Modus Pale Ale
Modus Brewing

375 ml can, best before 27/02/20. Poured into a tulip.
Look: Dark golden amber, about 1.5 cm of head that quickly subsides into a thin film over the top of the beer.
Smell: tropical fruit, touch of orangey citrus, little bit of pine and grassiness and some caramel in there too. Smells good. Taste: Similar to the smell, a touch more restrained, I think the pine comes through a bit more than on the nose, a little herbal towards the finish. A touch more bitter than I was expecting.
Feel: mouth-filling without being heavy, some tingly carbonation hits the front of the tongue and lightens it up a bit, good length of flavour.
Overall: Enjoyble beer, could happily have a six pack.

 

 

Modus Operandi Pale Ale? I can’t Adam and beli(Eve)* I’ve not reviewed this yet! I really must say this has probably been my most overlooked beer these past few years due to my love of The Former Tenant. But you know what? I just plain never got around to it, and after reviewing 73 American Pale Ales, I think it’s about time to correct the error of the past and give this one a crack. This is a Pale with pedigree too: taking out the 2015 Champion Australian Pale Ale at the Craft Beer Awards - that’s a pretty decent feather to have in your hat. My prediction: This will be grand.

Poured from a 500ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Cloudy amber/apricot-tinged body with a cream-coloured sea foam head that slowly disintegrates leaving spots of lace inside the glass. I’ve seen better, but I do also admire a good bottle-conditioned brew so points added there. 8/10.

S: Fruity, earthy and piney hops mix with a touch of the tropical (paw paw) and a solid caramel base - classic APA territory that I’ve traversed many times in my Pale Ale explorations. The main thing here is how solid the aroma is for a 5.2% ABV brew - this is more heady than other APAs, top stuff Modus! 8/10.

T: Hops are a bit restrained, and can confirms what I feared most - a brew date of: 16/12/16... that’s a good 8 months old, less than ideal for a hop-driven beer. Hop flavours as above: fruity, earthy and piney with a hint of paw paw. Malt is caramel based. Touch of dry cracker in the finish, and a herbal bitterness as well... this would have been a real tasty beer fresh - what a shame. 6/10.

M: Mouthfeel is pretty decent though - Medium bodied with a thin but dense carbonation - they really nailed it here! 9/10.

D: This is definitely one I’ll have to try again in future fresh - there’s a great deal going on that the middling 5.2% ABV belies, I reckon that 6/10 for flavour would be more of an 8 or 9 fresh, however there is a bitterness lingering in the aftertaste (I think that’s a hop fade characteristic in my experience). Overall my take home message, my TL DR; if you will, is give this beer a shot - it is decent APA despite my negative score which was due to the age on my can. It would be interesting to do a blind taste test of this, Pirate Life, and Kaiju Krush to see which one will win over my heart for best Aussie Pale... Little Creatures? Oh yeah, them too. 9/10.

Food match: Malaysian cuisine if a fresh one tastes as good as I reckon it might.

*Cheeky IT Crowd reference for you there - but which episode does Moss say it in?

Fresh out of can.
Very solid effort indeed. Lovely head on pour.
Lots of apricot, stonefruit, fruit salad and a hoppy finish. Finishes quite dry, and only downside is maybe a tad bitter for a Pale.

From a 500ml can, pours a hazey Amber colour with a finger of mostly white coloured head.
Aroma pine, pineapple, caramel, biscuit, citrus.
Taste pretty much follows the nose.