Designer, drummer Kemet Ackee brings fresh flavors to Second Chance

Kemet Ackee, 34, is a San Diego County native, Monte Vista High, class of 2007 graduate, Army veteran, founder of the All My Friends Are Rappers apparel company, drummer and brewer. He’s also African-American, which makes him a rare quantity in one of his chosen fields.

“You don’t see too many Black and Brown people in the industry,” Ackee said.

Working with San Diego’s Second Chance Beer, he’s determined to bring a wider audience into craft beer. As part of that effort, he devised All I Want, a hoppy Kolsch brewed for Black History Month.

“I wanted a light beer with hoppy characteristics, something that can intrigue the craft beer drinkers and also something the average beer drinker will like,” Ackee said. “I think we nailed it.”

All I Want debuted last year as a collaboration between Second Chance and Chula Vista Brewery, the latter a minority-owned business. This year, it’s strictly a Second Chance production.

Ackee’s nine years in the Army, 2011-2020, included two deployments to Afghanistan and a stint in Syria. But his first duty station may have had the biggest impact on his future.

“In Germany, I became more aware of the beer industry,” he said. “Then coming back home on leave, my friends were interested in craft beer and they would tell me about the local breweries.”

When he was honorably discharged, Ackee came home to found his apparel company and work for Second Chance. While he hopes All I Want will attract craft beer newbies, he’s eager to explore further.

“I want to continue to do other styles,” he said, “continue to grow – and introduce more people to craft beer.”

Quick Sips

All I Want beer from Second Chance Brewing.

(Courtesy of Peter Rowe)

Beer: All I Want

From: Collaboration by Second Chance Beer and All My Friends Are Rappers, San Diego

ABV: 4.6 percent

Style: Hoppy Kolsch

Drink or dump: Drink. Seeking an easy drinking beer dominated by crisp malts, a spritz of lemon and mild hop bitterness? You want All I Want. This is an everything-for-everyone beer, meant to please craft fans without — look, a fizzy yellow brew! — terrifying the Bud/Miller/Coors crowd.

Geeks of the Beer Industry beer.

(Courtesy of Peter Rowe)

Beer: Geeks of the Industry

From: Urban Roots, Sacramento

ABV: 7.6 percent

Style: Baltic porter

Drink or dump: Drink. An exemplar of a rarely brewed style, this Baltic porter is smooth and nimble — despite the elevated alcohol level, Geeks has a svelte body. Notes of baker’s chocolate, coffee and toasted pumpernickel, this is a limited release from one of Sacramento’s hottest breweries.

Milk Truck beer.

(Courtesy of Peter Rowe)

Beer: Milk Truck

From: Mother Earth, Vista and Nampa, Idaho

ABV: 5.8 percent

Style: Latte stout

Drink or dump: Drink. Milk Truck’s label promises vanilla, coffee, lactose and oats; that’s truth in advertising. In this creamy stout, roasted malts are submerged beneath layers of dairy sweetness. Oats add fullness to the mouth feel, while judicious hopping prevents this Truck from bogging down in syrupy goo.

This Weekend in Beer: Saturday

For nearly a decade, the Girl Scouts have sponsored cookies-and-beer pairing events. The tradition continues tomorrow, with six county spots hosting these sweet fundraisers.

At Belching Beaver’s brewhouse — 1334 Rocky Point Drive, Oceanside — the noon to 6 p.m. lineup includes Peanut Butter Milk Stout with Tagalongs, the peanut butter and chocolate cookie.

Original 40, 3117 University Ave., San Diego, three pairings will be served from noon to 8 p.m. My choice: coconutty Samoas with Friar’s Robe, Original 40’s brown ale.

The other locations, all featuring pairings between 1 and 5 p.m.: Coco Maya, 1660 India St., San Diego; Second Chance, 15378 Avenue of Science, Suite 222, San Diego; Smoking Gun, 555 Market St., San Diego; and PRK 101, 3040 Carlsbad Blvd., Carlsbad.

Stone Brewing is kooky for cookie-beer pairings, too, serving them today through Monday. You’ll find the goodies at both Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens,1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido, and 2816 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego, plus at plus Stone tap rooms at 310 N. Tremont St, Oceanside, and 1202 Kettner Blvd., Suite 101, San Diego.

My Yard Live brewery head brewer Benjamin “Shaggy” Blaney, far left, samples a new brew co-created with the “4 Dudes,” a quartet of beer-loving buddies with developmental disabilities, in 2021.

(Charlie Neuman/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

This Weekend in Beer: Sunday

Join the 4 Dudes — four pals, all with developmental disabilities — as they unveil their double dry-hopped hazy IPA; screen a documentary about their friendship; and donate more than $3,000 to charity.

“One of the Dudes (James Zoul) has been working with us since 2019,” said Jamie Minotti, owner of My Yard Live, a family-friendly brew pub and events center in San Marcos. “They’ve known each other since kindergarten.”

The Dudes — Zoul, Nick Bahen, Michael Roth and Matt Zimmerman — designed the beer with My Yard Live head brewer Benjamin “Shaggy” Blaney. For every pint sold, $1 is donated to a local charity.

The party begins at 2 p.m., the screening at 2:45 at 288 Rancheros Drive in San Marcos. Can’t make this Yard party? Don’t worry: cans of 4Dudes Brew DDH Hazy IPA are being distributed around San Diego County and as far north as Temecula. myyardlive.com/

Rowe is a freelance writer.