Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Sample at GABF 10/11/2012, thanks to Bluemeow76 for assistance with note-taking. Dark amber color with a medium white head that disappears quickly, and short strings of lace. Peppers and hops in the nose. Medium body with a moderately spicy pepper flavor with some hops and malt behind it. Lingering spicy aftertaste. Decent beer, although I drank this too early in the session and had to flush with a lot of water immediately after due to the spiciness. Decent overall.

Tulip at Tony’s dart away. Good aroma, sweet. Minor pepper. Citrus, orange, grapefruit. Clean golden orange color. Small head that faded quick. Bitter flavor. Medium body, smooth oily creamy mouthfeel. Bitter dry finish. Better that I was anticipating. Heat is good. Not overwhelming. Enjoyable. Finish is my favorite part.

(Draught) Pours a cloudy maize orange body with a small white head. Aroma of Orange Julius , grain, caramel, chilies, and nuts. Flavor of grain, grass, subtle habanero, and orange with bitter finish.

Phone rate. Cask at O’Brien’s. Cloudy orange with 1/2 finger off-white head, dissipating to a thick ring rather quickly. Tropical citrus rind nose typical of regular Sculpin, tinge of vegetal notes behind.flavor follows, having a little trouble deciphering between fruity hops and habañero. This does pack substantial heat from the start, and builds throughout the pint, as expected. Probably about at my limit--any more heat would make it unenjoyable. Bitterness peaked at a 6, dry. Medium body with cask carbonation. Could be too hot for some. Burps vegetal. Tasty for the pint I had!

draft at Coles. Orange amber pour. Lots of heat in aroma & flavor. Heat masks the bitterness almost completly. Not overbearing heat but quite substantial. drinkable

On tap at Blind Tiger. Pours clear gold, has typical hoppy aroma with some citrus and pine, but also has a nice hot pepper aroma, you can almost smell the heat. The pepper really comes through on the taste, although a bit more as heat and less as a peppery flavor. Not as good as classic Sculpin, but an interesting variation that was nice to try.

dark gold, with one finger foamy head. Strong pungent hop aroma, with some hints of grapefruit. Very well balanced taste for a big west coast IPA, plenty of hops but also nice body and some malty characters. The habanero character is fantastic. Just a bit of heat on the nose, and then a nice capsicum burn on the finish.

On tap. Clear dark golden with a fluffy white head. Strong pepper aroma and some hops on the nose. Taste is all hot pepper with a lot of capsicum on the finish. Not my thing.

On tap takeover at Cole’s in Buffalo. Pours great golden amber with fresh head. Hoppy aroma of the regular Sculpin IPA mixes with the spice. Taste is hot and the heat is certainly there, dominating over the hoppiness.

Draft. Pours a golden body with a white head. Light floral grapefruit tones get lost among a huge pepper, dried pepper, and spicy pepper notes. I don’t eat many peppers so i have to be a bit non-discript. Huge heat tones, loads of pepper quite hot actually, for me. Just had a bit of a this and it works, why because the base beer is awesome. Of course i’d rather have the base beer without the peppers, still a fun experiment.