Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (North Star)

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
San Diego, California USA

(Bottle, a million thanks to Avalon68!) Pours light hazy dark orange with a medium head. The aroma is tropical and citric with notes of ripe mango, passion fruit, peach and sweet, pink grapefruit. The subtle malt is toasted, clean and quite dry - perfect for the style. The flavour is light sweet, medium to heavily bitter and light acidic. The lingering afterbitterness is complex, both spicy and citric. Passion fruit, lychee, mango, peach, rose pepper, grapefruit, some herbs and dry toasted malt. Light smoky. The mouthfeel is nicely clean and light astringent with medium, lively carbonation. Medium bodied. Fantastic!

On tap at the Thirsty Monk. Pours slightly hazy gold with a great foamy white head. This is certainly hoppy. It is a predictable but welcome delivery of citrusy hops. This one brought Avery’s IPA to mind, just a little more balanced and a bit lighter on the palate. This is refreshing for the style with plenty of grapefruit and juicier citrus flavor. Malts are just sweet enough and not too thick. I’d drink this on a regular basis if I could.

Bottle courtesy of tpd975. Pours a golden yellow color with thin white head. Aroma is sweet and floral with notes of apricots, citrus, caramel, honey, grapefruit, pine. Flavor is sweet and floral with notes of citrus, sweet caramel, apricots, fresh fruit, some hints of honey and pine. Generally medium body with a pleasing hoppy finish.

Bomber courtesy of DarkElf. Pours a crystal clear gold with one finger white head and spotty lacing. Nose is very fruity with ripe oranges and pink grapefruit. Taste is caramel, apricots, orange peel and a resiny pine finish. Medium mouth feel. This is a full flavor IPA and I’m glad I got a chance to try it this fresh. Thanks Stephen again for the hook-up!

Mmmmmm. yummy. Tried from cask at Ballast Point’s 11th anniversary celebration. Nice creamy 1 finger microbubble head that quickly fades to nothing (very cask like). Pale yellow-orange color. Nice medium hoppy aroma after head has faded. Medium grapefruit hop bitterness. Kind of easy to drink. Becomes more watery after a few sips. 8,3,7,3,16:3.7 Tried again at Churchills with deftim 13 and Ivan 3/6/08. Wow! Super duper easy to drink. Much easier to drink than the younger and elder I had tonight. I have to bump the rating way up. I have spoken!

Bottle shared by emacgee. Thanks Ethan! Man, this was tasty. Very fresh, tropical fruits, citrus abound the nose. Flavor is nicely balanced between juice and dry bitterness. Very enjoyable IPA.

bottle shared by psprings... amber-golden colored pour with a thin white head and some random lacing. resinous nose with notes of white peaches, grapefruit, orange, flowers, pale malt sweetness and some cereal graininess. the flavor is much the same... sharp, spicy, bitter and dry on the finish with some lingering waxiness. it feels like it is missing something mid palate to put it over the edge... a richness, perhaps some malty depth. it is medium bodied leaning on light... making it terribly easy to put away. 8/3/7/4/16/3.8

Here is yet another big IPA that I’ve been waiting (semi-patientingly) to sample. I finally got my chance at the Craft Ale House, and it did not disappoint. The unique trait I found with this beer was the oddly light body. I was not expecting this beer to go down so similarly like iced tea or Kool-Aid. The body was amazingly light, and was completely unexpected. That characteristic makes this IPA a little more dangerous than others. I think I could sit at the bar or at home and drink one of these right after another. And that could lead to some qusi-undesired results. The beer pours a light golden color. It sports a white head that laces around the glass the entire way down to the bottom. The nose has that West Coast IPA feeling, with lots of hops, grapefruit, pine and hop resin. The flavors are well-balanced and extremely delicious, with a ton of crisp and floral hops and notes of grass, grapefruit, lemon zest, earth, light bread and a good balance of light malt. The finish really stings the palate, with crisp hop character. This is one outstanding IPA. I wish this was more widely available here in southeastern PA. I could really use some more of it!