Stratos
Modern Times Beer

 

 

Cloudy yellow orange color. Mild lacing. Dank aroma. Tropical. Very mild dryness. Dank taste. Tropical as well. Medium bodied with mild to moderate carbonation.

 

 

 

On tap at the source. Very hazy/turbid acorn yellow color with a faint white head. Pungent aroma featuring papaya, tropical fruit, and dank resin. The taste followed nicely with lush fruit and earthy resin. A slight astringency on the finish. Soft bitterness and a soft feel. Slightly hot on the finish. All in all a nice DIPA

 

 

 

 

 

Straight pour from a 16oz can to a tall, narrow pint (Green Cheek nucleated flute). This has a canning date of August 12, 2018 printed in black ink on the underside of the can (“08/12/2018 003149”), making this beer 18 days old at the time of consumption. Refrigerated consistently.

Appearance (4.75): A good three and a half fingers of ecru foam rise easily off of the pour, capping a thoroughly hazy, deep orange body with dull tan undertones. The head dies down at a leisurely pace, leaving broken fragments of clumpy, ragged arcs of lacing, tied to the rocky, dissipating cap of foam by fat, delicate bubbles. I’m loving it! The second pour is beautiful, adding big, thick (THICC) character to the head. As it goes on, it leaves fairly solid collars on the backside of the glass where the beer’s settled for a minute or two. Outstanding.

Smell (4.5): Out of the glass, you’ve got clementine zest and orange creamsicle, yellow peach and cantaloupe, a touch of limeade, and the ghost of underripe pineapple. Underneath it all, a mélange of oatmeal, whole wheat biscuits, and a touch of light brown sugar mingle with a hint of vanilla (filling out that creamsicle feel). An undercurrent of mineral tones elicits more “trois” character than previously noted, especially with the bright citrus. Papaya really comes out as the beer opens up.

Taste (4.5): Here, the Trois comes out some more. Big, estery papaya and creamsicle storm the gates of Castle Palate (DM me if you think that was dumb; I will happily ignore it), flanked by lime zest and bright, herbaceous, grassy notes that make for a moderate, fleeting bitterness that leaves only a subtle minerality on the palate. Light, underripe mango and a soft vanilla note offer some deeper character notes on either end of the flavor spectrum that bulges out of this beer. Big, juicy tangelo takes shape in the center of that spectrum, and it’s very good. The grain bill is here, too, offering some malted oat and cream soda notes, but its boundaries are blurred with that creamsicle/mellow papaya feel, almost certainly thanks primarily to the Sacch Trois. No sign of booze whatsoever.

Mouthfeel (4.0): This is almost excessively creamy, with carbonation that errs, unfortunately (to me), on the side of subtlety. The body is full-feeling but no more than medium-weight, with a creamy feel that rests on almost-not-there carbonation that leaves only a soft tingle as it foams up before washing out. The hop oils, meanwhile, clean up just a bit, leaving a soft minerality that lingers for just a minute as the drink subsides.

Overall (4.25): This has so many great constituent pieces that it’s a bit surprising when the overall impression doesn’t blow me away. Like, don’t get me wrong—it’s excellent, and as The Veil would say, straight joose. But I’m struggling to find what exactly about it, if anything, stands up above the rest of the fairly saturated American (D)IPA crowd and says “Oh hello, did you know that with just one sip you’ll never forget me?” That said, it’s an automatic contender in that field. Highly recommended, and a great example of why I will continue to trust Modern Times when it comes to hazy and hops.

8/23/18 Fresh from the WC. Tropical fruit and subtle green onion on the nose. Papaya and apricot dominate the flavors in this brew. Thanks again, Stephen