Sculpin IPA - Ballast Point Brewing Company

Reaper16

Alabama

4.65/5  rDev +5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Big ups to BdubleEdubleRUN for sending me this!
served from a 22oz. bomber into a New Belgium globe

Pours a hazy lemon yellow with three fingers of eggshell head. The head lasted for many minutes and didn't begin to recede until I started drinking it a lot. Lacing was nice and notchy. The score gets elevated to 4.5 because of the lacing.

Mmmmm, hoppy! The nose is chock full of various fruits. Whatever amalgam of lupulin Ballast Point used to generate this mix of mango, white peach, white grape, pineapple & starfruit is a heavenly amalgam indeed. Its pleasurable enough just on the merits of fruitiness, but deeper smells reveal piny resins. If they made a cologne of this I would clone myself, make my clone wear it and engage in sexual intercourse with my clone.

Mmmmm, hoppy! The taste, thank God, follows the nose. Such fruitiness! Yesss. Resins and oily hops meet white peach, grapefruit, pineapple and mango. Some lightly toasted biscuit on the back end and on burps. The more you drink Sculpin the more pronounced the bitter resin aftertaste is. I wish that I could write more, but it would be redundant. This is awesome.

The mouthfeel is exactly where I like my IPAs: light and prickly with carbonation. The reason that this hophead prefers the IPA style over its Imperial/Double sized brother is because of the thinner mouthfeel. At their best, IPAs feel like you're drinking a sort of hop juice, and Sculpin achieves this better than any other IPA that I've had. Drinkability is also superb; at only 7% I could drink multiple bombers in an evening.

The only problem with drinking multiple bombers in an evening is the fact that I can't actually buy Sculpin where I live. If I could, rest assured, I would buy it with an addict's frequency.

I must indulge myself here and compare this to Two Hearted Ale. Bell's Two Hearted is my favorite beer. By the time I finish my second of two bombers of Sculpin my mind may be changed. Sculpin is much less floral than Two Hearted, but much more pronounced in fruit characteristics. Also, if you've read my Two Hearted review then you know that I love Two Hearted so much partly because of its odd artwork. I have lovingly nicknamed it "Fish Beer." Well, Sculpin is named after a fish and features the sculpin fish on its label. So this is also "Fish Beer." Maybe this will end up tying Two Hearted as my favorite beer. That I spent a paragraph comparing Ballast Point Sculpin to my favorite beer -- asserting that it might be my new favorite -- is proof enough for me that this beer is brilliant and rightfully deserving of its accolades.

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2009 02:02:16 | More by Reaper16

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MVotter

New York

4.69/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

A - The Sculpin IPA pours into a chalice a clear gold, and an ample cream colored head.

S - Fresh, sweetish hops...orange peel.

T - Instant hops, on the sweet side. The opposite experience of the grapefruity IPA, which offer a more aggressive, bitter hop flavor. This follows the sweet nose fairly closely...oranges and tangerines, no overt malt presence to speak of.

M - Lively and effervescent. The Sculpin presents a full body/not heavy texture, some oils and stickiness.

O - What a brew. Again...on the sweet-tangy-orangy hop side of the flavor scale; and DELICIOUS! I had a "Pliny" clone once that reminded me a lot of this beer; and excellent representation of the style and specifically the flavor target.

Serving type: bottle

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4.6/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

12oz bottle into a maidite snifter.

A - a clear golden IPA. Just enough hazy to barely see my hand on the other side of the snifter.

S - amazing scent for a single IPA. Grapefruit, orange, with a zesty pine.

T - Matches the smell. Thank God, many beers have that amazing smell but can't back it up. This one does.

M - drank over about 35 or 40 minutes. In the early stage, the beer covers the toungue with a cold and bright bitterness. But as it warms its mouthfeel becomes very similar to ZD, leaving a citra resin of taste all over the mouth with every sip.

O - It's good out of the fridge but after 20 minutes, it really is a world class IPA.

Serving type: bottle

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