before or after a Padres game.

The other rooms each have their own character. The Confessional in Cardiff, opened in 2015, is a monastic-styled dark-wood beer bar a short walk from the beach, with 20 taps and a deep bottle list of core, seasonal, and vintage beers. The Sanctuary in San Elijo Hills is a relaxed neighborhood spot with rotating food trucks and a dog-friendly patio. The Monastery, the newest outpost in Miramar’s Miralani Makers’ District, is billed as a more contemplative take on the Abbey experience.

The Vista headquarters tasting room is still pouring for now, but it will wind down as the brewery leaves its Keystone Way facility by the end of 2026. The four satellite rooms are unaffected.

Standout beers

• Duck Duck Gooze: An American gueuze-style wild ale, a blend of old and young barrel-aged wild ales released only every three to four years in small quantities. Dry, cider-like, and puckeringly tart with a light wild funk. The brewery’s most sought-after beer.
• Judgment Day: A Belgian quadrupel at about 10.2% ABV, brewed with raisins. Dark mahogany, massive, and contemplative, it won gold at the Great American Beer Festival in 2007 and is the base beer for Cuvée de Tomme.
• Devotion: A Belgian-style dry-hopped blonde ale at about 6.25% ABV. Light-bodied and hop-driven, with spicy and herbal hop character, citrus peel, and a dry finish. The everyday entry point to the Abbey lineup.
• Carnevale: A saison brewed for Lent and Easter with Brettanomyces plus Amarillo and Simcoe hops. Light-bodied and citrusy when young, growing funkier with age.
• Red Poppy: A Flanders-style sour brown ale at 6.5% ABV, aged more than six months in oak with sour cherries. Tart cherry, oak, and light barnyard funk. BeerAdvocate scores it 95, and it took gold at the 2010 Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer.

Our take

The Lost Abbey matters because it proved San Diego could do more than IPA. Within two years of opening, it had won Small Brewery of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival in 2007 and Champion Small Brewery at the World Beer Cup in 2008, and its barrel program, once more than 1,000 oak barrels, became one of the most noted in the country for a brewery its size.

The honest part is that the brewery has spent the last few years shrinking on purpose. The split from Port Brewing in late 2023, the moves from San Marcos to Mother Earth in Vista to the former Eppig facility, and now the exit from Vista are all chapters in what Arthur calls growing down: a 10,000-barrel-capable plant is the wrong size for a brewery that wants to make about 2,000 barrels a year. Contract brewing filled tanks through 2026 but did not fix the bottom line, and the rent was too high for the business it actually has.

What is left is a brewery that knows exactly what it is. The beers are still exceptional, the tasting rooms are still among the best places to drink in the county, and the plan is to find a right-sized North County home for 2027 and keep making about 2,000 barrels a year. For a brewery that once chased growth, choosing to be small is the most interesting thing it has done in years.

Sources: The Lost Abbey, About, https://www.lostabbey.com/about ; The Lost Abbey, Visit, https://www.lostabbey.com/visit ; SanDiegoVille, The Lost Abbey Leaving Vista Brewery, September 23, 2026, https://www.sandiegoville.com/2026/09/the-lost-abbey-leaving-vista-brewery-as.html ; San Diego Beer News, The Lost Abbey Moving from Vista, https://sandiegobeer.news/the-lost-abbey-moving-from-vista/ ; PorchDrinking, Crafting History: The Lost Abbey, March 31, 2023, https://porchdrinking.com/articles/2023/03/31/crafting-history-the-lost-abbey/