Forgive me, but I’m going to rush the tasting notes for this beer: Soft in the mouth. Core of zesty grapefruit peel surrounded by some gentler fruits. Familiar hop varieties (Cashmere, Citra, El Dorado, Mosaic) done well.
OK, now I have some other stuff to say, and you all have to listen. That’s my understanding of how this works: one of the perks of having a regular writing job.
This beer’s followed three patterns that I’m going to comment on.
One: It follows a trend I’ve noticed over the last 12 months or so of hazy IPAs incorporating some more bitterness, which I am totally here for.
I get that there’s a market for big, lush, sweet, tropical, juicy fruity hazies – there’s a good reason breweries have been pumping out these beers for years now. Obviously, plenty of people like them, so they sell, otherwise breweries wouldn’t have kept making this extravagantly hopped style for so long. But, for me, you know what makes big, lush, sweet, tropical, juicy fruity hazies absolutely thrive? Balancing bitterness. And it’s in this beer. And I like it.
Two: Modus’ lifestyle pics for this beer show people drinking it straight from the can. And this isn’t the first time Modus have shown people drinking a hazy straight from the can; they did the same recently when they released their new core Hazy IPA.
Popular wisdom in craft beer circles is that you should always pour your beer out into a glass in order to get the full aromatic, and therefore taste, experience. And that surely this is most true for hazies, one of the most aromatic styles of beer.
Now, I’m fairly sure Modus’ reason is to democratise the enjoyment of hazies; that is, you don’t have conduct an expert analysis or be in a certain situation with the correct glassware to enjoy this beer. Just drink it and enjoy. Straight from the can is fine. Which is a nice corrective to the depth of beer nerdery and gatekeeping we in the craft beer community can stoop to sometimes.
And since John Kimmich – creator of arguably the first ever and best ever hazy IPA – espouses the benefits of drinking Heady Topper straight from the can, maybe Modus are onto something.
Three: This is the second time today I’ve been forced to think about people drinking beer by the water while I’m indoors tapping away at a keyboard. Come on, guys. Stop making a beer writer jealous.
Mick Wüst
* That’s my understanding of how this works.
Published November 15, 2024 2024-11-15 00:00:00
