Salt Flats Brewing Company - Daytona

Salt Flat’s Daytona IPA presents a bright golden-copper color with a touch of haze and a cap of persistent foam. In the aroma, this is a boldly fruity IPA with a complex array of grapefruit- and tangerine-leaning citrus notes, with secondary notes evoking tropical fruit character akin to mango and passion fruit, touches of peach and apricot stone fruits, and some light floral flourishes. Light hints of toast and caramel lurk below. The fruity hop explosion continues on the palate, too. Look for juicy and pithy citrus notes to hit upfront, balanced by the other softer fruit impressions. Hop bitterness is fairly firm, easily balancing any residual sweetness in the lightly toasty malt backbone and leaving this brew quite dry in the finish. There’s a relaxed smoothness here, and at 5% ABV this brew is right on the cusp of session IPA territory, though Salt Flats doesn’t market it as such. Regardless, we found Daytona to be a satisfying IPA that comes across bigger than its ABV, full of complex hop flavor due to extensive dry-hopping, while remaining approachable, easy-drinking, and quite food-friendly with the right partners. We’d steer toward dishes with bright flavors, including grilled citrus-marinated chicken kebabs, mildly spicy ceviche, shrimp and/or whitefish pho, Thai pineapple fried rice, or chicken tacos with pico de gallo or mango salsa. It could even stand up to some more serious meat dishes, particularly barbecued pork ribs with a sweet & spicy sauce. Cheers!

Salt Flats got its start back in 2016 when the Garage Grill in Draper, UT began brewing under the name RPM Brewery on a tiny 15-gallon system. Originally, the beer was produced just to serve the restaurant’s taps, but the dream soon expanded to the goal of building an actual regional brewery. In 2017, Scott Parker joined RPM as brewmaster after eight years with California’s Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Used to a 250-barrel brewhouse, Parker helped the RPM team scale up their operations from that original 1/2-barrel system to a new 10-barrel system. In March of 2018, the decision was made to rebrand the brewery to the new Salt Flats name, which better represented their region while retaining the motorsports theme.

Motorsports is everywhere at Salt Flats Brewing Company. Besides the brewery and beer names, the brewery itself is located within what used to be a professional race team building. Owner Steve Pruitt is the team principal of Corsa Motorsport and has a lifetime of experience in motor racing stretching all the way back to 1975 and his stockholder interest in the Long Beach Grand Prix. The Garage Grill locations in Draper and Herriman are equal parts restaurant and museum, featuring incredible arrays of racing memorabilia and actual exotic sports cars and NASCAR, IndyCar, and F1 racecars, among others. Want to have a brew at the bar next to a 2007 McLaren-Mercedes F1 car mounted to the wall, or dine directly underneath a Ferrari 360? You can do that. For racing fans visiting the Salt Lake area, it’s a must-try experience.

Currently, Salt Flats produces over a dozen beers, all with automotive or motorcycle themed names. They also produce an award-winning line of spirits including rum, whiskey, vodka, and gin, plus canned premixed cocktails. Additionally, in 2023, Salt Flats took home awards for Brewery of the Year and Beer of the Year, among others, at the USA Beer Ratings in San Francisco. For more info on their brewery and their restaurant locations, visit saltflatsbeer.com.