Ballast Point: Sculpin IPA – Dare I Say This is the Perfect IPA?

Yesterday was a night of getting together with an old friend and paying a visit to our old college haunt: The Shepherd and the Knucklehead Pub.  Walking in and sitting at the main bar, I was instantly teased by the sight of not one but 4 empty Pliny The Elder bottles decorating a few shelves.  So close but oh so far.

So when it comes to place our first order IPA’s were most decidedly on the mind. And what better one to start with than the somewhat elusive (in bottle at least) Sculpin.  Even being the part-time IPA lover / hater this was always on my need to try list.  While Ballast Point is easy enough to find locally, Sculpin was always the one that was never in stock.

Initial thoughts on this glass of translucent copper with an off- white foamy head ale?

Nose of Pine and malts, maybe some citrus.  ”This is going to be good i think to myself.” Upon tasting: we both looked at each other and nodded, Damn this was good,  really good.

Sculpin was completely balanced and smooth.  The pine worked with the citrus flavors, and the malt – an explosion of awesome.  Every sip from the first to the very last played out the same way.

To quote one of the original Iron Chef judges, “The flavors danced on my tongue.” Now I know what she was talking about.  Nothing overpowered the other, there was no fight or struggle here, everything worked flawlessly.

So back to Pliny,  will I still be looking for it?  Of course but really I could just keep drinking Sculpin and never look back.