Sula
Modern Times Beer

 

 

 

This is just cranberry juice. It's weak, and it has hardly any beer flavor at all. But if you're on the beach, and you want something with relatively high ABV with no punch at all, this would be perfect.

 

Look: Ruby red with a finger of foamy pinkish head that quickly dissipates.

Smell: Mild raspberries, cherries, and a little sourness.

Taste: Surprisingly mild for the style. Same fruit as the nose, but limited sourness. Almost like a soft drink.

Mouthfeel: Slightly full body, high carbonation.

Overall: While many Berliner Weiss examples are almost annoyingly sour, I don’t think we need to stick to that.

 

Can poured into a Modern Times Beer glass

A: Pours vibrant burgundy with a frothy lilac pink head that settles to a light layer and leaves some nice lacing.

S: Pleasant lactic tartness, berries, faintly earthy, crackery malt, and a little wheat twang.

T: Pleasantly tart, plenty of raspberries and blackberries, hints of plum, lemon and green apple, faint earthy slightly herbal notes, crackery malt, a little wheat twang, and a bit of residual sweetness on the finish.

M: A bit on the fuller side of medium body, moderate carbonation.

O: I'm a sucker for berries so I'm enjoying this. My only gripe is that it doesn't feel like it fully dried out. Still quite nice though.

 

 

Tastes like unsweetened, slightly bitter juice. Doesn’t taste or look much like beer and isn’t very sour, which might have helped.

Reminds me of cough syrup. When I was in school, I’d buy a Berliner Weisse and drink it with raspberry syrup. That had the tang and the sour edge that I expect in this style. This beer lacks that - either the berry flavors mask it entirely or it’s just not there. Better when consumed warm.

 

Can from John's Marketplace.

A clear deep red with a light pink head that rapidly recedes to a ring leaving little lacing this looks solid. The nose opens with plenty of raspberry and blackberry character, fresh, fruity,juicy and fragrant. Along with this is a moderate grainy wheat note, mildly bread like. Mild spice note from the berries. The deep earthiness from black raspberries is missing. The palate opens pleasantly fruity with gobs of juicy raspberries and blackberries paired with a mildly lactic, frothy yogurt character. This feels particularly thin on the palate, and the finish is particularly disappointing in that it's like diluted buttermilk with a tasty summer berry compote before a particularly effervescent carbonation scrubs away a lot of flavor. Still, this is refreshing and quite enjoyable.

 

Beautiful clear pinkish red color. Nose is berries, sour candy, slight farm funk. Taste is very restrained in terms of sourness, mostly strawberry shortcake, blueberries. Mouthfeel is full enough for a gose, nice bubbles as well. Overall, wish this were a bit more tart but otherwise is solid.

 

This is a very curious representative of the style.

Firstly, I had no idea what I was opening when I cracked open a Sula - I'd figured it for an IPA. Obviously wrong. The color startled me a bit - it's a beautiful deep red/purple, and the smell strikes next with a heavily fruited nose.

Strangely, the mouth feel doesn't bear out - it's quite dissatisfyingly thin - though one would think all of that fruit would have tons of body. I also didn't get much salt. Still, it's sweet, light, fruity - all things that recommend it. The body is the only thing holding it back.