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Man, the people at Modern Times know how to market and they do it with a design style and beer name moxie that probably causes jealousy.
And I think that Ice, the San Diego breweries’s first pils, might be a can you see more of in the future. It has been on draft but if they can get this can that is hopped with Czech Saaz and Australian Summer hops into high circulation, it could be a big seller.
Leisuretown. Some words just sound like polyester pants and that one certainly does. But the extremely rapidly growing Modern Times is using it for a huge new outlet (31,927 square feet) in downtown Anaheim. And it does sound less obnoxious than the Dankness Dojo moniker for the delayed (and smaller) Modern Times – Los Angeles.
Here are the very verbose details from their press release:
• A gorgeous funky/sour brewing facility chock-full of foeders, amphora, and various experimental fermenting vessels, housed in a jaw-dropping old hoop-style wooden warehouse.
• A showpiece Modern Times café & restaurant set in an utterly charming two-story, historic craftsman home
• Stalls serving food from some of SoCal’s most kickass restaurateurs
• A giant frickin’ swimming pool, complete with poolside bar, movie screen, and sweet floaty toys
• A delightful and convenient Modern Times merch store & bottle pick-up location
•A vast and beautifully landscaped outdoor space primed for group gatherings and luxurious beer drinking
Anaheim is on a roll with the addition of Modern Times and recently Karl Strauss too.
I don’t think of hop bines when I picture South Africa but apparently Modern Times has and this month sees the 22ox bomber release of Floating World which features J-17 and Southern Passion hops from South Africa. Add those to fresh Citra hops and according to their newsletter e-mail it creates “an eruption of citrus, guava, and tropical flavors”.
They do need a name better than J-17 though.
On the same day that the sale of Golden Road was announced, off to the side, the Modern Times of San Diego made some noise of their own:
“Well, we weren’t planning to announce this quite yet, but for some reason today feels like the right day. In 2016, we’re planning to open a pilot brewery, restaurant, and specialty coffee shop in Los Angeles. Expect crazy one-off beers, decadent vegan food, & mind-blowing espressos, pour-overs, & cold brew.”
Unless the plans are already underway, 2016 seems ambitious. So look for more news in the coming months.
On the label, Modern Times has three descriptors for their beer. I would make the following change. Cherry – Cherry – Tart. Not quite sour and the Gose part is well buried under an avalanche of cherry. You would think that I didn’t like the beer. But I do. This is a fun fruit beer for cherry lovers which I am one.
The beer is a serious pink/rose color. The aroma is all about the fruit as is the taste. Let me get a little more detailed. This is pie cherry. The kind with that touch of spice to it. Nutmeg and cinnamon to be more precise. As the beer warms, an almost pie crust taste can be detected at the back. It may be denting an even bigger cherry taste but it is not hindering it much.
So, the question is, do you like cherries? If the answer is yes, then buy it.
Seems like every brewery needs a Gose and an IPA in their line-up and Modern Times is the latest with their newest special release, Fruitlands, a cherry gose.
Here is their backstory on the beer: “First, we created a traditional gose mash with loads of salt and coriander. Next, we dosed it with 4 different strains of Lactobacillus to create the perfect funky, salty base beer. Finally, once fermentation finished, we added a healthy portion of tart Michigan grown Montmorency cherry juice.”
You saw these Modern Times beers in bottles or on tap, now they will be canned too. And on a schedule….
I missed out on City of the Sun so I will be looking forward to this time next year for that one. But first I will be grabbing as much Oneida as I can.
Upon hearing that the Beer Bloggers Conference of 2014 was to be in San Diego. I knew that I would be either stopping by before or after. Little did I know, I would go mid-conference to their FlavorDome on Upas Street.
But that is what transpired. The dome has a ceiling of lampshades. Coasters are hard disks. Extra hard disks are re-purposed as art on the walls. The bar has a base constructed of VHS containers and the whole decor screams, Jess from New Girl. You could call it twee or precious but it certainly is designed. What I liked is that the space has big windows for daydreaming and no TV’s to be found.
And there is beer….
This was the taster tray with Universal Friend, Grapefruit tinged Fortunate Islands on cask, Black House on Nitro and a Belgian Strong by the quirky name of New Harmony. The taster pours are ample so be prepared to drink. My favorite of the quad was the Universal Friend. The Pinot Grigio notes were there but were in addition and not blunt force to the palate. The essential Belgian qualities were there in abundance as well. Second in the ranking was the cask. The grapefruit really added some pith to the citric hoppiness already evident in Fortunate Islands which is one of my favorite beers. Black House and New Harmony were the bottom and a bit off from the front runners. I think I expected more from Black House on nitro. It was fine but it didn’t wow me.
With a grain of salt, I had been drinking at the conference so my taste buds may have missed some subtlety but I was quite glad that I visited plus you can order tacos from the hip Perlas nearby and have it delivered to your beer.
Even translated to bottles, the design of Modern Times is still striking. And despite the Session IPA moniker or hoppy XPA, as I call them, this was a beer high on my want list.
For two reasons: I wanted to know how the brewery was growing. Could the quality stay high? Secondly, I was intrigued by two of the hops being showcased. Hallertauer Blanc and Experimental 05256.
And this beer delivers. Very similar to Easy Jack from Firestone Walker but with a drier white wine finish to it. There is a bit of unripe melon in the mix as well. The bitterness really lingers but not in an overbearing way. As it warms, a little bit of astringent lemon.
I still think that Fortunate Islands is my favorite but this is up there. When next I am in San Diego, I will have to explore the beer list at their Fermentorium.
Modern Times gets the beer review spotlight for January 2014 and we sample their Black House coffee stout…..
Here is the brewery description of the beer, “Black House is an oatmeal coffee stout bursting with coffee aroma and flavor. Modern Times is one of the only breweries in the world to roast our own coffee, which allows us to be exceptionally picky about which coffees we use and how we roast them. The result is an abundantly flavorful beer that’s incredibly complex and aromatic, with loads of roast character and a chocolate-covered espresso bean finish.”