W(a)HOO!

Day #550 Wahoo Wheat / Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, CA
Previously from this brewery: Wahoo, a sampler, and a sampler highlighted by Sculpin IPA

Today was a busy day, and I'm too tired to even get in the details.  It was a good busy, though.  Not a bad busy.  Don't want you to think I'm complaining, just letting you know why you aren't getting a five-star, black label, platinum level post tonight.  Hey, no one said my blog posts were going to be 1000% awesome every day.  You, dear reader, just assume that because they more or less always are.

Tonight's beer is a Wahoo Wheat from Ballast Point, that I had a post-work outing to TJ's a while back. In the glass, you find a light straw color with a thin, persistent white head.  There's an aroma of crackers and light citrus, and when you take a sip you're greeted by a light and fresh flavor, with orange, wheat, and bready malt.  There's some hints of banana, but nothing too surprising or overpowering.  Super easy drinking at 4% ABV, so you can put these back without care (relatively speaking) on a warm, summer day.

Wheaty.

A good bit of San Diego beers seem to be finding their way to taps in Pennsylvania these days.  A status I completely support, by the way.

Thing to Think About Today:
If it's a wheat beer I'm drinking, then it's Wheatus you're listening to.  What, you don't remember (relatively speaking) one-hit wonder Wheatus?  Maybe you'll remember their (relatively speaking) smash hit Teenage Dirtbag.  And because it was 2000, this video features Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari.  Why?  Why not!  Enjoy your night people.  I had a good day, and hope you did too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3y9llDXuM

"How does she know who I am / And why does she give a damn about me?"

Day 531: Ballast Point Wahooooooo!

Reasons why I love Mr. Blog Named Brew—because the following email exchange is totally normal for us. (Portions redacted for security purposes.)

From: Marci Generose
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:18 AM
To: 'gary generose'
Subject: RE: Re: Fwd: FW:

All I have to say is things could get hella awkward today.

From: gary generose
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:32 AM
To: Marci Generose
Subject: RE: Re: Fwd: FW:

More awkward than you using the word 'hella'?

Interesting....

From: Marci Generose
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:34 AM
To: 'gary generose'
Subject: RE: Re: Fwd: FW:

I’m an ever-evolving creature. I’m trying it out. Sometimes things work. Sometimes things get awkward.

From: gary generose
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:38 AM
To: Marci Generose
Subject: RE: Re: Fwd: FW:

Hella so, in fact. You should try telling people that crazy things are "cray". Like prosciutto in sushi. That shit cray.

From: Marci Generose
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:40 AM
To: 'gary generose'
Subject: RE: Re: Fwd: FW:

Indeed.

And yes, there’s a sushi joint that was briefly considered for dinner last evening that puts prosciutto in sushi. THAT’S NOT SUSHI. That’s crap.

In other news, I drank a beer.

It's the Ballast Point Wahoo Wheat. It's an American wheat ale and (per Ballast Point's website) is brewed to be light and refreshing with unique citrus character that comes from adding orange peel and coriander to the boil. The haziness comes from the unmalted wheat and a special yeast adds the refreshing tangy flavor.

What do I think? It poured a very pale, hazy yellow with a medium white head. It smells of wheat with mild undertones of citrus. The flavor is very much citrus and wheat, but I thought it was more lemon than orange. Maybe that was the yeast tangyness coming into play. It has a thin mouthfeel. It also screams summertime just like San Diego, where it's brewed. I bet it's hella nice there right now. Here it's 10 degrees colder at 4:32 p.m. than it was when I left for work this morning. That's cray.

Is it working? Nah. I didn't think so.

Beer stats
Style: American wheat ale
ABV: 4%
IBUs: 15
Rating: Excellent

Previously reviewed from Ballast Point
The one where I had all the samplers (porter, fruit beer and Scottish ale)
Then Mr. Blog Named Brew had all his samplers (IPA, pale lager, barleywine)

Beer 212: Ballast Point Samplers for Everyone!

There was so much beer consumed during the great beer-cation of 2012. It is a full two weeks since my return and I'm still writing about the beers consumed on that trip.  I'm so glad that Gary agrees to my hare-brained schemes!

Ballast Point Brewing Company was one of the first breweries we visited and it was definitely among the highlights of this trip.  Honestly for some reason I had decided I didn't like Ballast Point because they were big and hoppy.  I don't know what is wrong with me sometimes.  Seriously.  Look how happy I am drinking their beer!

Sadly not all were mine.

I had three sample pours:

Mmm...mmm...good!

On the left is the Barmy Ale.  Lovely golden ale with a fluffy head that disappeared quickly.  It smelled of apricots and drank with a honey tinged smoothness.  The ABV is 10% on this bad boy...but you would never know it from the taste.  Delicious!  

In the middle is the barrel aged Piper Down Scotch Ale.  This one was aged in bourbon barrels and you can smell it right away...oak, vanilla and bourbon.  The flavor is oaked with lots of malt and vanilla.  There was also some underlying fruit in the flavor.  Another great beer.  

I finished with the Black Marlin Porter.  It looked like cola with a thick tan head.  It smells of roasted malt and coffee.  There's an almost smokiness to the flavor along with chocolate, roast coffee, some licorice even.  Very complex.

Gary's sampler...I totally should have drank
 it when he was in the men's room!

Ballast Point is going in my top 25 list although I'm at a loss as to which specific beer makes it.  Cheers!

You Can Engage Any Time, Maverick

Beer #187 Sculpin IPA / Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, CA

Day #2 of vacation; more fun and games in greater San Diego, with most of the afternoon spent in the tony suburb of La Jolla.  Spent time drinking at a Karl Strauss Brewery outpost, and then headed to Ballast Point Brewing Company, which like Green Flash is located in a nice corporate office park.  Note to brewers: there is no world class brewery in the corporate office park where I work.  Fix that.

We did a flight of beer, and I sampled:
- Sculpin Ale, a classic West Coast IPA rich with grapefruit and hop bitterness.  World class beer, and is named for a common small, spiny fish found nearby.
- Fathom India Pale Lager, (a type of beer I don't usually see), had a nice dryness and hop bitterness
- Three Sheets Barleywine, which had flavors of molasses, leather, and stone fruit.  Sadly, the weather here is not conducive to drinking barleywines, although that doesn't explain why I've put down two in the past week.

Great beers, and really enjoyed seeing the full line-up of beers, not just what shows up on the East Coast.

Thing to Think About Today:
For those of you who love the movie Top Gun, and really, that's everyone in America, it was based on the fighter pilot school of the same name located at MCAS Miramar, a base north of San Diego and close to Ballast Point (and Green Flash).  Therefore, without further explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyvkjzPCKEc

"TALK TO ME, GOOSE!"