The whole frooty IPA thing seems to be knee deep in gimmick territory and it is only March. But instead of just bemoaning the fact, I went ahead and tasted two of the newest arrivals from Ballast Point.
Pineapple Sculpin started strong and sweet but it cooled down well. Sculpin might be a prime base for these experiments even though I am not a huge fan of the grapefruit and habanero that came before. There is little too much fight between the hops and sweet. And I had the same issue that I do with “flavored” beers in that, it tastes candy like and not like fruit.
Watermelon Dorado the Double IPA was much harder to drink. In fact, I could not finish it. There is a melon daiquiri aroma and the taste of hard candy flavor throughout was too strong and became cloying. It had a daquiri type aroma and oddly enough the hops came through less than the Pineapple Sculpin.
I certainly won’t be trying to many more IPA’s in this sub-style unless I get a super strong recommendation.