Pineapple Sculpin Review

19 Feb Chris Ciskey No Comments

To state the obvious I love beer! What you may not know is that on top of owning and operating an awesome liquor store with an incredible craft beer section, in my free time I am a contributing member to the Beverage Dynamics magazine beer review panel. Recently, Ballast Point added a few new fruited beers to their lineup. I am constantly being asked about them, especially the Pineapple Sculpin, a variation of the world renowned Sculpin IPA. I figured why not write a quick review to answer the question of what I think and give a quick example of what a traditional review consists of.

For reference, I score using the traditional beer advocate scoring range.

95-100 = world-class
90-94 = outstanding
85-89 = very good
80-84 = good
70-79 = okay
60-69 = poor
< 60 = awful

I love regular Sculpin, which is my go to IPA. In my opinion it is an absolute world class beer that is easy to obtain and readily available year round. When I wrote a review for Beverage Dynamic over the summer, I gave Sculpin 97 points. You might ask why mess with a good thing? Ballast Point has always been a brewery to experiment at their various brew pubs, especially when it comes to adding fruit to their wonderful IPA’s. Without that we wouldn’t have the Grapefruit Sculpin people go nuts for especially in those warm summer months. Sculpin has always had a real tropical fruit element to it. Therefore the addition of Pineapple seems natural. So now, let’s dive into the review.

(89) Ballast Point Pineapple Sculpin (San Diego, CA) 7%ABV 70IBU

Ballast Point Pineapple Sculpin pours a clear medium golden brown leaving about a half an inch of white fluffy head that dissipates quickly. Pineapple hits the air the second the bottle is open. Taking in a deep sniff, the nose consists of tropical fruits (obviously pineapple), citrus caramel toasted malts and resiny hops. Taste follows the nose with tropical fruit and citrus dominating up front. Bitter hops dance across the tongue concluding in a dry finish inviting you to take another sip. I find the pineapple to be very subtle on the back and compliments the beer well. The fruit’s sweetness tones down the hoppy bitterness. In conclusion Pineapple Sculpin is a very solid beer well worth trying and a nice addition to the Ballast Point lineup.