Beer of the Week: Hazy Sculpin IPA

From the Beer Writer: I still remember the first time I tasted Sculpin. I was participating in a brew-day at Linda Vista’s Home Brew Mart, helping to ready some locally foraged ingredients (elderberries, pine nuts and white sage) for a saison. When the work was done, we were thirsty, and our ever-gracious host Colby Chandler offered us a new IPA. I’d heard the name care of glowing first-hand accounts, but had never tried it myself, so I was excited to experience this thing called “Sculpin”, even though, at the time I really wasn’t much of an IPA fan. Back then, kettle hops dominated, and the resultant IPAs were too bitter for my tastes. Sculpin had bite, but it had a lot more going for it, namely a bountiful bouquet and tons of flavor up front. I remember wondering where this beer had been all my life and saying that if more IPAs were like this one, I’d drink more of them. I couldn’t have known then the rocket-ship trajectory Sculpin was about to take. Soon, it would be on tap and in bottles (and eventually cans) just about everywhere in San Diego as well as on its way across the country like some #SDBeer diplomat. I liken my first taste of Sculpin to how most people who can’t palate traditional IPAs go nuts for hazies. Because of the softness of the style and increased aromatics, they are allowed to experience all hops have to offer without bitterness getting in the way. Now, these worlds are finally colliding with Ballast Point Brewing’s recent release of Hazy Sculpin IPA. The original beer was ahead of its time with all of its tropical and citrus flavors and aromas. Those are now what most people expect from a quality IPA, so it’s well attuned for modern-day, especially with some of its edge softened so those qualities shine through in a new way. This is a well-made hazy IPA with greater drinkability than most. It’s like seeing a good friend in a new outfit. Like watching Fernando Tatis, Jr. returning to the lineup in one of those Padres City Connect uniforms.

From the Brewery: “Our brand-new Hazy Sculpin is designed to bring you everything you love from our OG flagship IPA but with a New England-style twist. Sculpin has always been known for its bite and aggressive bitterness, so when we set out to create a New England version, we had to match Sculpin’s intense hoppy profile while rounding out the bitterness. Next, we added oats to the grist, creating a smooth mouthfeel and giving the beer plenty of proteins for hop polyphenols to interact with and to create the beer’s haze. This version of Sculpin also broadcasts to new, juicy hops to the family, Galaxy and Nelson, bringing an extra amount of freshness to an already star-studded lupulin cast. We have never really highlighted any particular hop in the recipe, so it’s cool to have these take center stage. Hazy Sculpin is an East Coast-inspired evolution of our legacy West Coast IPA family.”—Jeff Lozano, Brand Ambassador, Ballast Point Brewing