Sierra Nevada & Ballast Point – Electric Ray IPL (Beer Camp 2014)
Floral American hops with the body of a blonde lager.
Beer Name: Electric Ray IPL (Beer Camp 2014)
Brewery: Sierra Nevada & Ballast Point
Beer Style: India Pale Lager
ABV: 8.5%
IBUs: 70
Size: 12 oz. bottle
Beer Advocate: 86
RateBeer: 93
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION:
As ever, San Diego’s Ballast Point looked to the sea for the inspiration behind Electric Ray. A play on the fish’s scientific name—Torpedo californica—this beer pays homage to our mutual home state, as well as to our Hop Torpedo, the source of much of the big flavor in this high voltage, hop-forward Imperial Pale Lager.
Ballast Point brought their homebrewing dreams to the big leagues and started brewing professionally, but they never forgot their roots. They still run a successful homebrewing supply shop in San Diego. A love for hops and the ocean inspire incredible brewed and distilled offerings, and their one-of-a-kind labels boast some beautiful, and sometimes gnarly-lookin’, fish.
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A newer style to me, I usually enjoy a well hopped IPL. Going into this, with the background of Sculpin and Big Eye, I had high hoppy hopes.
APPEARANCE:
Pours a dark orange like a nice IPA.
AROMA:
I was talking to my buddy Eric about this, something I’ve noticed about every beer I’ve had from the Beer Camp 12 pack so far hasn’t really had much aroma to them. It’s kinda depressing, because the styles are so unique and awesome, they should all have amazing aromas that draw me in. This is the same, a faint, pale hoppy smell, so faint I cannot even tell if its a citrusy or piney hop.
TASTE:
So it is definitely a citrusy hop. This does have a really nice hop to it, coming in at 70 IBUs, it has a nice bite to it. It’s basically like a less aggressive IPA, which once again makes me sad, like it did for the 3 Floyds beer.
OVERALL:
Ballast Point is known for being aggressive with their IPAs, and I thought this would/could be a little more aggressive. Other than that, this beer is still a really good IPL, honestly one of the better IPLs I’ve ever had. An easy-drinking lager with a really nice hop to it. Nothing that is gonna knock your socks off, but still a great beer.
RATING:
4 out of 5
Until the next beer:
Beer God
