Modern Times

Modern Times Lomaland

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Lomaland sounds like some ill-fated Lego theme park utopia, but the real-life origins of the name aren’t that far off. Founded in 1900 by a bunch of proto-hippies, Lomaland was a utopian Theosophical community located in Point Loma in San Diego. Apparently they were fans of weird architecture (Ivo Shandor? The timeline is actually just about right for that, though Shandor’s work is famously in New York) and planting trees, orchards, and shrubs, much of which survives to this day. I mean, it’s no Cloud Cuckoo Land, but it’s probably about as close as the real world ever got to such a place. Or not. I’ve never been to San Diego and know nothing about anything, so we should probably just get to the beer, which is a pretty traditional rustic saison in the Dupont mold, maybe a little on the lighter, drier side. Let’s catch a ride to Cloud Cuckoo Land and hang with Princess Unikitty whilst imbibing this:

Modern Times Lomaland

Modern Times Lomaland – Pours a clear straw yellow color with a few fingers of fluffy white head and decent retention. Smells very spicy, cloves all over the place, a little peppery note here or there, some fruity esters doing their thing. Taste is a little more subdued, but it’s the same gist as the nose, a little spice, clove and pepper, some fruity flavors coming to the fore towards the finish. Mouthfeel is light bodied, well carbonated, crisp, and very dry, on the quaffable side too. Overall, rock standard saison material here, not going to blow you away, but a nice canned beverage. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/18/15. Canned on 7/13/15.

Many thanks to Jay of Beer Samizdat for sending this one along. Modern times as a pretty great line of beers. I’d love to get my hands on some Funky Lomaland (basically this beer dosed with Brett and aged in wine barrels) or the BA variants of Monsters’ Park.

April Beer Club

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Beer club was yesterday! For the uninitiated, beer club is a monthly gathering of like-minded coworkers and acquaintances at a local BYOB for good food, optional libations, and general merriment. Since the last beer club was sparsely attended, we ended up back at Couch Tomato for some excellent pizza, strombolis (having had both, I would recommend the stromboli over the pizza), and some sort of weird greek plate. Better weather means better attendance, and we had a rather fantastic selection of beer to work our way through:

April Beer Club

For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each are below. As per usual, I’m going almost purely from memory, and this was from last night, so take these notes with the appropriate shakers of salt. Or call it a sacred text and analyze it like the Zapruder film. I’m not here to tell you what to do. I am here to write indefensible notes on beer, so let’s get to it:

  • Kaedrin Crom Approved – So it appears that this is doing ok, but I really feel like my challenges that lead to a clogged keg and having to transfer it to another keg really ruined this beer. Ok, perhaps ruined isn’t the right term. This has a fantastic, tropical fruit hop nose. The taste definitely feels a bit oxidized, which I unfortunately makes sense and definitely detracts from what I was going for. I’m giving it a B, but the really disappointing thing is that when I first kegged it, I was thinking this was A level stuff. Oh, well, lessons learned, onwards and upwards. My next batch of this beer will be great.
  • Adroit Theory New Zealand Rye (Ghost 179) – I heard about this Virginia brewery a while back and have been curious to try their beers. A regular beer club attendee got down there last weekend and picked up a few beers to try. This one was a pretty solid rye DIPA, more malt and spicy rye than hops, but it also clocks in at a hefty 11% ABV and didn’t feel like it at all. It was very nice. B+
  • Crooked Stave St. Bretta (Autumn) – Absolutely delicious beer, funky, light sourness, juicy fruit, really fantastic stuff, along the lines of the Summer (which I’ve had before)
  • Flying Dog Supertramp – This had a sorta berliner weiss feel to it, but not quite that tart, and while you could get some cherry character out of it, it also had a weird aftertaste. I just never got into this beer. C
  • Modern Times Blazing World – Dank, piney hops with a nice, hefty malt backbone, this is very nice. Just about in line with anything I’ve had from Modern Times, who seem pretty fantastic. B+
  • Intangible Ales (Pizza Boy) Acidulated Hive – One of Pizza Boy’s Intangible Ales label beers (not sure why this is listed as a separate brewery), this is a great little saison. It reminds me of Saison Dupont, except with a lightly funky addition (I don’t get much honey out of it, but it does perhaps remind me a bit of funky version of Dupont’s Bier de Miel). Well worth seeking out B+ or A-
  • The Lost Abbey Lost & Found Abbey Ale – A pretty standard dubbel that is overwhelmed by raisiny flavors. Nothing bad here, but also nothing particularly special. B-
  • Adroit Theory Lux (Ghost 132) – This is labeled as a wheatwine, and unfortunately, it falls prey to a saccharine, sticky sweet character that would be cloying if I were trying to drink a whole bottle. As a sample in a situation like this, it was fine, but it’s not really my thing. C+
  • Central Waters Bourbon Barrel La Petite Mort – A beer I’ve already reviewed, and it was just as good, if not better this time around. In fact, I think I’ll bump it up to an A-
  • Oskar Blues Bolivia Newton John – A relatively low ABV coffee stout (6%), this is obviously not in my wheelhouse, but it seemed like a very well executed coffee stout. B
  • Weyerbacher Sunday Morning Stout – Another coffee stout, this one is an imperial stout that’s also been aged in bourbon barrels. This is much more my speed, though again, I never really connected with it as much as I’d like. The coffee seems very well integrated, and the barrel aging adds a nice richness to the proceedings, even if I felt the barrel character was a little too light. Still, while not quite KBS level, it’s on the same playing field, and you won’t have to jump through many hoops to get ahold of this stuff. B+
  • Bonus Review: Boxcar Brewing Nitro Stout – After beer club, we walked over to Boxcar Brewing’s new brewpub and had some stuff there. I grabbed this Nitro stout, a Dry Irish Stout, that might be my favorite thing I’ve ever had from Boxcar. Now that the brewpub is open, I’m hoping for good things from them… they’re the brewery most local to me, but I’ve always been somewhat underwhelmed by their brews. This was really nice though. B

And there you have it. A fantastic selection this time around, and I am, of course, already looking forward to the next iteration…

Modern Times Monsters’ Park

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In these days of bourbon barrel beer obsessed drinkers (like, uh, me), it’s easy to forget that a regular, plain old imperial stout can be absolutely fantastic. Sand Diego’s Modern Times recently put out this imperial stout (along with, yes, some barrel aged versions which, alas, I did not mange to procure) that instantly made me think of that Simpson’s Monster Island joke. To paraphrase and match to this beer:

Lisa: “He said it was just a name!”

Man: “What he meant is that Monsters’ park is actually a meadow.”

Well there you have it. Just a meadow, but great nonetheless:

Modern Times Monster Park

Modern Times Monsters’ Park – Pours deep and dark, almost black, with a finger of light brown head. Smells fantastic, rich dark malts, a bit of roast, chocolate, caramelized sugar, maybe even a hint of liquorice. Taste follows the nose, lots of rich caramel up front, some chocolate peeks through in the middle, maybe even some dark, caramelized fruit, finishing with a bit of charred roastiness and enough bitterness to keep any sweetness at bay. Mouthfeel is rich, full bodied, moderate carbonation, a hint of boozy heat. Certainly a sipper. Overall, this is definitely my kind of imperial stout, quite tasty. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 1/30/15.

As mentioned above, there are multiple barrel aged versions of this very beer, including a bourbon, rye, and other various expressions of whiskey. Alas, I have not managed to procure those beers…

Modern Times Fortunate Islands

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The lament of the modern beer nerd: There are way too many new and exciting breweries popping up all over the country. I know, it’s a good problem to have, and I only have one liver, so it’d probably not be wise to sample every brewery, even if I could easily acquire them all. But I’m not blind, and I do find myself intrigued by a lot of breweries that I’ll probably never sample. And that’s ok, but I certainly won’t turn down the opportunity, should it present itself.

Enter San Diego’s Modern Times. I first heard about them from Michael Tonsmeire (aka The Mad Fermentationist), a prolific homebrewer of some repute who was hired by Modern Times as a “Consultant”. From reading Tonsmeire’s blog, I’ll wager that this was a pretty safe move on Modern Times’ part. Then the brewery opened last year, and The Beer Rover gave it solid marks. And finally, a can of Fortunate Islands, a hoppy American wheat ale (made with Citra and Amarillo hops), shows up at my doorstep. What’s a guy to do?

Modern Times Fortunate Islands

Modern Times Fortunate Islands – Pours a bright golden yellow color with a couple fingers of head that leaves lacing as I drink. Smell of citrusy tropical fruits, pineapple, and dank, resinous pine. Taste favors the dank, resininous pine side of things, with the citrus taking a back seat, some wheat in the middle and a big floral note emerging in the slightly bitter finish. Mouthfeel is crisp, light, a little thin, and refreshing, definitely a quaffable pint. In fact, I downed half of the pint whilst writing the first draft of these notes. Overall, rock solid hoppy wheat beer here, great summer/lawnmower beer, but it’s comporting itself just fine on this brisk fall evening… would probably be a reliable go-to if it was actually available around here! B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a Willibecher glass on 10/3/14.

A good first impression, and when I look at their website, they have links to their recipes too. And not those lame recipes that don’t specify the proportions, they have the full recipes. On the can, they even say “You should totally tinker with the recipe for this beer. It’s on our website.” This is most endearing. I shall endeavor to secure more Modern Times beers. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get this David Bowie “Modern Love” song out of my head.