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