Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin Review

Name: Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7%
IBUs: 70

About 2 years ago, I reviewed Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA, which had recently began distribution in Minnesota. At the time, I considered it to be a very good beer and I didn't warrant any complaints against it, which could've been a case of rose-tinted glasses at the time. I've since found a valid complaint about it: it's way too expensive.

Which brings us to the Grapefruit Sculpin, which is their Sculpin IPA but made with actual grapefruit. Normally this goes for $15 a six pack, which makes me all the more thankful that I got this as just a single 12oz. bottle for literally a fraction of what I'd have to pay to get a six pack. Still, I've heard some pretty good things about it, so let's see how it is.

Appearance - Hazy dark orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is fairly foamy, if not, on the thinner side with decent retention and there's some moderate lacing along the sides of the glass.

Aroma - Strong citrus hops mixed in with some grapefruit notes & caramelized maltiness, along with some apricots and mangoes. Looking at my notes from almost 2 years ago, I wrote.....pretty much the same thing.

Taste - Strong citrus hops and caramel maltiness notes on the front of the palate with a very potent grapefruitness that reminds me strongly of Froot Loops cereal. These in turn are followed by some mango sweetness. bitter piney hoppiness and a very light yeastiness. The aftertaste, however, is still quite bitter and resiny. Also much the original, the palate is still stingy just in case you were wondering.

With Grapefruit/Froot Loops flavor aside, this is pretty much the same beer that I had nearly 2 years ago, which isn't really a bad thing as it's still an outstanding IPA. The only real drawback to this beer is that it's too expensive as a six-pack, which makes it slightly harder to recommend if you're not looking to pay the full price for admission. If you're able to buy this in single bottles, however, then by all means go for it!

Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin - 8.5/10

Ballast Point Sculpin Review

Name: Ballast Point Sculpin
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7%

Recently Ballast Point Brewing, a very well regarded West Coast brewery, started distributing here to Minnesota along with Green Flash Brewing. I decided to grab some of their Sculpin IPA upon hearing that it's amongst the best widely available IPAs on the market and, according to someone I talked to, it's comparable to that of drinking from the Holy Grail.

Well seeing as how the Sculpin is a poisonous fish that leaves a stinging sensation, which is something they proudly boast about in the commercial description, let's see if that is really true.

Sculpin pours a mildly hazy orange/amber color with some light carbonation and a semi-foamy head that has some good retention.

The aroma kicks things off with some very strong fruity notes which include, mango, apricots, citrus hops and grapefruit. Rounding it out at the end are some caramelized malts. Very fruity and somewhat malty; I've been encountering this alot more as of late.

The flavor is also very fruity and malt forward with citrus hops, grapefruit, apricot, mangoes, peaches, and some caramel maltiness. There's also some piney hops and resin-like notes in there as well throughout that were not in the nose. Sneaky sneaky!

The body is quite heavy and the carbonation, while had light appearance to it when first poured into the glass, is surprisingly aggressive in nature. What I mean by that is that it's not overwhelming but...stingy; Kind of like it's namesake fish.

I can safely say that this is, in fact, one of the best widely available IPAs on the market. It's got a rich & robust flavor, a nice aroma, and a body that's unique but doesn't hamper the overall experience. I would highly recommend checking this out, particularly if you're into the fruiter tasting IPAs!

Ballast Point Sculpin - 9.5/10