San Diego’s Homebrew Summer program is ending its 2026 run the way it started: with a homebrewer and a professional brewery making a beer together. The last of this year’s collaborative creations comes from Scripps Ranch-based Harland Brewing and homebrewer Eli Palma, and it is an extra pale ale (XPA) called SISO that will debut at all five of Harland’s San Diego locations later this month.

The pairing has history. Harland vice president of brewing operations Cody Morris first teamed with Palma during the inaugural Homebrew Summer in 2021, when Morris was working at Embolden Beer Co. Five years later, the two are back together, this time brewing an XPA recipe Palma has been perfecting over the past half-decade. The beer itself was not even brewed until last week, well into autumn, which makes it a fittingly late finish for a program called Homebrew Summer.

For drinkers, SISO is a chance to taste what the program is really about. Homebrew Summer pairs talented amateur brewers with commercial breweries to scale up recipes that started in garages and kitchens, and the results are often more personal than a brewery’s core lineup. An XPA is a good vehicle for that: pale, hop-forward, and refreshing, with enough room for a homebrewer’s individual choices to show through in the hop bill and the malt balance.

Homebrewers get something too. The program publishes homebrew-scaled recipes for its collaborative beers, so SISO’s recipe will be available for anyone who wants to brew their own version at home. That recipe-sharing angle is part of what has kept Homebrew Summer going since 2021, turning each release into both a taproom beer and a brewing lesson.

SISO will pour at Harland’s Scripps Ranch, 4S Ranch, Bay Park, and South Park locations, plus the brewery’s spot inside Mission Bay Municipal Golf Course in Pacific Beach. No exact debut date has been announced yet beyond later this month, so fans of the program should keep an eye on Harland’s tap lists in the coming weeks.

We will report back when SISO lands and we get a first pour. Until then, the late arrival of this year’s final Homebrew Summer beer is a reminder that San Diego’s collaboration culture is still going strong, even in a year when plenty of breweries have struggled. It is also a good excuse to visit a Harland taproom you have not tried yet, since all five locations will pour the same beer at the same time.