Homebrew Summer: Sojourner Sunset
For its first Homebrew Summer foray, out-there Ramona op, Smoking Cannon Brewery, produces a beer-flavored pro-am amber lager
Some breweries are so adventurous in their style selection and experimentation that, despite being commercial enterprises, they seem more like homebrew operations. One such business is Smoking Cannon Brewery. From the moment they opened up shop off Ramona’s main drag in 2017, they’ve crafted some of the most interesting and avant-garde beers in San Diego County, often honing in and recreating popular food-inspired flavor profiles in liquid form. For their first-ever Homebrew Summer pro-am creation, they’re teaming with amateur fermentationist and Smoking Cannon regular Mike Gehring to brew something surprisingly straightforward, an amber lager called Sojourner Sunset. Get the recipe for the beer below, then head out to Ramona to give it a taste when it taps at 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 12!
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!
Mike Gehring
Homebrewer
How does it feel to have this beer brewed on a pro scale?
The roots of most pro brewers lie deep in homebrewer soil. The Smoking Cannon tap list reflects those roots with a terrific and diverse collection of great beers. Homebrew Summer acknowledges and enhances that connection and I’m so pleased to participate. I’ve been bringing samples of my homebrews to Smoking Cannon for a couple years now. The feedback has been great and this event takes it to another level. Commercial brewing and homebrewing share similar but have different boundaries with regard to ingredients and process. I look forward to better understanding those differences and especially the final product. I started brewing in the early ’80s as an SDSU microbiology student on a picnic cooler “system”. That lasted until the late ’90s. I took a break for 20 years while enjoying San Diego beers, then started homebrewing again at the beginning of the pandemic on a shiny three-kettle, five 15-gallon HERMS setup with a temperature-controlled fermenter and cold-storage room for up to 30 gallons of beer.
Mike Nelson
Co-owner & Head Brewer, Smoking Cannon Brewery
What led you to select this beer recipe?
Mike Gehring has shown the most interest in our processes of brewing many different styles of beer in our brewery. He is also a perfectionist in his brewing process just like we are. He has come in many times over the years with new beers he has brewed, and all of the ones we have sampled have been great. We were excited to brew a pro-am beer with him, and also for this Homebrew Summer event.
Smoking Cannon Brewery is located at 780 Main Street in Ramona