Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin

This 7.0% ABV India Pale Ale brewed with hot peppers is from the Ballast Point Brewing Company of San Diego, California. It takes their regular Sculpin IPA and adds habanero chili peppers.

The beer pours a lightly hazy dried apricot and honey in color. There is a half-inch of white, foamy head. The aroma is ripe tropical fruit and melon, with a light whiff of peppers. The taste is the reverse, with a blasting hot wave of pepper heat and flavor, followed by a only partially tempering wave of sweet tropical fruit. The beer drinks smooth, with the carbonation adding to the burn of the peppers. This is good, but you better like pepper heat if you drink it.