Ballast Point Big Eye IPA

Beer: Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
Brewery Location: San Diego, CA
Beer Style: IPA
ABV: 6%




Did I mention that I love west coast IPAs? I've traded for some things from Ballast Point recently, and I've only ever had this beer before and their Big Marlin porter, and I should be working my way through the rest of them in the near future. Ballast Point is another brewery making a nice name for themselves out of San Diego.

Big Eye pours a nice rustic amber color with a good sized and slightly off-white head on it. It left spotty lacing on my pint glass. The smell is packed full citrus fruits with notes of oranges, tangerines, and lemon peel. There is some slight caramel notes coming out of the malt as well, but not well pronounced. I don't think I am giving the nose justice there, but this is complex and wonderful nose on this IPA. The scents leads right into the flavor profile with the bitter hops upfront flooding with flavors of grapefruit, pine needles, lemon zest, and finally the caramel soaked bready malt comes out in the finish. The flavors meld very well together and create a unique and balanced IPA for a hop-lover. I would think a non IPA drinker would find this offering quite harsh though, but not me. The mouthfeel has plenty of carbonation for this medium bodied beer that leaves no detectable alcohol in the finish. The drinkability for a hop lover is excellent and would also be quite session able at only six percent.

This is just a really nice IPA. It certainly isn't a DIPA by any stretch of the imagination, but this also isn't an entry level IPA. It has more bitterness and more malt than your average IPA. I am guessing that is because they only used one type of hops, centennial, for bittering hops and for dry hopping purposes. This beer is well balanced, clean, and quite refreshing. I would go so far as to say that it would be in my normal rotation in my fridge if I could find it locally.

Cheers!
Matt