By Erin Coe | SDUN Reporter

If Kelsey McNair of North Park wants to grab a beer, he doesn’t have to walk very far. He knows a great place in the neighborhood that’s open around the clock, has 14 beers on tap, from fruity Belgian ales to strong Russian imperial stouts to award-winning India Pale Ales.

This place just so happens to be his house.

When the 32-year-old video-game maker for Sony Online Entertainment made his first batch of golden ale with a Mr. Beer kit six years ago, a light bulb went off in his head—he could really get into homebrewing as a hobby, but it’s become much more than that.

“It’s a sense of accomplishment to make something that, at the end of the day, is a great beer,” he said.

McNair is part of a growing number of San Diegans who not only want to savor a beer for its taste but crave the satisfaction of knowing that it was made by their own two hands.

Now, with San Diego County’s emerging reputation as a beer hub with many renowned breweries producing craft beers that have won international acclaim, homebrewers could not ask for a better location to jumpstart their endeavor and drink in inspiration.

More people across the U.S. have picked up the hobby as homebrew retailers saw national sales increase by 16 percent in 2009, according to the most recent statistics by Boulder, Colo.-based American Homebrewers Association (AHA), which is planning to hold its national homebrew competition in San Diego in June.

Gary Glass, director of AHA, said making beer at home is expected to continue to gain in popularity as the economy recovers.

“The interest in homebrewing continues to grow and there is growth in the craft beer segment,” Glass said. “Those two things go hand-in-hand as people get exposed to quality craft beer.

Several factors in San Diego County coincide to make it a breeding ground for homebrewers. The region boasts a burgeoning number of prominent breweries, including San Marcos-based Port Brewing Co., Vista-based Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego-based Ballast Point Brewing Co. and Escondido-based Stone Brewing Co.

Ballast Point was hailed as the top small brewing company by the Brewers Association World Beer Cup last year. Many local breweries also took home gold medals for their beers from that competition, including San Diego-based AleSmith Brewing Co. for its AleSmith Wee Heavy, San Diego-based Karl Strauss Brewing Co. for its Red Trolley Ale and Alpine Beer Co. for its O’Brien’s IPA.

“If you’re a beer lover, you’re spoiled in San Diego,” Larry Monasakanian said, an assistant manager of Home Brew Mart, which opened Ballast Point in 1996.

Homebrewing is closely linked with the appreciation of craft beer, and as more beer drinkers become thirsty for new styles and complex beers, such as IPAs or sour beers, that interest feeds into a desire to invent their own beers, Monasakanian said.

“When people have the opportunity to make beer at home, they become hungry to try more styles,” he said.

Monasakanian explained that the homebrew retailer’s business has been going in “a straight line up” over the last three years and has increased its staff by 30 percent over the last two years.

“I hope homebrewing isn’t just a trend,” he said. “Right now, we’re at the peak of a wave and it seems to still be building.”

After picking up a beer kit on craigslist for a couple hundred bucks, Matt Paquette of Hillcrest has brewed about 15 batches, including a red ale, a double Belgian ale and a brown ale, over the last two years.

“It’s fun to experiment putting your own twist on other creations or recipes you’ve seen around,” said the 27-year-old firefighter. “Another big thing is that I’ve got my own homebrew on tap. So if friends stop by, I can have them try my new batch.”

San Diego also has an active and passionate homebrew club called Quaff, which holds monthly meetings in Mission Valley.

“There are strong ties between the homebrewing community and professional crafting and brewing companies, and it seems more tight-knit than in other places,” Glass said.

Many professional brewers started out as homebrewers, such as AleSmith’s owner Peter Zien and Poway-based Lightning Brewery’s owner Jim Crute, according to Chuck West, president of Quaff and a homebrewer for 15 years.

“One reason why people are getting involved is that it is so easy to learn because homebrewers are so willing to teach and share what they have learned to try to get better brewing across the board,” he said.

The brewing community in San Diego is known for being a collegial bunch, openly exchanging ideas about ingredients and beer-making techniques, according to Jim Akin, membership director of Quaff and a homebrewer for 10 years.

“Professional brewers know us, and we know them,” he said. “They don’t look at us like we’re amateurs. They just have bigger toys.”

Quaff, which has more than 200 members, saw its predominately male membership rise in 2010 and draw in a younger crowd, with 20 percent of its members between the ages of 21 and 25, according to Akin.

In San Diego, there’s not much to be unhappy about, and staying positive helps produce a lot of good beer, according to Greg Tavangar, 23, an employee for North Park-based Home Brews & Gardens who has been making his own beer for a few years and teaches homebrewing classes to beginners twice a month.

“The laid-back, chilled-out attitude adds to the brewing scene,” he said.

Tavangar, who is currently an anthropology major at San Diego City College, has become so fascinated by the business side of brewing that he is looking to make it his profession.

“Making beer is the perfect combination of art and science, and if all goes according to plan, I will have my own brewing company in five or 10 years,” he said.

Tavangar is not the only one with big dreams for himself after immersing into the homebrewing hobby.

As a homebrewer, McNair has received national recognition for his homemade beer and even collaborated with two breweries on one of his own brewpub some day.

In June, McNair’s Imperial IPA homebrew won a gold medal out of nearly 400 IPA entries in the National Homebrew Competition.

He also collaborated on a San Diego County session ale with Stone and Ballast Point after he won an American Homebrewers Association competition last March. While McNair usually makes about 10 gallons per batch at home, Stone made 360 barrels, which held 31 gallons each, and the beer was distributed in 20 states, he said.

“That took a while to sink in,” he said. “It was like a dream to brew beer on a professional scale.”

McNair said the shed in his back yard is “where the magic happens.” It’s his own pilot brewery with equipment that is a smaller-scale version of what would be found at a microbrewery. He has a brewing rig and two stainless steel conical fermenters in freezers that allow him to do two batches at a time as well as more than a dozen 5- and 10-gallon repurposed soda kegs to store his assortment of brews.

A blackboard in his shed proudly displays the beers he has on tap, such as his signature imperial IPA, his Stone collaboration, “Ray Street” red ale and Russian imperial stout with a 12 percent alcohol content. He also has four beers on tap in his kitchen, including a Belgian-style Saison and a fig-juice infused Belgian Dark strong ale with a 10 percent alcohol content, which was a compilation with several homebrewers.

Having his own brewpub one day would be ideal for McNair because he would be able to sell his beer directly to consumers while still maintaining the level of creativity he enjoys as a homebrewer.

One beer he wants to work on next is a Mexican chocolate porter, which he says will include imperial porter, cocoa nibs, cinnamon and cayenne pepper.

“I always like to experiment, and the fun of homebrewing is choosing what hops, yeast and malts you’re going to do,” he said. “I have a creative background, but I also have a general interest in the technical side. I always like to pick things apart to get to the fine details and find out the best way of doing something.”

As local breweries continue to raise San Diego County’s profile as a major beer town, appreciation of good brew will keep driving people toward the hobby, McNair said.

“There’s so much inspiration here,” he said. “It fuels that passion that you can do it yourself.”