Helltown "Salem" New England IPA

Is this the last of the Helltown brews that I have in my fridge? I ask you, but you can't respond, and you wouldn't know anyway. I know I got a variety pack from them, but I can't remember which ones I have reviewed so far. Either way, I only have one in front of me right now, and it is a New England IPA. I never did bother coming up with a tag for the West Coast IPAs, or I would do some kind of meta-analysis of which style I actually prefer. I think they're both pretty great.

The beer reminds me of a vaguely watered-down Bearded Iris. It's thick with haze, but the orange center reaches out to yellow at the sides. The head feels fairly reluctant to come out, and it leaves no lacing in its wake. A thin island of bubbles appears in the middle of the beverage with the thick ring around the sides once everything settles. The aroma is quite strong with citrus and tropical fruits. I can't really smell the malt, but I'm betting there's one in there. There usually is. Otherwise, this is basically just a hop smoothie, right?

First sip has quite a bitter bite to it. It's not enough that I could say that there was no malt, but the malt that is there is not generating much resistance to the bitter wave created by the hops. As a result, the beer is somewhat unbalanced in a simple sip, but I have a feeling that this would do nicely as it warms. Either way, I'm going to try gulp. Let's see how things work out with that.

Tip-in is almost instantly bitter with tangerine and grapefruit rind forming the balance of the otherwise rather calm beer. The middle smooths out quite a bit as the fruits delve more toward the meat with orange, lemon, and papaya adding some flavor. The finish still has the bitter punch it had in the sip, but it is tempered by the smoothness of the center and the appearance of a grain malt. 

Bottom Line: Probably not the best from this brewery so far, but it's still pretty solid.

2.5/5