Transmolecular
Modern Times Beer

 

Pours dark orange. Big white pillowy head. Hazy but not like deep haze. Can see thru a little around the edges.
Smell of oranges and sweet hops. Tate follows. Very low bitterness. Finishes sweet
Lacing sticks around the entire time.
Good beer not great

 

 

 

 

 

Straight pour from a 16oz can to a teku. This does not have a canning date on it, which is odd—must be due to a malfunctioning system on canning day. But from what I can gather, perusing Instagram, this was canned on or near January 6, 2019. That would make it 15 days old at the time of consumption.

Appearance (5.0): Three full fingers of active, fluffy foam rise off of the pour with glass, capping a beautifully hazy, deep honey-colored body with rich orange undertones. The body really does look like raw honey, actually, and it’s gorgeous. The head dies down slowly, leaving a thick, pock-marked system of fat, chunky legs and lacing rising from a cratered, moonscape surface. This is gorgeous.

Smell (4.25): A rich bouquet of orange blossom, sour peach rings, soft hits of lime zest, shadows of unoaked chardonnay, and crushed navel oranges come out of the glass, first with a wafting rush of hop volatiles and later with a more restrained, almost woody (but not oaky) companion. A soft earthiness underlies the hops, buoying their bombast with gentle multigrain boule and red fir bark. That earthiness very quietly pervades, making for an unsuspectingly well-integrated aroma.

Taste (4.5): Whoa, this plays a little bit of a shapeshifting trick, coming in soft and juicy at first with restrained fruit cake and candied orange zest, before sliding into a grainy, minerally, more vinous profile (somewhere between a really stony pinot grigio and unoaked chardonnay) accented by lime curd, yellow grapefruit flesh, and underripe white peach. It almost has a subtle, tannic character. Toward the back end, a bright grassiness rises out of that minerally, vinous personality, suggesting the brasher side of some sauvignon blancs. No sign of booze. Malt/grain is woven into that minerally, slightly earthy character well, showing very smooth shades of multigrain pain de campagne and a light touch of sourdough crust. I can’t get over the way the grain is definitely present and visible, but so organically tied to the hops and yeast components.

Mouthfeel (5.0): This is fairly juicy, with a soft, fruity feel that washes in with a medium-weight body and above-medium creaminess. The carbonation aids that feel, offering a fine bed of microbubbles that coats eagerly, tingling at first before transforming into velvet-smooth feel, followed by a slightly more effervescent tingle just before the beer washes out. There’s enough of a drying action that comes from the hop bitterness to wipe the slate clean, beckoning the next sip—even if the body and carbonation remain appropriate for the size of the beer and remain satisfying.

Overall (4.25): Cold IPA, eh? If this is one of the new ways that brewers are experimenting with the old lineage of American IPAs, I’m into it. If the kolsch yeast and cold fermentation bring anything to the table, it’s the earthy, minerally feel that is so well-integrated into everything else going on here. It really binds the hops and grain quite nicely. That said, it may not seem too different from your average northeastern-ish (D)IPA at first, given its fruit hop profile and juicy feel. But, if you sit with it and let it unfold, I think a little time and contemplation will reward you generously. And, if you just want a low-bitterness, hoppy 7% ABV crusher, this will also do the trick. Highly recommended.