Recipe: God Save the Queen Bee

As part of our second-annual Homebrew Summer program, various San Diego County breweries have teamed with amateur brewers to produce their homespun recipes on their commercial systems, then tap the resultant beers in their tasting rooms. On top of that, the homebrewers involved are sharing their recipes so you can recreate them from the comfort of home.

Today’s homebrewer-to-homebrewer contribution is a ménage à trois of sorts instigated by two-time Homebrew Summer participant Jared Rowley. He and his amateur fermentationist contemporary, Eric Robinson, developed a recipe for a honey-infused English-style porter. It was selected by the team at White Labs Brewing, who not only invited Rowley and Robinson into their brewhouse, but also the head of Bay Park-based Lost Cause Meadery. The results is a most intriguing three-way collaboration called God Save the Queen Bee, which will go on tap on Friday, August 5 at White Labs’ tasting room in Miramar.

Check back to San Diego Beer News throughout the summer for more recipes as well as release dates for other pro-am beers. It’s shaping up to be a great summer for homebrewers and beer fans alike, and we’re stoked to have you along for the ride!

What better way to collaborate in Homebrew Summer than with a homebrewer you’re already friends with? We selected God Save the Queen Bee honey porter, which seemed like a perfect pilot batch for WLBC. When it came time to source honey, we knew there was one person we needed to ask, Billy Beltz of Lost Cause. Billy soon had us in touch with his ‘source’ from Temecula as the best place to find the elusive meadowfoam honey. It was no surprise that scaling a homebrew recipe that included one of the most expensive kinds of honey would lead to what could almost be considered a back-alley deal arranged over text message. Needless to say, we sourced the honey, had our friends come brew and are excited to try the finished beer, which will be available in our San Diego taproom!”

Erik Fowler, Head of Education & Craft Hospitality, White Labs

It was an honor to be part of this collaboration. White Labs holds a special place in my heart (don’t tell my wife) as they played a significant role in my education and evolution from home mead-maker to professional, even helping launch a number of mead research projects with me along the way. So being able to be there and brew with the White Labs Brewing team was awesome. And I’ve known Jared for years from QUAFF and now as a Lost Cause Coveters Club member, and I really respect him as a talented fermentationist. So it was an all-around a joy to be working with such a rad crew on such a rad brew.”

Billy Beltz, Co-founder & Head Mead Maker, Lost Cause Meadery

The recipe for God Save the Queen Bee started as a homebrew collaboration. Eric Robinson from QUAFF won a gold medal at the 2017 National Homebrew Competition with the base version of this English porter. When we started working out a recipe, we decided to add some honey to make it unique for our brew. Meadowfoam honey has such a unique flavor. It really adds a lot to this beer. It was really exciting to be chosen to brew at White Labs and a cherry on top to be able to add Lost Cause Meadery to the collaboration for the Homebrew Summer. The brew day was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to taste and share the beer with everyone!”

Jared Rowley, Homebrewer