Homebrew Summer: Volante

Our annual Homebrew Summer program provides an opportunity for local breweries to reaffirm their connection with the amateur brewing sect, but at Jacked Up Brewery, they interact with homebrewers year-round. The brewery has a homebrew-supply shop built into it and the company organizes multiple homebrew competitions. Led by owner and former homebrewer Michael Poulson (pictured above, at left), the family-run operation also brews multiple pro-am beers each time Homebrew Summer rolls around. This year, they have two such beers on the books, with the first of them debuting Saturday, July 20 at their Escondido tasting room. Described as a “West Coast lawnmower lager”, its the handiwork of accomplished homebrewer (and five-time Homebrew Summer participant) Eli Palma, and brings myriad modern hops to the forefront of an extremely drinkable base beer. Keep scrolling to get Palma’s and Poulson’s notes from the brew day as well as the recipe for their beer, Volante.

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!

Eli Palma
Homebrewer

How does it feel to have your recipe selected to be brewed on a pro scale?
It was really cool to get the opportunity to collaborate on a brew with Mike and the team at Jacked Up. Everyone was so welcoming and made me feel like part of the Jacked Up family. Mike really rolls out the red carpet for homebrewers at his place. The atmosphere at Jacked Up is fun and it seems like a place that caters to that same sort of people. Mike still fosters his roots in the local North County homebrewing community. He’s an out-of-the-box brewer and a big believer in keeping it simple. He succeeds in making beer that’s fun without all the spectacle or as Mike would say, “fancy stuff”. It’s always exciting and challenging to take a homebrew recipe and scale it up from six gallons to five barrels. Sometimes there are different schools of thought, and because of that, you can get a really interesting combination. When I’m brewing at home, I’m always worried about getting multiple pH, temperature and gravity readings. Sometimes I get too focused on my own beers being just right and forget to have fun and not sweat the small stuff. Mike’s more laidback approach reminded me of the old Charlie Papazian line to relax, have a homebrew and not nerd out. For instance, our brew day began with a mix-up on the yeast order. I normally would have stressed out, but Mike just pivoted and luckily had some stuff he had recently harvested that we used instead. He just rolled with the punches, where I would have been freaking out. It was refreshing to experience the Jacked Up team’s relaxed approach to brewing and watching them have fun with it every step of the way (especially Mike taking guitar breaks to serenade us with solos from his many electric guitars). The rest of the brew day went great. We dialed back some of the whirlpool hops from my original recipe, but other than that I believe the adapted recipe is a great representation of the original. I always enjoy seeing other brewers’ methods and exploring all the different ways to get the end product we all want…beer. We are excited to share our collaboration. Hopefully, it tastes great and Jacked Up’s patrons drain the kegs while listening to Mike play some face-melting guitar solos.

Michael Poulson
Owner & Head Brewer, Jacked Up Brewery

What led you to select this beer recipe?
When we decided on the beer, it was originally for the style. In the heat of summer, people usually search for their new favorite “lighter” beer. In combination with our style of brewing and San Diego’s famous IPAs, we knew this would be fun beer to try. When communicating with Eli about when to brew his beer, he came in about a week before to check us out and meet the family. We were beyond excited to team up with him, as he is very knowledgeable about craft beer and homebrewing. At Jacked Up Brewery, we have perfected our fan-favorite core beer, El Gato Mexican Lager, but haven’t gone into experimenting with other lagers, and thought brewing Eli’s “”Volante “West Coast lawnmower lager” as part of Homebrew Summer would be the perfect opportunity to do so. It was! 

Jacked Up Brewery is located at 800 West Grand Avenue in Escondido