Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin

Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin is their IPA Sculpin with Habanero peppers added. According to the bottle “Heat May Vary”.

It’s not to surprising that this looks just like regular Sculpin, but it is surprising that it smells a lot like it too. I’m not getting any pepper burn on the nose. OK, here goes nothing… Huh? I was expecting something a bit more obliterating in the heat department given some of the things I’ve heard. This is actually pretty well balanced. The beer starts IPA sweet with some light caramel and tropical fruit notes with some mild fleshy pepper taste and heat on the back end. A bit of burn in the back of the throat and gut as the beer warms a bit. The aftertaste is more like that of spicy food instead of an IPA.

I’m on the fence on whether or not I would but a six pack of this, but I will definitely be drinking this again. Way more enjoyable than I ever thought it would be!