Recipe: First Mate
Belching Beaver Brewery and a homebrewer go island-style with their blonde ale
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 comes from Chris van Hamersveld, who submitted his recipe for an “island blonde ale” and had it selected by North County’s Belching Beaver Brewery. Dubbed First Mate, the beer was brewed at the company’s original Pub980 facility in Vista, and will be tapped at all of Belching Beaver’s locations on Friday, July 1.
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 going to be a great summer for homebrewers and beer fans alike, and we want you to be a part of it!
I designed my island blonde ale, First Mate, to go with a sunset and a burger. It’s light but flavorful with just enough Citra hops to bring out those tropical flavors, and it pairs perfectly with the beach. This beer has done well in competitions, winning three silver medals. I named it after my years growing up on a sailboat and the fact I share part of my name with an infamous South Pacific mutineer. Brew day at Belching Beaver with Peter Perrecone was an incredible experience and seeing my little recipe grow to a 18-barrel batch was unforgettable. Perhaps First Mate was promoted to Captain that day.”
Chris Van Hamersveld, Homebrewer
I chose Chris’ beer because I wanted to brew a style we don’t brew a lot of as a company. That way we can truly brew his recipe without making changes to it. I know when I was a homebrewer and I got a chance for my beer to be brewed by a pro they changed it quite a bit to fit their company’s style of brewing, so I wanted to make sure Chris got to see a big brewery take his beer from grain-to-glass.”
Peter Perrecone, Specialty Brewer, Belching Beaver Brewery