commercial (Ballast Point) vs. homebrew

Freshness and a complete disregard for profit margins go a long way, I think.
This is doubly true with hoppy beers.

 

Probably not...I usually prefer a well made regular IPA to a fruit/spice infused offering

 

It's not hard to believe. You can brew to suit your preference. I'm betting you aren't planning on adding watermelon to your SMaSH Columbus IPA next time.

 

I really like Sculpin and Grunion. I could pass on the fruit/veggie additive beers of theirs. But most of the time I prefer to drink my own pale ales and ipas. Homebrewing allows you to brew to your personal preferences.

 

Ballast Point has finally made it to my area and I feel the same way. Nice bottle art but beer has been merely ok

 

I personally think Ballast Point makes some damn good beer, but they're getting a bit overboard with their fruit/spice infused offerings lately (grapefruit Sculpin aside). Their staple beers are great, with Victory at Sea being one of my all-time favs. So, @jeferobles if you prefer yours over BP then keep on brewin it up! Sometimes more isn't always better and a nice, simple IPA gets the job done.

 

I think BP is a hair overrated, but you weren't comparing apples to apples.

Compare regular Sculpin to yours. Not the fruity weirdo ones!

 

Because drinking your own homebrew is like smelling your own farts.

When you can get a million people to pay money to smell your farts, then you can have an unbiased opinion about Sculpin vs. your homebrew.
Cheers.

 

I have done a few Vanilla Java porters to date but never added peppermint, tonight I did try the Peppermint Victory at sea though and wasn't totally impressed. Never had their regular VaS though so I cant put them down on the effort

 

As someone said previously, you are brewing beers that you like and that suit your preference.

 

The beers I brew for my own taste blow any I can buy out of the water. Other people may not like them but I love them. I recently did a Galaxy/Amarillo/Citra dipa and it was the best beer I have had in a while. Other people gave me plenty of advice on improving it but I think I will keep it exactly the same (except for an increase on the dry hop).

I have been trying to brew true to style for competions. Some of these beers get good feedback but are not my favorite to drink (a saison I brewed that got awesome feedback, I can only drink one per night before getting tired of it)