Ballast Point Big Eye IPA

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
San Diego, California USA

Pours a clear amber with a big white head. Aroma of citrus & pine hops. Taste is also hoppy with more citrus and a moderate malt backing. Body is medium and finish is hoppy and bitter.

Draft: pours a golden amber with a frothy white head, aroma of hops, citrus, pine, taste is very hoppy, some citrus, fairly full bodied and leaves a bitter finish. Nice IPA.

12 oz bottle. Clear amber with a big yellowish head. Big nose of sweet orange, pine and light grass over light caramel. Citrusy flavor, grapefruit and orange, some grass and mild biscuit. Medium bodied and tasty as hell.

Medium amber color with pale white head. Slightly roasted, citrus flavor. Strong, full aroma of fruit. Good ipa but more malty than hoppy. Overall quite good.

Rerate; quickest rerate ever for me. Liked it the same; a bit more balanced than I first thought. Glad to be moving back to SD. (12 oz bottle; didn’t realize they had made it to Virginia; in Krogers too. Poured a copper color with a small to medium khaki head. Aroma of grapefruit and pine, with a touch of sweet caramel. Perhaps the flavor was a bit too one dimensional, but that one dimension was damn good. Assertive hop taste and bitternes; mostly pine and grapefruit. Caramel and sweet malt backbone was off and on, never too pronounced. Lingering after taste with a touch of stickiness in the back of the mouth. Great for the style. )

Clear golden/copper color with quickly thinning head. Barnyard citrus and pine are evident on the nose, as well as quiet sweetish roastiness. THe caramel twinge provides balance and drinkability to this hopped brew. A good example of restraint and balance, very quaffable. Nice brew.

Bottle. Pours a clear, deep amber with a big dense two-finger head, much of which hangs around for the duration. Lacing is extremely nice. This is a fine looking IPA. Smell is big floral and citrus hops up front with grapefruit, oranges and a hint of pine resins at the end. The hops are complimented nicely in the aroma with a sweet malt backbone. The taste is a floral hop bitterness up front giving way to the sweet caramel malts in the middle before the pine hops come back for a bitter finish. Mouthfeel is medium to full with high carbonation and just a tad sticky with pine hops lingering on the palate. The pronounced malt presence makes for a very balance and dirinkable IPA. Not quite in the same class as the Sculpin, but I really enjoyed this one.

(Bottled, 0.66l) Clear amber with a medium, frothy and lacy head. Very aromatic, toffee-malty nose with pine, birch, and lavender. Dry, very bitter, pine-resiny, salty flavor with reasonable balancing maltiness, and a long, bitter finish. Medium-bodied with soft carbonation. Quite an enjoyable IPA, although the flavor is not quite as fresh as the aroma.