Frog Level Salamander Slam IPA

Salamander Slam weighs in at 7.0% ABV.  Unfortunately the brewery website doesn't offer any more information about this specific brew.  It pours as expected, a light golden color with a thin but persistent white head.  The nose on this beer departs from a traditional IPA in that in addition to the hops there is a distinct malt aroma.  The malt aroma transitions quite nicely into a light and smooth taste.  At first this beer has a deceptively smooth and mild flavor.  The hops flavors then come on slowly but strongly.  This progression of flavors is the most striking aspect of this otherwise standard IPA.  You can see my reaction in the YouTube video.  The hops flavor will be familiar to regular IPA drinkers.  This beer boils down to being a rather text book IPA.  While the extra malt character and slowly developing hops character in the flavor give this beer a bit of personality it just fails to be much more than an excellent IPA.  Now the great thing about this beer is that Frog Level packages many of their beers in these wonderful half growler bottles.  This gives you about 3 glasses of beer which is more than enough to share with friends.  Since Spring is trying to arrive here in North Carolina finding a good beer to sit out on the porch and enjoy with some friends is important and this is certainly a candidate.  The hops flavor is not so overpowering that it's going to keep you from enjoying this beer with food or enjoying another beer after this one.  Just because it isn't a stand out IPA doesn't mean it is a bad beer.  If you are a fan of IPAs, and really if you are reading this you probably are, you should certainly try this one just because of the nice malty start.  If IPAs aren't your thing you can probably skip this one.  Since this is an IPA you probably shouldn't try to introduce your lager drinking friends to craft beer with this one.  Some of the flavor may be due to the yeast that they use.  As of this writing the Frog Level website lists what I hope is a British Cream Ale which they seem to be calling Lilly's Cream Boy.  That may be an interesting brew.  Based on how the hops work in their IPA I'd also like to see them tackle a Kolsch style beer.  I would certainly stop by the brewery if you find yourself in Waynesville, NC.  For more information about what's currently on tap at Frog Level check out their website.  As always keep enjoying North Carolina beer.

Cheers!