Maybe it’s because we grew up in a house where there was always some groovy Burt Bacharach hit on the record player, but we dig anything from the ’60s. So when we heard Modern Times will open “LeisureTown” taproom/brewery/playground in Anaheim later this year we dialed up the San Diego-based brewery asking for a “LeisureLodge” day of our own Thursday, July 13. It’s on, baby, yeah! Modern Times is a modern brewery, baby. Founded in the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego in 2013, a consistent and modern aesthetic permeates everything they do. From their beautifully designed cans to their sleek and minimalistic website, this 30 barrel production brewery and tasting room approaches things in a modern way, man. As groovy, lounge music swirls about our lodge you can enjoy a flight of Modern Times that we call Craft Beer Crosscut 7.13.17: A Flight of Modern Times.
Modern Times Fruitland (Passion Fruit & Guava) Gose
4.8% ABV, 17 IBU
Modern Times’ Fruitlands series sports the same sour, salty base beer. From there, the brewery adds fruit to give the gose a distinctive flavor. March through May, Apricot is available. October through January you’ll find sour cherry, and June through September the Passion Fruit/Guava version, which is pouring from our Western red cedar tap log. The passionfruit and guava gives it a tropical flavor that pairs nicely with the base beer, making the brew taste something more akin to a nice fruity punch than a beer, although certainly not as sweet. Passionfruit is definitely the star with this one, but you get a little bit of guava as well, especially on the nose.
Modern Times ICE
4.8% ABV, 30 IBU
It only took three years for Modern Times Beer to be one of the top craft breweries in San Diego. Newly released beers sold out so quickly that it started a membership club, setting aside cans for altar-worshipping devotees, and in 2015, it was named San Diego’s Best Brewery by West Coaster magazine’s reader’s poll. Peaks and Pints pours Modern Times’ first pilsner, ICE, from our western red cedar tap log. The brewery hopped it with Czech Saaz and Australian Summer hops, before lagering the hell out of it for a combination of crisp grass and straw with a bit of underlying grain on the nose and tongue. It’s a delicious Czech pilsner with a light body and a dry finish.
Modern Times Black House Nitro Stout With Coffee, Coconut & Cocoa
5.8% ABV, 40 IBU
Basically, this is Modern Times’ Black House — the brewery’s year-round oatmeal coffee stout, brewed with Ethiopian Hambela and Sumatran coffee — nitrogenated and packed to the gills with coconut and cocoa nibs. This special January 2017 is a decadent symphony of chocolate and coffee laced with luscious notes of coconut and a mouthfeel so luxurious it’s like drinking a velvet painting. The flavors are very well-balanced, smooth and harmonize perfectly together, with an excellent body and finish. Seriously, it’s crushable.
Modern Times Tetra City
9.2% ABV, 80 IBU
Tetra City? More like Hop City! Simcoe is one of the most intense American hops and is often used in conjunction with its brethren floral/spicy/citrus Cascade and citrus/tropical/peach Citra, sometimes to soften Simcoe’s potentially overwhelming dank pine and woody/earthiness character. Centennial, the hop world’s supporting role, adds bitterness. Simcoe, Citra, Cascade and Centennial make up the hop recipe for Modern Times Tetra City. I’s a lovely hop combination for tropical fruits and slightly dank with a piney bitterness aftertaste. Good stuff.
Modern Times Blazing World
6.8% ABV, 85 IBU
Much like the first Bear Flag —a cotton sheet, red paint, crude drawing of a grizzly bear and a lone red star — Modern Times Beer specializes in mashups, blending together different styles and flavors. Blazing World is an aggressively hoppy brew that shares characteristics with both imperial IPAs and amber ales. Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic and Simcoe hops give it a dank aroma packed with white grapes, mango and grapefruit peel, while the flavor blends burnt sugar, biscuits and grass.
