Release: Dog Beach Day English-style Summer Ale

As part of our San Diego Homebrew Summer program, a dozen local breweries are producing recipes from local homebrewers at their breweries during the sunny season. The next of those creations is an English-style summer ale dubbed Dog Beach Day, which fits perfectly into the lineup of traditional yet lesser-seen ales of European origin at Bay Park’s Deft Brewing. That’s a key reason why the co-founder of that operation, Mo Nuspl, selected this tasty, refreshing recipe from local homebrewer and QUAFF (Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity) member Jared Rowley. The beer will make its debut at Deft’s taproom beginning at 5 p.m. this Friday, June 11. Whet your appetite for it by learning more about what went into it as both a recreational and, now, a commercially produced beer.

Dog Beach Day | English-style Summer Ale

Commentary from Deft Brewing co-founder and Head Brewer Mo Nuspl

We named this beer Dog Beach Day in honor of our mutual love of dogs, and brewed it on May 25. Jared spent the brew day at Deft with Assistant Brewer Mike Finn and me bringing this fun recipe to life, from mash to yeast-pitch. The brew day was a lot of fun with Jared. Mike and I have only done a couple collaboration brews with other brewers or breweries so far, so we really enjoyed the experience, talking through the process, explaining why we do things the way we do, learning some things from Jared, and ultimately all agreeing that our processes and system here at Deft are simply an oversized example of typical solid homebrewing practices.

The recipe is very true to Jared’s original recipe, with almost all of the same hop- and grain-bill ingredients used. The few modifications we made to the recipe were more related to “functional” grains like acidulated malt and CaraPils, which serve functional purposes in the recipe and process but don’t impact the beer’s flavor much. The one and only significant modification we made the mutually agreed upon use of a different but very similar yeast strain, in a dry-yeast format this time, with which we’ve had very good results in the past. We’re hoping this ends up being a very good representation of the beer Jared created on his five-gallon system. Based on the initial sneak-peek tastes, it will be great!

Jared will be here when we tap the beer the evening of June 11. We’ll also re-release it as a special-event beer for our annual benefit, Barks, Brews & Mews, a fundraiser for the San Diego Human Society (SDHS) taking place June 19-20. That two-day event will feature live music, pet-related vendor displays and many other activities, plus participation from our partners and neighbors at Lost Cause Meadery and Cucina Caprese Pizzeria.

Q&A with homebrewer Jared Rowley

When did you develop this recipe and what led you to submit it for consideration?

I came up with this recipe last summer. I was brewing a lot more than normal due to quarantine and wanted to make a refreshing summer ale for the warmer days. I took inspiration from a few similar local beers such as Karl Strauss Brewing’s Liquid AC and Eppig Brewing’s Civility, and chose to submit this recipe because an English summer ale called Beach Day seemed pretty appropriate for the San Diego Homebrew Summer competition. I also knew, because of the fairly simple recipe, this would be one that would be easier to scale up on the pro-brew side. I may have also had Deft specifically in mind when choosing to submit this beer. Deft does European—specifically, English styles—so well, this seemed like it would be a perfect fit for their tap list.

How did it feel having your recipe selected?

I was so stoked when I saw that my recipe had been selected to be brewed at Deft! My wife and I love visiting there because of how friendly the staff is and the high quality of their beers, especially the European styles you can’t find all that often. I couldn’t wait to brew with Mo and have a beer on-tap at one of my favorite breweries.

In scaling the recipe up and spending time in a pro brewery setting, did you pick up any tips that will have inform your future brews?

It was really cool to see Deft’s system up close and realize that, at its core, it is a two-barrel homebrew system. A lot of our processes are very similar as well, so I felt right at home brewing with Mike and Mo. We did end up choosing a yeast I had never used before, Fermentis Safale S-04. The ease of use is something that could make my brew days more efficient. Rather than having to make a yeast starter a couple days in advance, you can just pitch the dry yeast straight into your wort. Additionally, the dry yeast doesn’t require the wort to be aerated or oxygenated, which saves another step in the brew-day process. I can definitely see myself using this yeast on my next Beach Day brew day.

What are you most excited about with this collaboration?

In addition to the actual brew day with Mo and Mike, I’m really excited that this beer will be featured at the Barks, Brews & Mews event that Deft will host. My wife, Dana, and I volunteered at the SDHS San Diego campus walking dogs for a couple years and we ended up adopting our boxer mix, Barley, from there. We love supporting that organization, so it was a no-brainer when Mo mentioned that the beer could be featured at that event. The original name for the beer, Beach Day, was changed to Dog Beach Day in honor of that event and the good work done by SDHS.