Sculpin: Picked this up on a recent trip to SF for beer week.
Aroma is nothing but perfumy hops. You can smell this from across the room.
Light gold in color, thin white head rings the glass. Good retention
As in aroma, there’s nothing happening in this beer other than hops. Grassy hoppiness gives way to an intense bitterness. Finishes extremely dry with a looooong bitter aftertaste.
Mouthfeel is very prickly, tingly all over. Alcohol is warming but not unpleasant.
Not my favorite beer. Intense bitterness combined with the alcohol end up leaving sort of a bug spray flavor lingering. This combined with the one-dimensional nature make me unlikely to revisit this anytime soon, if at all. This is currently rated the #1 American IPA on BeerAdvocate and #4 on RateBeer. I don’t think it belongs in the top 10…
