750 ml bottle poured into a tulip. Slightly hazy golden orange with two fingers of off-white head. Nice lacing. Aromas of pine, floral notes, citrus, toasty notes. Tastes of toasty and nutty notes, caramel, citrus, malty notes. Medium body with a dry finish. Pretty malty mouthfeel. Decent.

Bottle. Pours golden amber white head. Nose and taste of sugar cone, light perfume hop, orange peel, grapefruit , resin and caramel malt. Medium body.

Whole Foods Bowery, NYC 12 ounce ($3): Pours light amber with a white head. Aroma is hops. They are somewhat nondescript as they are not particularly citrusy, resinous, or piny. Taste is malty with a nice bitter undertone. This isn’t bad. It probably is nothing like the original Ballantine IPA (which I assume was more like an English ESB), but hey, at least they are trying.

Pours Amber into a shaker. White head with medium retention recedes to mottle surface. Resin aromas. Soft with sour caramel upfront turning to resin in the lasting finish.

Purchased a bottle from Julio’s Liquors for $7.99 before the Wild Six Discount. Lasting head on a copper color liquid. Aroma is mild citrus floral and mild pine hops and hints at being more sweet then it tastes.

The flavor has a toasted malt and pale grain base that helps balance the deep lingering pine and floral hop punch. Damn! This is one of the most balanced IPA’s I’ve sampled in a long while. The bitterness has a deep pine that lingers but the mild sweet, pale malt really makes it refreshing. I never had the original and I haven’t looked up who actually owns the Pabst Brewing Company but this is solid. Truly if this is anything like it was 50 years ago it would have been the Heady Topper of its day. A pleasure to drink but best grabbed fresh because I could see this turning to sweet.

Look, I could rate this straight up, but this one is a bit nostalgic. I remember drinking this some thirty plus years ago when India Pale ales were scant to find. It was uniquely different back then and undoubtably the first big hop brew I ever experienced. So rating this new version is a bit of a challenge. I want to do the memory of my youth justice, but I need to be truthful with what sits in front of me today. This brew is amber orange with a nice creamy beige head that leaves a clinging lace. Aroma is pure grapefruit hops. Flavor is toasted grain with more grapefruit hops and rich caramel malt. Bitter hop finish and aftertaste. As I remember, the older version was a bit more subtle. This new version is more hop forward and complex. All in all, I am glad to have Ballantine IPA back! , .