Ballast Point Brewing Tasting
Hi everyone,
I visited Ballast Point brewery last night and was able to try out a lot of the beers they have on tap. A lot. I had the aloha sculpin, fathom IPA, Manta Ray double IPA, Tongue Buckler, Mango IPA, Watermelon Dorado, Longfin shark, sonoma pride, pinapple sculpin, trans pacific, big eye IPA, and finished with the Orange Chocolate victory. They have a really awesome deal on flights. You can get 3 tasters for only $6.
The aloha IPA is there newest addition and it was pleasantly good for an IPA. I would get it again.
Fathom IPA was good but in my opinion is an average IPA. I would order it again, but there are other beers I would choose before it.
Manta Double Ray. Yes. Double IPA. I'll take 5. It was delicious.
Tongue Buckler-I personally did not like this one too much. I like Red IPAs and at 10% alcohol, I was excited, but it was a bit too bitter for my preference. Drank it and moved on to the next one.
Mango IPA-Perfect balance of a good IPA and it's not too sweet. I really enjoyed this beer and would buy a case of it to take home.
Watermelon Dorado-10% alcohol is intriguing, but it was way too sweet. Tasted like a watermelon starburst. For those who enjoy super sweet, you may enjoy this.
Longfin shark- I am not a big fan of sours. It was good for sour beer, but I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew that it was a sour.
Sonoma Pride-Proceeds are donated to the NorCal fire relief. My community service support of the day. Beer was decent.
Pineapple sculpin-This is my favorite sculpin out of the regular, unfiltered, grapefruit and aloha. I think it is excellent. Strong beer. Sweet but not overpowering.
Things get hazy now.
Trans pacific-Ok beer. Maybe because by this point I had a lot of the other ones, but it didn't stand out too much.
Big Eye-I've has this IPA in bottle before and knew it was good already. The draft was better.
Orange Chocolate Victory-I saved the best for last. I wanted to treat myself. You can immediately smell the chocolate and abosrb its aroma! What seems like a cross between reeses chocolate and an orange, you get a worthy dessert. I really enjoyed this beer.
The food was good. We had the nachos with the duck and a burger. I am not a vegetarian, but they did have vegetarian options available.
Overall they have a phenomenal selection and have a ton of memorable beers. The environment was laid back and chill. The restaurant is a nice place to take a group of friends or just take someone. I will definitely be back.
If you get thirsty, come see me. 