Sculpin - Habanero
Ballast Point Brewing Company

Bright, clear, yellow hued body; thick, chunky, white head. Bold floral and fruity aroma; berries and melon. Malty, pleasantly hopped IPA offering, then a fiery pepper heat. Light to medium in body; juicy; crisp; mostly dry finish.

I knew I was in for a peppery treat when an intense burn touched my lips while I was sampling the aroma and got a bit of foam on my mouth. The beer looks great, like a solid BP IPA offering and the hop aroma is top notch but without a hint of the coming heat. Even the initial sip doesn't really reveal the habanero heat that follows, but it does come on - strongly! The great thing is that after several sips, the IPA and chili beer characters meld together in a very satisfying way. The juicy, hoppy IPA part reveals itself at the beginning and then transitions to a powerful chili pepper heat midway through and lingering well into the finish. Anyway, it's a fine pairing of two distinct beer styles. If you like both styles, this beer is sure to satisfy. If you like chili beers, this should truly be enjoyable. If you're strictly a hoppy IPA kind of person, the habanero pepper may not cut it for you. For my money, this is one fantastic, unique take on mixing and blending to seemingly disparate beer styles and doing it in a notable, very appealing way.

 

 

Golden color. Nice, white head. The aroma of citrus, pine, and pepper. Peppers in flavor. Strong enough hoppy bitterness. Strong (as for a beer) , spicy bite. Felt the burning ten minutes after I had finished the bottle.

Notes from 3/26/2016 first tasting.
12 oz bottle into a 16 oz pint glass.
L: Pours a light orange yellow caramel with a 1/2" white head, good carbonation with some random lacing.
S: Regular Sculpin IPA (essentially grapefruit, citrus, mango) with a musty, musky hot pepper aroma. A light pepper heat sensation under my eyes.
T: Grapefruit, pineapple, peach, mango, pine. Sweet hops then habanero pepper. Lots of pepper. Not too musky nor too hot on the palate (unless one is not accustomed to habanero heat levels) but more so on the back of the tongue and throat. An enjoyable sensation. Fruit flavors remain valid throughout the heat.
F: Just like traditional Sculpin IPA but with Scoville scale heat that enhances the malts and simultaneously allows the bittersweet citrus and pine to pass by long, moderately bitter hot lingering finish. Pepper heat and pine slowly fade.
O: This is one of my personal favorite IPAs and Pepper Beers. Some bottles have more pepper than others and are hotter. I like that. In this case inherent hop flavors blend with the habanero for a refreshingly delicious and exciting IPA. It is very excellent in it's style.

 

355 ml bottle, from the Norwegian importer. ABV is 7.0%. Deep golden colour, slightly hazy. Moderate white head. Aroma of fruity American hops, hints of dust. Can hardly detect the habaneros. Hoppy flavour, some fruit and pine, immediately followed by a vehement habanero burn in the finish and aftertaste. Way too hot. Unbalanced, to a degree bordering on the ridiculous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviewed from notes. Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a Cycle Brewing goblet.

A: Hazy gold with a fairly low amount of visible carbonation. Forms a thin white head that fades to a ring of foam.

S: Grapefruit and spicy peppers almost in balance. Some tropical fruit, mangoes, and a light cracker malt body. Not as big of an aroma as I expected, but pretty decent.

T: Spicy peppers and citrus fruit. Some tropical fruits again. Can’t taste much of the malts here – just a touch of sweetness. Then the burn from the hot peppers takes over – quite spicy, to the point of tingling gums and a fire in the belly. A nice chili flavor develops though - it tastes like you’re biting a pepper (though not into a whole habanero, of course). The spice grows and lasts for quite awhile after the swallow, masking any of the fruity hop bitterness that I typically enjoy from Sculpin.

M: A medium body, average carbonation sensation. Who knows about the alcohol flavors that might be lurking under the pepper burn…but it doesn’t seem overly alcoholic.

O: Look – it’s a good (very good) beer that has had a huge amount of spicy peppers added. If that strikes you as something you’d like, I think this is really good. I’m having difficulty finding fault in the beer, other than it’s too spicy for me. And I like spicy food, hot sauce, etc., but I don't look for it in my beer very often. But true faults are few in this beer if you can get around the sheer undrinkability factor - other than you can’t taste around it to find the Sculpin characteristics at all. I will say that the more I drink through the beer in the glass, the less "burny" the beer seems. Maybe my taste buds are seared off.

Unknown vintage; drank 7/3/14 @ World of Beer Evanston.

Clear dandelion hue.

Off-white head; decent lace.

Mild mango nose.

Thin mouthfeel.

Um, nope. From the moment this touched my lips, an unpleasant burn set on my tongue, lips & esophagus.

Endurable but thoroughly unenjoyable. Got through 3-4 sips & rejected it like a baby bird touched by humans.