{"id":11289,"date":"2015-07-14T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=11289"},"modified":"2015-07-10T12:51:52","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T19:51:52","slug":"beer-touring-reckless-brewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2015\/07\/14\/beer-touring-reckless-brewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer Touring: Reckless Brewing Co."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"reckless_03\"<\/a>Over the past month or so, the two questions I\u2019ve been asked most are, 1) Now that you\u2019re writing for West Coaster<\/em>, will you still write critical reviews of breweries, and 2) Have you been to Reckless Brewing Company<\/strong><\/a> (9040 Carroll Way, #8, Miramar) <\/em>yet? The answer to both queries is, \u201cYes.\u201d A key differentiating factor of my writing is the fact that it\u2019s honest and built to serve the needs of craft beer consumers. I feel it\u2019s my duty to give readers the straight scoop versus impartiality or, worse yet, sugar-coated accounts of businesses that aren\u2019t up to snuff. So, the \u201cbeer touring\u201d reviews that have been a fixture of my industry coverage for the past several years will continue starting today\u2026with the aforementioned Reckless Brewing.<\/p>\n

The reason so many have asked me about that business stems from a negative review I wrote about its first incarnation, Wet \u2018N Reckless Brewing Company, back in 2012. Detailing one of the worst brewery experiences of my life, it went as close to viral as any article of mine ever could. So, my feelings about Wet \u2018N Reckless were well known, not to mention the subject of much debate among craft beer fans. Naturally, those individuals were curious to see what I might write about the business\u2019 second coming. I\u2019ll get to that, but first a bit of background.<\/p>\n

\"Wet<\/a>
Wet ‘N Reckless Brewing owner Dave Hyndman (second from right) in his tasting room after the fire that destroyed the business<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In July of last year, Wet \u2018N Reckless\u2019 Mira Mesa industrial-suite brewery and tasting room caught fire. By the time the flames were extinguished, it was a total loss. Never the darling of San Diego\u2019s beer sect, most assumed owner Dave Hyndman <\/strong>would abandon his second job and return to life before brewing. But he was determined and ran two crowd-funding campaigns to earn the capital to reopen, this time a few clicks south in a Miramar business unit. Marked by a sign with the new name Reckless Brewing, it is directly across the street from one of the second-largest brewing facilities in San Diego County, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits<\/strong><\/a>\u2019 recently erected Miramar brewery, bar and restaurant. It was a strategic decision by Hyndman to relocate there based on the opportunity to benefit from overflow and secondary traffic from BP, which is constantly busy and regularly reaches capacity in the bar and dining room.<\/p>\n

The day I visited Hyndman\u2019s new spot (with three other knowledgeable beer enthusiasts, including one who accompanied me to Wet \u2018N Reckless back in 2012), there was zero parking to be had at Ballast Point or along the entire street it and Reckless share. That made it all the better that Reckless\u2019 customers-only lot had plenty of open spaces. So far, they had it all over their larger, nautical-themed neighbors. Much like a Padres early lead, that wouldn\u2019t last, but I will say that upon entering the business, I instantly noticed a number of improvements from its predecessor.<\/p>\n

First off, there was more space. Wet \u2018N Reckless was small and visiting was literally like stepping inside your neighbor\u2019s man-caved garage, except with less comfortable seating options. It looked cheap\u2026because it was. That in itself is no crime. Many are the start-up businesses that need to be cobbled together with duct-tape and chewing gum, but at some point the customer experience has to become a priority and, at Wet \u2018N Reckless, it never was. However, now that he has a space offering three different rooms in which to drink\u2014a front room with soft furniture and a living room feel, a middle room with a long wooden table and stools, and a main tasting room with high tables\u2014Hyndman has increased the comfort level and, in doing so, made for a place that is a lot more enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\"reckless_02\"<\/a>Another upgrade was the general mood at Reckless. There was a good number of patrons on-site as it was the Thursday before the three-day Fourth of July weekend, and the majority were in amiable spirits. Though pseudo-Friday elation likely had a lot to do with that, I\u2019m betting the nicer environs and the friendliness of the individuals serving their beer did, too. Upon ordering three flights covering every beer available that day, I was pleased that each came in a taster glass made of actual glass. Back at Wet \u2018N Reckless, my samples came in plastic, Jell-O shooter-esque receptacles. I hoped for similar improvement in the beers, since they were the crux of my negative initial review.<\/p>\n

The beer quality at Reckless is a tad better. Though I wouldn\u2019t make a b-line for them, there were three beers that, if accompanying friends to the tasting room, I could order\u2014a steam beer that really tastes nothing like a steam beer and more like a San Diego-style pale ale thanks to plenty of Simcoe hops, a straightforward brown ale that wasn\u2019t great but was serviceable, and a refreshing, light-bodied, 5% alcohol-by-volume (the only low-ABV option at this high-gravity-as-a-rule operation) beer that tasted of pineapple. Three decent beers is far better than the zero I encountered back in the day, but we tasted a total of 15 beers and many had issues.<\/p>\n

\"reckless_01\"<\/a>Honey Badger Don\u2019t Care, a style-less creation of Hyndman\u2019s that would seem to be Reckless\u2019 flagship brew, was low on carbonation, Golden Boy tasted oxidized and a little burnt on the backend, More Cowbell reeked of butterscotch, and Destroyer of Worlds tasted abrasively raw and out-of-balance. As was the case my first time in, the beers generally veer too far into sweet territory for me, which isn\u2019t surprising considering the high ABV of most of Hyndman\u2019s stock and his openly untraditional (or as he puts it, \u201creckless\u201d) brewing methods and recipes.<\/p>\n

While the brewery\u2019s name has changed, its beer line-up has remained mostly the same. Ditto the names, which is a bit of a letdown. While I didn\u2019t have to endure the presence of Pop My Cherry Ale, Oral Pleasure (the previously mentioned steam beer) was on-tap, as was an amber ale called Genocide. There\u2019s nothing wrong with humor and playfulness. Upside Brown, Harmless Fun Wheat, Poor Social Skills (a 17% barley wine, the coming of which Hyndman foretold during my visit), Honey Badger Don\u2019t Care\u2026these names are cute, entertaining even. But Pop My Cherry and Genocide cross different invisible but very real lines of decorum. Still, choice of branding is every business owner\u2019s rights, so I can\u2019t really fault Hyndman there. It\u2019s his prerogative.<\/p>\n

\"reckless_05\"<\/a>The same can be said for the way he chooses to brew and the beers he puts on tap. I\u2019m confounded by Merlout, a stout that has Merlot wine added to it post-fermentation. To me, it tastes fusel in its booziness and not at all delicious. But that\u2019s a taste thing. It\u2019s not my cup of tea, but for all I know, Hyndman loves it and this is exactly what he wanted to produce. In which case, good for him. Perhaps others will like it. It\u2019s an out-there beer and the freedom of experimentation has led to many great discoveries in the craft beer industry. I\u2019d just like to see beers that are obviously shooting close in on established styles come in closer to something more identifiable, delicious and desirable.<\/p>\n

Still, there were beers I could drink and an atmosphere that, while purposely zany, wasn\u2019t sophomoric enough to be off-putting. I can totally see how visitors looking to have a good time\u2014those not afflicted with beer-geek syndrome\u2014could find just that at Reckless Brewing, and that\u2019s both a good thing and a welcomed improvement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past month or so, the two questions I\u2019ve been asked most are, 1) Now that you\u2019re writing for West Coaster, will you still write critical reviews of breweries, and 2) Have you been to Reckless Brewing Company (9040 Carroll Way, #8, Miramar) yet? The answer to both queries is, \u201cYes.\u201d A key differentiating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[368,1],"tags":[1353,52,376,1732,1436,442,1725,390,391,1726,1730,1729,1727,880,1731,1728,1724,1684,1439,1032,1723],"class_list":{"0":"post-11289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-beer-news","7":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","8":"tag-sdbeer","9":"tag-ballast-point","10":"tag-beer","11":"tag-beer-touring","12":"tag-beeramar","13":"tag-brandon-hernandez","14":"tag-carroll-way","15":"tag-craft-beer","16":"tag-craftbeer","17":"tag-dave-hyndman","18":"tag-genocide","19":"tag-honey-badger","20":"tag-kickstarter","21":"tag-miramar","22":"tag-oral-pleasure","23":"tag-pop-my-cherry","24":"tag-reckless-brewery","25":"tag-reckless-brewing","26":"tag-san-diego","27":"tag-wet-n-reckless","28":"tag-wet-and-reckless","29":"entry","30":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-2W5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}