Grunion Pale Ale | Ballast Point Brewing Company
Brewed by:
Ballast Point Brewing Company
California, United States
ballastpoint.com
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 5.50%
Availability: Year-round
Notes / Commercial Description:
Our Grunion Pale Ale wasn’t born on a beach, but in a backyard. Originating from an employee-only home brew contest, this award-winning hoppy pale ale is named after the tiny local fish known for late night frolics on shore. A pair of new hop varieties lend strong yet balanced summer melon aromas and herbal flavors, while a soft caramel malt sweetness holds it all together.
Added by barleytimes619 on 10-02-2013
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 1,431 | Reviews: 265
3.71/5 rDev -8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
3.75/5 rDev -7.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours deep orange with a tint of yellow and a fluffy white head. Smells of sweet citrus, but with a slight tropical fruit note. Tastes of sweet grain with citrus and slight tropical fruit notes. Beer is light bodied and very easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a good beer.
321 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours deep orange with a tint of yellow and a fluffy white head. Smells of sweet citrus, but with a slight tropical fruit note. Tastes of sweet grain with citrus and slight tropical fruit notes. Beer is light bodied and very easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a good beer.
321 characters
3.93/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This is actually a very nice pale ale. Nothing too innovative, but wonderfully balanced. The hops bring pine, rind fruit and hop spiciness. The malt mixture base has a honey and roasted herb complexion. All together this beer comes together to make a nice west coast pale ale.
280 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This is actually a very nice pale ale. Nothing too innovative, but wonderfully balanced. The hops bring pine, rind fruit and hop spiciness. The malt mixture base has a honey and roasted herb complexion. All together this beer comes together to make a nice west coast pale ale.
280 characters
3.75/5 rDev -7.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.33/5 rDev +6.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.73/5 rDev +16.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Crisp pale ale with a nice finish that makes you smack you lips and get ready for that next sip. Floral and very well balanced bouquet of hops the whole way through. First time I have picked it up and I have concern I might never put it down!
244 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Crisp pale ale with a nice finish that makes you smack you lips and get ready for that next sip. Floral and very well balanced bouquet of hops the whole way through. First time I have picked it up and I have concern I might never put it down!
244 characters
3.77/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.03/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Nice bitterness, sits really well in the mouth and lingers a bit but not for too long. Not much aroma but makes up for it in taste. A nice pale ale all around, not too complex but rather straight to the point. Will definitely buy again.
236 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Nice bitterness, sits really well in the mouth and lingers a bit but not for too long. Not much aroma but makes up for it in taste. A nice pale ale all around, not too complex but rather straight to the point. Will definitely buy again.
236 characters
3.75/5 rDev -7.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.01/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Pours light gold-gold with a white head and very nice lacing. Aroma is fairly weak, but is indicative of a standard pale ale with piney and citrus aromas. Taste is a bit stronger than the aroma would have you expecting. An even blend of citrus and pine with breadiness in the malt - which is in the background - but it is there. Feel is medium carbonated and medium mouthfeel. Overall, a good Pale Ale. Nothing to complain about here. Certainly drinkable and a bit dry on the finish which I like.
496 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Pours light gold-gold with a white head and very nice lacing. Aroma is fairly weak, but is indicative of a standard pale ale with piney and citrus aromas. Taste is a bit stronger than the aroma would have you expecting. An even blend of citrus and pine with breadiness in the malt - which is in the background - but it is there. Feel is medium carbonated and medium mouthfeel. Overall, a good Pale Ale. Nothing to complain about here. Certainly drinkable and a bit dry on the finish which I like.
496 characters
4.16/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.77/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Got one at GSA Party, UCSD.
Felt very much like an IPA. It is unbalanced for a pale ale, as all I got was the hoppiness, but could not discern the malt back.
157 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Got one at GSA Party, UCSD.
Felt very much like an IPA. It is unbalanced for a pale ale, as all I got was the hoppiness, but could not discern the malt back.
157 characters
3.8/5 rDev -6.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.5
3.3/5 rDev -18.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
L: light golden, clear, thin head
S: Grapefruit rind, slightly grassy, piney
T: Bitter up front, grapefruit rind, slight lemon, with a metallic tone. Minimal malt, doesn't develop when chill comes off
F: thin, with lingering bitterness
O: My first Ballast Point beer, not taken with it. The bittering is not balanced with malt sweetness or yeast fruitiness.
364 characters
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
L: light golden, clear, thin head
S: Grapefruit rind, slightly grassy, piney
T: Bitter up front, grapefruit rind, slight lemon, with a metallic tone. Minimal malt, doesn't develop when chill comes off
F: thin, with lingering bitterness
O: My first Ballast Point beer, not taken with it. The bittering is not balanced with malt sweetness or yeast fruitiness.
364 characters
4.08/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
2.95/5 rDev -27.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
To be clear, my taste buds are not quite refined, but here's my take anyway (partially for my own reference later). This was a fine beer, and good. But, it wasn't really notable. I purchased it thinking it was an IPA and found it to taste kind of like an IPA but have less kick. Then I log on here and found it's a pale ale (hey look, the label says that too).
If an Indian from New Delhi offers to make a meal, I hope for a meal that's absolutely New Delhi-ish. An Indian from Hyderabad ought to make a dish that's his version of Indian cuisine, complete with overkill turmeric with a side dish of a sermon on the health benefits of turmeric and drinking water from copper vessels. If a Mexican offers to prepare a meal, I hope he's wearing a sombrero, speaks nothing but Spanish, and makes something that's all Mex and no Tex.
Perhaps that's my problem with pale ales. Though generally likable, I appreciate the up front, overkill harshness of a DIPA / Imperial IPA, followed by a very long lasting finish. Therefore, to me, this pale ale seems maybe too likable. Maybe like somebody wanted to crank it to eleven, but instead there was a committee that determined most people would prefer a good loud 5 or 6.
1,226 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
To be clear, my taste buds are not quite refined, but here's my take anyway (partially for my own reference later). This was a fine beer, and good. But, it wasn't really notable. I purchased it thinking it was an IPA and found it to taste kind of like an IPA but have less kick. Then I log on here and found it's a pale ale (hey look, the label says that too).
If an Indian from New Delhi offers to make a meal, I hope for a meal that's absolutely New Delhi-ish. An Indian from Hyderabad ought to make a dish that's his version of Indian cuisine, complete with overkill turmeric with a side dish of a sermon on the health benefits of turmeric and drinking water from copper vessels. If a Mexican offers to prepare a meal, I hope he's wearing a sombrero, speaks nothing but Spanish, and makes something that's all Mex and no Tex.
Perhaps that's my problem with pale ales. Though generally likable, I appreciate the up front, overkill harshness of a DIPA / Imperial IPA, followed by a very long lasting finish. Therefore, to me, this pale ale seems maybe too likable. Maybe like somebody wanted to crank it to eleven, but instead there was a committee that determined most people would prefer a good loud 5 or 6.
1,226 characters
Grunion Pale Ale from Ballast Point Brewing Company
Beer rating:
4.07 out of
5 with
1,431 ratings
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