Ballast Point / Kelsey McNair / Stone San Diego County Session Ale
Ballast Point / Kelsey McNair / Stone San Diego County Session Ale
Rated 3.588 by BeerPals
Brewed by Stone Brewing Company
Escondido, CA, United States
Style: American Pale Ale
4.2% Alcohol by Volume
Availability of this beer is unknown
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Ballast Point/Kelsey McNair/Stone San Diego County Session Ale was inspired by homebrewing and exceptional quality of life found in San Diego County. A collaborative effort between three San Diego brewers, this aromatic and flavor-driven beer can be enjoyed during any "session." San Diego offers a variety of memorable sessions. Surfing, dining out, homebrewing and conversing with fellw beer enthusiasts are some of my favorites. Positive experiences and good conversations require a careful mix of good people, a little time and more than one tasty beer. As a homebrewer, I was fortunate to have been a customer of both Stone and Home Brew Mart. Now with thirteen years of professional brewing experience, I am honored that Kelsey McNair picked Ballast Point Brewing Company as his inspiration for this award-winning recipe. Created to evoke San Diego County’s best sessions and favorite beer ingredients, this beer was infused with an ample amount of hops. Bright and floral, this brew will leave you inspired and ready for your next session! Cheers to the Stone Crew and Beer Drinkers everywhere, Colby Chandler, Specialty Brewer Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits Hi, I’m Kelsey, and I am a hophead. There’s definitely no shortage of well-hopped India Pale Ales here in San Diego. The local craft brewers are true masters of the style, making some of the finest examples in the world, and a lot of them! If you’re a hophead like me, that’s a pretty good problem to have. These big, aggressively bitter and intensely aromatic brews are the ones I crave the most, but they often pose a dilemma: you can only have a few, yet those bright, complex flavors leave you wanting more. BUT, what if you could find a smaller, more sessionable beer that could really scratch your itch for hops? An "all-day-IPA?" Quantity and quality at the same time! Within this bottle, I think you might find just that. From one hophead to another, I give you Ballast Point/Kelsey McNair/Stone San Diego County Session Ale! A deceptively small beer that is bold, aggressively hopped, assertively bitter, and captures the essense of our local brewing culture. Cheers! Kelsey McNair, Homebrewer North Park Beer Co.
ID: 39680 Last updated 6 months ago Added to database 13 years agoKey Stats
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Drunk5
Reviews0
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Most noted beer attributes
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Statistics
| Overall Rank | 2032 |
| Overall Percentile | 96.2 |
| Style Rank | 34 of 2215 |
| Style Percentile | 98.5 |
| Lowest Score | 3.6 |
| Highest Score | 4.3 |
| Average Score | 3.940 |
| Weighted Score | 3.588 |
| Standard Deviation | 0.288 |
Rating Distribution
Beer vs Style
5 Member Reviews
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9
Rated in Oct. 2011. 12oz bottle pours clear copper with near white head. The aroma tosses up a mix of sweet malts and tart grapefruit that together create a sweet citrus sensation. The taste is refreshing grapefruit and spicy hops as well as a touch of earthy and grassiness off in the background. I get mild snippets of sweet malts here and there. This is what I image a San Diego session beer would taste like.
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Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7
It pours a light and bubbly burnt-orange with a thick and foamy white head and a narrow ring of lacing. An aroma of caramel malts, hops, weeds, grass, lemon and citrus, bread and yeast, and mildly spicy. The mouthfeel is smooth, thick, and rich. Flavors of caramel malts, hops, grass and weeds, lemon and citrus, peppers, bread and yeast, bitterness, and light spiciness. Different, but refreshing..
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9
this has to be destined to become one of the best apas (or ipa lite's) out there if enough people try it. the problem is it's $3+ for a single of a session ale with no sixers. but damn, is it good. i can't beleive a 4% beer can be so jam-packed with flavor and aroma. this easily outdistanced Pursuit of Hoppiness, Trout Hop Black IIPA, Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale, Deadlift, and Back in Black in a tasting. Unanimously. The aroma is huge of grassy flaoral hops with bitter grapefruit in the flavor. Holy crap. It's not even very light bodied at 4% but I was dreaming of kicking back with several in a night... 2nd favorite apa next to Alpha King.
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8
Pours a golden orange yellow with a white thin head with nice lacing on the sides of my glass. Aroma is pungent, very hoppy on one hand and rather ammonia like on the other, and not in a good way. Flavor is hoppy, to the point that it can certainly hang with the likes of 60min or Torpedo. Hints of malt come through more than most hoppy brews, especially as it warms. Overall, not bad but the aroma scares me a little. I agree that there is a lot of flavor packed into this lower ABV brew.
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8
Sampled on 9/6/2010. This American Pale Ale pours a medium orange gold color from a 12oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head with nice lacing and good retention. The aroma is citrusy hops, orange and floral hops. A medium bodied APA. The malts are fruity and sweet, with a bunch of orange and orange peel flavors. The hops are citrusy and grapefruity. A very hoppy American Pale Ale, with a lot of hop flavor yet with only a medium level of bitterness. Lots of flavor packed into this lower alcohol beer. Nice carbonation. This would make a great session beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is bitter with some grapefruit.
