Brewed By: Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego, California
Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Whole Foods in Chicago, IL; 2015
Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Whole Foods in Chicago, IL; 2015
Style/ABV: American IPA, 7.0%
Reported IBUs: 70
Sculpin IPA is a top-shelf IPA, but how does the Grapefruit version stack up? About Ballast Point Brewing:
Like a lot of craft breweries, Ballast Point began as a home brewing outfit. Founder Jack White (not the Jack White) began home brewing, only to realize that sourcing ingredients was easier said than done. So Jack opened up Home Brew Mart, a home brew shop, in 1992. From there, Jack met Yuseff, and the two began brewing in the back of the home brew shop. In 1996 the brewery was born. Because Yuseff loves fishing, the brewery names all their beers after fish. You can read more about the brewery and its history here.
The Grapefruit Sculpin takes the Sculpin IPA base, and throws grapefruit juice into the mix. Obviously. And this beer really looks the part, with a clear/transparent grapefruit-orange body, and two fingers of off-white head; this is well-carbed and has great lacing. It looks like beer, suck it caesaronis.
The aroma here is dominated by the grapefruit juice, with grapefruit juice popping off the aroma and crushing the base beer. It's not a bad thing, and when the base beer does get through, you are hit with lemon/orange/pine hops, and a light malt base of light cracker and light grain. The grapefruit juice-hop combo works.
This is good...albeit sweet and juicy. The grapefruit juice is overt, and blasts away the hops in terms of balance. The hops that do come through in the taste impart lots of lemon, some grapefruit/orange, and some bitter orange rind on the back end. The super light cracker/grain malts serve the beer well, but I can't help but feel like the juice takes something away from this.
Throwing juice into your beer is, evidently, a risky move. This is nicely done for the most part, with a medium body, good palate depth, good duration, and low complexity. You don't get any alcohol...it isn't too bitter...it's actually pretty refreshing. The grapefruit juice dominates things for better or worse, because the base beer is really up...
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| Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA |
The aroma here is dominated by the grapefruit juice, with grapefruit juice popping off the aroma and crushing the base beer. It's not a bad thing, and when the base beer does get through, you are hit with lemon/orange/pine hops, and a light malt base of light cracker and light grain. The grapefruit juice-hop combo works.
This is good...albeit sweet and juicy. The grapefruit juice is overt, and blasts away the hops in terms of balance. The hops that do come through in the taste impart lots of lemon, some grapefruit/orange, and some bitter orange rind on the back end. The super light cracker/grain malts serve the beer well, but I can't help but feel like the juice takes something away from this.
Throwing juice into your beer is, evidently, a risky move. This is nicely done for the most part, with a medium body, good palate depth, good duration, and low complexity. You don't get any alcohol...it isn't too bitter...it's actually pretty refreshing. The grapefruit juice dominates things for better or worse, because the base beer is really up...
Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'll toss this a Decent Above-Average. I might go grab a 6-pack of the regular beer just to do a side-by-side comparison, but a part of me feels like the regular version is better? I don't know. This isn't bad, I just feel like adding juice to a beer is something that is going to be hit or miss, and in this case it works but it doesn't necessarily make the regular beer better. And maybe it wasn't supposed to.
Random Thought: I wish I had more time to review beer...I think I need to start doing some short format reviews.
I'll toss this a Decent Above-Average. I might go grab a 6-pack of the regular beer just to do a side-by-side comparison, but a part of me feels like the regular version is better? I don't know. This isn't bad, I just feel like adding juice to a beer is something that is going to be hit or miss, and in this case it works but it doesn't necessarily make the regular beer better. And maybe it wasn't supposed to.
Random Thought: I wish I had more time to review beer...I think I need to start doing some short format reviews.
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