Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (North Star)

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

This IPA pours a gorgeous clear bright golden orange color with a good sized bone-white head on it that left spotting lacing on my glass. The nose on this beer is very unique and interesting for an IPA. I think mango is the strongest scent followed by passion fruit, peaches, lemon and orange zest, floral hops, and a slight pine bitterness as well. The smell on this beer is leaping from my glass, and it never left for the entire beer. The flavor profile is loaded with citrus fruits with grapefruit and tangerines being very dominant followed up with only a slight touch of caramel malt. The hops are extremely fresh and vibrant on this offering. The malt is only barely noticeable, but somehow supports the hops beautifully. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation that left a very dry finish on the back of my palate. The drinkability is superb on this beer, and is one of the best IPAs I’ve have ever had the pleasure of tasting

Clear medium orange with a 1 1/2 finger slightly yellowish white head with good retention. Wow, the tropical fruit aromas that I get from this beer are nothing short of awesome. So much pineapple and mango notes, tangerines, and then some nicely bitter grapefruit and pine needles in the background with some cotton candy and caramel. The flavor has a bit of an added grassy hoppiness, and the tropical flavors don’t quite jump out at me as much as they had in the aroma. The cotton candy and caramel malts meld with the hops very well in that I get "sweet hops"--I don’t get this very often in beers and I think it’s great. Semi-dry finish with bitterness peaking around a 3. Light to medium body with the same for carbonation. An excellent IPA--hopefully they start bottling this year round

Style; glass: IPA; tulip 22 fl oz x 7% ABV = 154 / 60 = 2.56 beers * 150 C = 384 calories (est.) Purchased at: Craft Beer Outlet, Phila, PA for $11.99 Aroma: nice, calming, beach, field, grassy, salty, citrus. Visuals: brand focused packaging, a bright engaged yellow, brilliantly clear, bright white tight bubbled head, sticky lace. Taste: expertly balanced, honey, citrus, rind, peppers. Palate: Bright, crisp, and layered, drying, increasingly bitter long finish. Overall: Fantastic. In my top 3 IPAs, certainly. A favorite. From a firkin. Oh boy. This knocked me over at the Bella Vista Grand reopening in October in Philadelphia. Those 2 oz samples were like little tiny bricks sealing me in to a personal twiddly state. It was amazing, memorable, and significant. After about the third small sample, the world was a blur. Use with caution, and enjoy. If you can get it, suckas.

I had this at the IPA fest and thought it should have won. Man this is one heck of a beer and right at the top of my hoppy list. Yeah Baby!

Personally, one of my favorite beers. This is what I think of and want when it comes to IPA’s.

Aroma is off the charts - hello super pine and resin bomb! Nice golden in color with a little white head. Flavor subsists of pine, citrus and melons with the Ballast Point dryness at the swallow. This is easily one ofthe freshest IPAs I have ever had and my favorite beer of 2008.

This reminds me of two of my other all-time favorite IPAs with the great parts of each blended together; Port Wipeout and Nugget Nectar. It has a great floral, fresh hop flavor that sticks to your palate. Unmatched freshness and plenty of citric and somewhat sweet hop flavors make up the profile but there are many subtleties. Why don’t I live in California?