Monday 4 January 2016

Grapefruit Sculpin India Pale Ale

Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits does their brewing in San Diego, California. Ballast Point's Grapefruit Sculpin India Pale Ale pretty much hopped out of the lake and into my cart at a North Carolinian bottle shop. At 7% alcohol, this ale made with natural grapefruit flavour pours a clear brassy colour under a sudsy off-white head.

As one would expect, pulpy grapefruit zest is front and center on the nose, scaffolded with heavy hops bitterness. The palate is treated to much the same combo, with sharp citrus as the dominant note and hops playing an enthusiastic backing band.    

Sweet but not stifling, tart but not sour, and flavoured but not cloyingly so, Sculpin Grapefruit is pretty well balanced. It's not as assertive an IPA as I'd have liked, but it does have a pretty solid booze bill. Typically I prefer my grapefruit notes to come from hops rather than from actual grapefruits, but this stuff was agreeable enough.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

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