This year’s Homebrew Summer participants

As has been a tradition since 2021, San Diego Beer News put out a call to local breweries to participate in our fourth-annual Homebrew Summer program. Nineteen businesses heeded said call, enthusiastically volunteering to brew a pro-am beer with local homebrewers or contribute recipes for their commercial beers that have been scaled down for recreational fermentationists to produce at home. From there, homebrewers were invited to submit their favorite beer recipes for consideration by the participating breweries.

This year, we received nearly 50 recipes representing almost every beer style and permutation imaginable, everything from lawnmower lagers, monastic Belgian ales and (multiple) smoked beers to saisons, stouts and, of course, loads of varied IPAs. Each brewery was allowed to choose any beer they wished on a first-come-first-served basis based on their individual preferences. The following are the beer styles and homebrewers those businesses selected…

• Arcana Brewing * / Chris High: English-style Dark Mild Ale
• Barley & Sword Brewing * / Jim Connor: Kentucky-style Common
• Barrel & Stave Brewing / Chris van Hamersveld: New Zealand-style Pale Ale
• BattleMage Brewing / Andy Konopak: Rye IPA
• Burning Beard Brewing * / Doug Brown & Jared Rowley: New Zealand-style Pilsner
• Guadalupe Brewery * / Stu Montgomery: Hazy IPA
• Hopnonymous Brewing / Jason Clark: Coffee Porter
• Jacked Up Brewery / Eli Palma: West Coast Lager
• Jacked Up Brewery / David Zivkovich: West Coast IPA
• Mission Brewing / Mykol, Midori & Leo Najarian: Blonde Ale with Buddha’s Hand
• My Yard Live Beer Co. / Ben Cusey: Non-alcoholic Hop Water
• Nickel Beer Co. / Brandon Hernández: Black Barleywine
• Smoking Cannon Brewery * / Mike Gehring: Amber Lager
• White Labs Brewing / Josh Akin: Kölsch

The following brewing companies will be contributing homebrew-scaled recipes for beers out of their commercial portfolios…

• Black Plague Brewing *
• East Village Brewing *
• Home Brew Mart
• Modern Times Beer
• OB Brewery *
• Pacific Beach AleHouse

* indicates first-time participant

Since 2021, 35 breweries have worked with homebrewers to brew 50 pro-am beers in association with Homebrew Summer. Additionally, 24 brewing companies have shared recipes for their commercial beers. Factoring in this year’s octet of first-timers, the total number of San Diego brewing companies that have helped pass down knowledge and make memories for local homebrewers as part of this program is 57, exemplifying the generosity of spirit and wisdom the county’s breweries are known for.

This year’s pro-am beers will be brewed and released to the public throughout the summer (Thursday, June 20 through Sunday, September 22), often including special tapping events with the homebrewer on-hand to enjoy their moment in the spotlight. We will share the release information and recipes for those beers, as well as the homebrew-scaled commercial-beer recipes, via our website, across San Diego Beer News’ social-media channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Threads) and in our weekly email newsletter. If you are not signed up for the latter, you can do so using the form below.

As has been the case since Homebrew Summer’s inception, the staff at Home Brew Mart will be lending a hand, transcribing all of the recipes we will share. And this year we are happy to welcome our brand-new banner sponsor, SoCal Brewing Supply. Big thanks go out to these businesses for helping to keep this initiative not just alive but thriving and moving forward.