Located walking distance from Mother Earth Brewing is a new brewery called Wavelength with a science-fiction theme and a nice open welcoming space. The day I stopped by they had a gaming day (board games) with a number of people gathered to play against each other while enjoying beers. They also like to project the live feed from the International Space Station on the wall. The beer selection was fairly large for what I expect to see for a young brewery. There were plenty of interesting additional ingredients used.
While I was there I tried the Halley’s IPA, an English style IPA, Grapefruit IPA, Guava IPA, Olympus Mons Rye IIPA, Red Shift hibiscus red ale, and Dos Attack IIPA. Halley’s IPA was a solid English style IPA with a good mix of apricot and tropical fruit flavors from the hops and a medium amount of bitterness.
The grapefruit IPA was much more intense on the grapefruit than most local offerings. The grapefruit flavors were so strong that I had a hard time detecting much from the underlying beer itself. It was pretty much like drinking grapefruit juice with a similar strong aftertaste to what you would expect. The guava was similarly fruit forward although I could taste a little more of the underlying IPA behind it. The citrus hops seemed to blend well with the guava. This one was a bit more crisp and less bitter than the grapefruit without any crazy aftertaste.
The Olympus Mons Rye IIPA was a combination of intense earthy flavors from the rye and an even more powerful smoke flavor from peat malt in the background. Any hop flavors got buried under the two strong flavors leaving a strong bitterness to round it out. I found this beer quite difficult to enjoy and did not end up finishing the taster. The Red Shift hibiscus red had a very nice combination of caramel and dark fruit flavors in the malts, making it similar to a porter at times. The hibiscus flavor did not come in the form of the usual sweet flavors but served as a bittering agent giving it a strong bitter after taste. To me the hibiscus clashed a little too much with an otherwise strong red ale.
Finally the Dos Attack IIPA was a mostly hop forward brew with bright flavors of guava and tropical fruit on the front end. Sadly, these flavors get overpowered by a soapy after taste at the back possibly caused by too much of one of the hops. Like the hibiscus red before it, the after taste took away from what seemed to be an otherwise solid beer. I did not finish this taster either.
Wavelength is barely six months old and many of the beers are still a work in progress. None of the beers I tasted jumped out at me in such a way that I would say you should try that one. I also did not try their lighter options so I don’t know if they are getting those right. Still, if you are in the mood for hops presented in a now common San Diego style you should head next door to Mother Earth instead.
Top 2:
Halley’s IPA
Grapefruit IPA
Paul McGuire
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.
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