Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA

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

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.

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.

Une Année Less Is More

Brewed By: Une Année Brewery in Chicago, Illinois  

Purchased: 500ml (1 Pint 0.9 FL OZ) bottle bought at Bottles & Cans in Chicago, IL; 2015 

Style/ABV: American Saison, 4.6%

Reported IBUs: ?

More Midwest shelf turds. About Une Année:

Une Année is a brewery based out of Chicago, Illinois located near the intersection of Grand and Ashland in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor (three blocks from the Goose Island Fulton St. production brewery). The brewery was founded in early 2012 by Jerry Nelson, who is "an Architect, Marine, Siebel Institute Graduate, and Chicago native who started homebrewing in 1995 while stationed in California." Currently, Jerry is the head brewer along with Dustin Zimmerman, who also attended the Siebel Institute, and previously brewed at Hamburger Mary’s Andersonville and worked at Nøgne Ø. The name "Une Année" means "one year" in French, and was chosen to reinforce the two main ideas behind the brewery: a focus on Belgian and French style beer, and an emphasis on seasonal beers. For more info, check out the brewery's website.

The Less Is More is an American-style Saison brewed with orange zest and juice. This pours into a hazy/cloudy yellow body, kicking up a couple of fingers of white head. The head retention is good, with lots of active carb, maybe overly so, and tons of lacing. This is radiant and bright...and it has good aromas.

Une Année Less Is More

This smells the part of an American Saison. The 4.6% thing means this is on the lighter side of the style, but it brings big aromas of lemons, orange juice, mimosas, wheat, white pepper, and MINIMAL yeast character. I wish this was more funky.

This isn't mind blowing, which is no real fault of Une Année. But at the same time, I've been spoiled with this style and this just seems kind of generic and streamlined, especially if juice was added. There's a lot of clean lines, bright hop notes, lemon, orange juice, citrus, some white pepper...and not much in terms of malts or yeast character. You pick up some wheat, and this hints at a bubble gum note from the wheat, but it never really takes things in the direction of the Belgian countryside. It also doesn't play up the orange juice character. It's not quite peppery enough, or mimosa-y enough. It just kind of is.

Despite being nonplussed by this beer, it does own it's 4.6% with a substantial but light medium-body. It's well-carbonated, easy to drink, and has good flavor. Palate depth and duration are middle-of-the-road, and complexity is low. Up front: lemons, mimosas light, good fruitiness, hops, wheat; the mids roll into wheat, with more lemons, orange juice, some mild white pepper; the back end rides out with juicy and clean lines. It's a bright and vibrant beer that I can't really fault except that it pretty much is what it is. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. This is really solid but I wouldn't seek it out at this price in singles. Maybe if they shoved this in a 6-pack format...I just don't think the capacity is there yet, so I do hope they can continue to grow their brand. This is not a bad beer by any means, but the Saison market is flooded with fantastic beers. Having said that, I'm excited to see where they go with these Belgian beers. And their sours. 

Random Thought: I have their Wild Ale/Sour coming up, and that I am excited for.