Homebrew Summer: Enlightenment
Neighbors turned COVID collaborators reconvene at Mission Brewing sans masks to recreate a stunning pandemic-era blonde ale
It was the worst of times…period. While one would have to have the most potent pair of rose-colored specs in the world to pretend the pandemic wasn’t a confusing, challenging and dismal time, some positive things did come out of it here and there. For me, it fueled the founding of San Diego Beer News. For Mission Brewing Director of Brewery Operations Jeremy Castellano, it led to him not only meeting his neighbors, Mykol and Midori Najarian (pictured above), but homebrewing with them. So, with our fourth-annual Homebrew Summer approaching, he got the band back together, this time at Mission’s East Village production headquarters, to brew one of their favorite COVID-era creations, Enlightenment, a hoppy (originally wet-hopped) blonde ale infused with Buddha’s hand. The recipe for that exotic blonde can be downloaded below. The beer itself will hit the taps at Mission’s Kensington tasting room on Thursday, September 5, before flowing to the company’s other three locations later in the week.
New pro-am beers will debut weekly throughout the summer, so be sure to check back with San Diego Beer News on a regular basis (or subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter and we’ll send all the recipes and release information straight to your inbox). Cheers and happy homebrewing!
Mykol & Midori Najarian
Homebrewers
How does it feel to have this beer brewed on a pro scale?
Working with Jeremy and Mission Brewing on this collaboration was a fun experience. Developing the recipe and placing it into fruition was enlightening. We hope that you all will enjoy this beer as much as us!
Jeremy Castellano
Director of Brewery Operations, Mission Brewing
What led you to select this beer recipe?
Craft beer began with a bunch of friends homebrewing together and, to this day, community remains a core aspect of the craft. Mykol and Midori started out as our neighbors, but throughout COVID grew from neighbors to homebrew buddies to family. Throughout COVID, we homebrewed many batches with them, the most memorable of which was a wet-hop blonde ale using hops they had grown in their backyard, combined with Buddha’s hand from the local market. Getting to scale their recipe on our system and share it with the community was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. Since it wasn’t quite wet-hop season, we subbed in some whole-cone El Dorado, which nicely complements the Buddha’s hand. We had a blast brewing this beer with them and look forward to everyone having a taste of Enlightenment.
Mission Brewing’s headquarters is located at 1441 L Street in downtown San Diego’s East Village neighborhood, and its satellite tasting rooms are located at 4067 Adams Avenue in Kensington, inside the Sky Deck’s Brewer’s Deck installment at 12925 El Camino Real, Suite 301 in Carmel Valley, and inside UCSD Mesa Nueva at 3869 Miramar Street in La Jolla