Ballast Point Big Eye IPA

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

Pours a nice orange/yellow color, clearish, with a nice, thick, sticky looking white head. Leaves pretty good lace all over the glass. Smells great. Floral and citrusy hop notes. Unmuddled hoppiness. Tastes much like it smells. Bitter citrusy hops upfront and sweet floral hops on the way down. Pretty classic IPA. Has some nice body. Kind of thick feeling, mellow but definitely present carbonation.

Aroma is a mix of grapefruit hops and a small amount of very sweet malt. Malty sweetness is stronger in the taste, but it’s tasty. Hop profile is solid but not amazing.

Light amber, thin lingering white head. Aroma is piney and flowery hops with a hint of honey. Lots of nice hops in the flavor, mostly piney, but some earthy floral tones are present too. The honey sweetness remains in the flavor, but is mostly covered up by a bitter earthy hop finish. Nice mouthfeel, Overall very nice brew.

It smells of piney hops, but it’s really sweet too and seems to detract from the hoppy aroma that is so wonderful in IPA’s. It’s a nice copper hue with a creamy head. The flavor is much like the aroma, piney, citrus hops, but this very distinctive sweetness that definitely serves to remove the bitter. The mouthfeel is thick and creamy. Good beer.

Nice amber with a thin off white head. Aroma is a nice piney hoppiness with honey and some floral notes. Pretty hoppy, but it has an interesting sweetness that approaches you along with the hops, some floral notes.

At BPB. Amber orange pour with creamy off white head. More hops on the nose with a little maltiness to boot. Full hard citrus bitter with good malt to carry it. Excellent semi sweet. Good carbonation body is just a tiny bit thin. Overall good IPA that pushes the bitter to the top.

Beautiful crystal clear deep gold color with a small white head that leaves nice lacing on the glass. Smell is surprisingly malty, with a touch of caramel and toasted biscuit, I’m just not getting much hop smell, the taste is pleasantly bitter with hops but once again not much hop aromatics - a bit of orange or tangerine, but not much. The beer is smooth on the palate with a nice, refreshingly bitter finish that lasts a while. A nice eneough beer but not quite what I’d expect from a San Diego IPA - perhaps this bottle isn’t fresh? No dating apparent on the bottle, I seem to remember enjoying this more in the past so I will try again even though this sample let me down a bit.

Bottle courtesy of Overlord. Pours a golden, slightly bronze with a small head and some light carbonation. Aroma is very hoppy. Sort of smells like a barleywine too. Has some dark fruit elements to it as well. A mixture of citrusy hops, dark fruit, and malts on the taste make for a blend that initially is pleasant but seems somehow off at the finish. About halfway through this, I’m beginning to dislike the aftertaste of the hops. Its bitter which I usually love but in this case, it has an unpleasantness to it. Overall, an average IPA. Certainly not one of the elites. Glad I got to give this California local a try though.