I spent some time in San Diego this week. If you're an IPA fan and find yourself there, you should do yourself a favor. Try the Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and silently thank me as it washes over your palate. No one else needs to know.

Incredible beer.

The local beer stores around here have it. It's good, but not $17 a six pack good.

quote mr.barley: "It's good, but not $17 a six pack good."

agree

Now you have piqued my interest..gonna search it out. In Wisco?

$17 for a sixer? Holy cow. I was buying it by the pint in bars and it was no different in price than the other stuff. At that price, I'd have to pass on it.

I'm going to search in NW Wi. If found, A "trip"report will be forthcoming.

As I think about this, I was paying 5.50/pint ($8 each in the hotel bar). At $17, I'd buy a sixer of it and drink one now and then. Maybe collect a sixer every year for 3 or 4 years, hold back a bottle each time and do a vertical tasting with some buddies.

hooky: Don't apologize for spending good money on good beer. I'll hesitate at the price once in a while, and certainly have my limits, but the way I look at it I have long since abandoned trying to find a "favorite" and now enjoy any number of new brews that come along. Sometimes, you pay a little more to experiment but it's not like you now need to stock the cellar with "the one."

Never cellar age IPAs. The hop profile diminishes quite rapidly. IPAs and other hoppy beers are meant to be consumed as fresh as possible.

quote mr.barley: "Never cellar age IPAs."

Thanks, mr.barley, that's not what I meant. Just an unfortunate word choice which I now see as a bit confusing. "Stock up" or "Purchase exclusively," perhaps. Neither of which I recommend.

I think the cellar aging comment was directed at me and my suggestion to set a bottle back each year for a few years. It will certainly lose it's hop signature.

I find it really interesting to see how a beer changes over time though. In the early summer of '06 I brewed a spiced beer for Christmas. It was crazy how much the flavor changed. It was great at Christmas, almost too hot to drink the following year (the cloves or allspice maybe?) and then settled down and was good again the next year. I drank the last one on our first Christmas Eve in our current house in '10 and it was still pretty tasty.

I've also had a few incidents where my sanitation may have been lacking and the aging process made for some "interesting" off flavors.

Just finished a 22 oz bomber of Sculpin..Very nice brew! Not crazy hoppy with a lot of other flavors coming through. I'll buy it again to reward myself despite the cost, it's worth every penny.Thanks for the tip, Hooky.

Total Wine...popping up everywhere in the twin cities. $12.99 a six pack, a little easier to justify.

Grapefruit Sculpin was pretty good. Ballast Point does pretty decent on most beers.

Out here in CA, it runs $13.79 for ClubBev members and I bought a six pack at Grocery Outlet yesterday, for $13.

quote outdooraddict: "Grapefruit Sculpin was pretty good. Ballast Point does pretty decent on most beers."

Grapefruit Scupin is one of my favorites.

Part-way through a 6-pack. Very nice balance. Thanks for the suggestion, although it cost me $18 here in Perham...

Ballast Point just showed up here in Indiana. Think I'm going to go find some this afternoon and watch my Hoosiers.