Living in Mira Mesa I haven’t made my way up to Temecula to visit breweries yet. Thankfully, some of them have been bottling and distributing beers down to stores near me. I’ve seen the beers from Black Market before but haven’t given them a taste until I grabbed a bottle of the Rye IPA. I am glad I did.
The Rye IPA has plenty of caramel up front with some citrus hop flavors on the back. It has everything I used to love about the Green Flash Rye IPA before it disappeared. I can tell from the flavor that I had this one fresh and it was very nice. It pours a nice amber color and is well balanced so that you get just enough of each flavor. Make sure you pick up a bottle if you like some rye in your IPA.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
NOTE: Wet N Reckless has closed for some time because of a fire at the brewery. It is still unclear if they will open again later.
I had visited this brewery a few times before starting this blog but I wanted to make sure to wait until they had some stuff I enjoyed before writing an entry. Like many smaller breweries, the lineup changes pretty regularly and the beers are sometimes hit and miss. Wet N Reckless doesn’t bottle any of their beers for sale in the grocery store and they still use plastic cups for the tasters. If you want to have a glass to use to enjoy your pints, you have to buy one and put your name on it. Despite all that, when you find something you like there, it is usually quite good.
Wet N Reckless Inside.
From the outside it is your typical small brewery in an industrial area. When you get close, the breweries signs help guide you to the parking lot. Otherwise you might miss it and wonder where you went wrong.
As you can see from the names, Wet N Reckless likes to use creative names for beers. The selection is broad and has something for everyone. Though I don’t appreciate some of the beers heavier on the malts, the honey badger, or the mead, these beers are what sets them apart from other breweries. If you like honey in your beer or are gluten intolerant, you might find something to love about some of the different brews here.
I went with three tasters, the Floral Pleasure, Harmless Fun, and More Cowbell. Floral Pleasure is an interesting beer that is different from what you might expect. It is not an IPA and it isn’t an IPL. Instead, it is a beer with heavy floral hops on the front end. This is the closest beer you will find here to a traditional San Diego IPA. While they have an IPA, it is too malty for my tastes, so I prefer floral pleasure. The Harmless Fun has a nice wheat flavor but not enough hops for my tastes. It is described as a wheat beer dry-hopped with Citra hops. I don’t taste enough citra to give it the flavor that I would like to taste.
Pint of More Cowbell.
Then we are up to the most interesting beer of the night, the More Cowbell. Somehow I hadn’t tried this beer before today. I always love a good double IPA and this one was just what I liked to see. At first I was a bit unsure if I would like it but by the time I finished my taster I was ready to order a pint, and then another one. Made with exclusively with Summit hops, this is a grassy IPA and at times I was ready to call it too malty but I could taste enough hops in the beer that I was hooked. As I could tell, everyone else who was visiting knew exactly what they were getting and was back for more.
To show how addicting this beer is, there is a cowbell on the bar that has a sticker on it reading “More Cowbell” I was ready to ring it a few times though after two pints I was satisfied. I saw a number of people ordering multiple pints of this delicious beer while I was there. Clearly, I had missed something and I will be back to try some more. If you love your hops, make sure you keep an eye out for Floral Pleasure and More Cowbell. Follow Wet N Reckless on Facebook to make sure you get notified when the beers are available.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
I’ve been visiting Ballast Point for some time now. When I first visited the Scripps Ranch location it was really small and had hardly any space to sit if any. Now it is three times as large inside plus has a nice outdoor sitting area. When Ballast Point announced the new location in Little Italy I was excited but I didn’t go down there until now because I am so close to the Old Grove location. After making it down to meet with a few friends I am glad I made the trip and got to try a few interesting beers they don’t have at the other location.
Ballast Point Little Italy Tap list part 2.
I went straight for the four varieties of single hopped IPAs. For those not familiar, most IPAs, like Ballast Point’s Sculpin, are made with multiple varieties of hops. The combination of flavors is what makes your favorite beer so good. Single hopped IPAs are made with a single type of hops. This is nice because it lets you become familiar with the different tastes of the hops. They were nice to taste and experience the hops but I was not craving pints of any of them after the tasters.
Single hop IPAs, three varieties, and one single malt IPA.
It is important to note that Ballast Point does have a wine selection as well. So you won’t be alienating your friends if they don’t drink beer. I didn’t get to taste any of the wines though so I don’t know how good they are.
I next went for the Hop Face IPA, the original Sculpin recipe with some Mosaic hops. With that I got a taster of the Chocolate Schwartz and the Dunkelweisen.
Left, Hop Face, Center, Chocolate Schwartz, Right, Dunkelweisen.
The Hop Face was good but it didn’t blow me away or anything. I still prefer the original Sculpin. I was quite impressed by the Chocolate Schwartz. I wasn’t expecting such a delicious sweet chocolate taste. It could turn into a popular mainstay if they make it right. The Dunkelweisen was not bad but tasted pretty much like any other dark Belgian beer. It didn’t grab me and I much preferred the Chocolate Schwartz.
It is nice to note that they did have a selection of food available here. Most of the offerings were around $12-$15. We only had the chips and salsa. It was tasty and the chips were quite nice. We ended up eating a sandwich down the street at Mona Lisa. The little Italian market has amazing huge sandwiches for $7 or so that you can easily split with someone. Since Ballast Point serves food I doubt they would let you bring one in, but it is great for after a few beers. Overall, it is worth stopping by the Little Italy location for a taste of some interesting beers you can’t find at the other location. It is a great start to a new location that will hopefully be very successful.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
I’ve had Iron Fist beers on tap at other places a few times but never made it up to the brewery itself.
Iron Fist Brewing.
Iron Fist had a large selection of beers on tap and a number of specialty brews. Since my husband doesn’t like most of the styles, I had to stick to the hop-heavy beers so I could taste what I like. Sometime I may come back to see what the Belgian styles taste like. To finish off my flight my husband got a taster of the stout on nitro.
Iron Fist tasting flight.
The pale ale was a bit disappointing after Stone’s Lavender Pale Ale earlier in the day. It was too light for my tastes. There was no regular IPA available to try so I went straight into the Double IPA. I had three versions of the Gauntlet Double IPA, the regular, one dry-hopped with citra hops, and one with coffee. The regular Gauntlet was a bit too heavy on the darker fruits and pine for my tastes. It seemed like the malts overpowered the hops a little too much.
Next I tried the double IPA with citra hops. This was closer to what I tend to like in San Diego double IPAs. The citra hop flavor comes out nice and strong in front of everything else and has a nice flavor. The coffee double IPA was pretty much like drinking an iced coffee. Despite the strong flavor of the double IPA the coffee was all I really tasted. It was quite nice.
To finish things off, I tried a special version of the stout with ghost peppers and vanilla beans. I was really impressed by this one because it had a delicious sweet vanilla flavor at the front and some spicy kick at the back. It was spicy but not particularly so, and not as hot as the Habanero Sculpin some might be familiar with. If you don’t like sweet though, you should stay away from this one because it almost tastes like chocolate chip cookie dough iced cream at the front end.
I would have liked to have an option for a middle of the road IPA here. I probably won’t be buying the Gauntlet anytime soon on tap other places because of the heavy malt flavor but I would really like more of the Gauntlet with citra hops.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
Stone is one of the biggest breweries in San Diego. Just a few minutes away from their primary bistro and gardens location is a small farm where they have some beers to taste and some interesting outdoor areas where you can enjoy your beer. Unlike the bistro that houses a bunch of taps, the farms have a small selection of Stone beers.
Stone farms tap list.Stone farms outdoor seating.
I was going on to other breweries after and had already tried most of the beers available so I ordered a pint of the Lavender Pale Ale. The lavender gave it a nice flavor and went well with the traditional Stone Pale Ale. My husband had a glass of the Russian Imperial Stout with Espresso, one of his favorites. Stone also offers growler fills from this location if you don’t want to fight the crowds at the bistro.
Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.
