Ballast Point ‘Grapefruit Sculpin’ IPA

Rating:

imageThis beer has been brewed with natural grapefruit flavours, and when we checked, it is the rind/pulp of the ruby red grapefruit. Yum. We are no fans of artificial flavours.

Poured into a schooner glass, we get a typical dark golden colour with moderate carbonation and a 10mm head that fades quickly leaving a white rim around the glass. Beautiful aromas of fresh ruby red grapefruit, marmalade jam, pine, some lemon, and very mild caramel malts. Absolutely divine nose here. First sip is a lovely decent carbonated hit of bitterness from the citrus fruits, sweetness of jam, and the bang on hit of grapefruit rind. Really impressive how fresh this tastes. Mouth feel is medium bodied, and very smooth on the palate. We note the Alc vol of 7%!? Sheesh, we would of thought less as it’s barely perceptible. We get very mild caramel malt, as the hops and fruit really shine here. We can’t get over how well the grapefruit sits perfectly on the palate  with that jam like sweetness. Bitterness is so nicely contained also. Superb brewing here. We get a bit of lacing on the glass but not much really. Wow, this is an impressive grapefruit IPA. We really loved the malty, hoppy, smooth as f$&@ mouth feel of the sculpin, but this is possibly better. The freshness of the grapefruit, the jammy sweetness and balance of alcohol means we have to give this 10/10. We can’t fault it. We’re off to buy a case from Dan Murphy’s.