Homebrew Summer: Summer Honey Ale
Convenient access to organic honey and a homebrewer excelling in the manufacture of honey ales sparks Fox Point Brewing pro-am effort
This week, we’re highlighting another Homebrew Summer pro-am collaboration beer involving first-time participants on the professional and amateur sides of the coin. Appropriately enough for a beer-making operation sited on a sustainability-based farm, this teaming came up quite organically, with longtime homebrewer Tom Rankin wowing Fox Point Brewing headman, Brian Carl, with his refined honey-ale recipe. Impressed with its quality and buoyed by the fact he could use honey cultivated on the farm, Carl invited Rankin into his brewhouse and, now, their Summer Honey Ale is on tap at Fox Point Farms. On top of that, the recipe for the beer is available for download below. Happy homebrewing!
Tom Rankin
Homebrewer
My homebrew buddy and I share a 10-gallon all-grain system. We started brewing in 1996, and have brewed around 100 batches. In July 2010, on our 73rd batch and 30th ale variant, we brewed our first honey ale. This was a collaboration between my brew buddy Erik Larson, myself and a friend named Bill Randolph, who aspired to own his own microbrewery. (Bill went on to found Stumblefoot Brewery in San Marcos, and ran it from 2012 to 2017.) The honey ale was a home run and instant favorite that we brewed 10 times, becoming the clear favorite among the ales we brew.
Brian Carl
Head Brewer, Fox Point Brewing
Shortly after opening the doors at Fox Point Farms last July, our marketing manager would regularly have friends and family stopping by. One of those family friends was Tom, and he was generous enough to share his three-year-old honey ale, which had aged out very nicely. He then brewed a new batch, and a few months later repeated the offer for me to sample it. With our own populated bee hives and regenerative ethos, this recipe fit the bill!
Any tips for homebrewers using this recipe?
Make sure you have a solid rolling boil, and be sure to warm up the honey and add it in a fairly liquified state.
New homebrew recipes and pro-am beer release information will be posted to our site throughout the summer, so 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!
Fox Point Brewing is located inside Fox Point Farms at 1150 Quail Gardens Drive in Encinitas