Modern Times City of the Sun IPA

Beer Name: City of the Sun
Brewery: Modern Times Beer (San Diego, CA)
ABV: 7.6%
How sold: 16 oz tallboy cans; on draft
Where bought: Craft Shack (San Diego, CA)  ****bought online
Price: $1.99 for 16 oz. tallboy can

Date Canned: November 23, 2016
Date Bought: December 6, 2016
Date Received: December 9, 2016
Date Opened: December 17, 2016
When brewed/released? Winter seasonal release, found December through February. Check out their beer release calendar here!
IBU: 85

What's on the Can: "City of the Sun is a ridiculously awesome IPA loaded with sticky, fruity new wave hops redolent of melon, lime, and citrus notes. The flavors is as complex as it is aggressive, featuring a stiff bitterness and a powerfully tropical hop character, backed by a dry, barely-there malt backbone. City of the Sun is named after a 17th century work of crackpot utopian fiction that describes a sun-worshipping theocracy featuring the common ownership of children, goods and partners, with a rigid system of (super hot) group mating."

What's on the Website: "City of the Sun™ is a big, fruity, pungent, sticky, delicious IPA. Mosaic & Motueka give it a very fruity hop character, with Simcoe providing enough of a piney backbone to prevent it from going off the deep end. The complex but unobtrusive malt character gives it a medium body and a platform for the saturated hop flavor. Here's the homebrew recipe." Read more here!

Where distributed: As of December 2016, Modern Times distributes their beer in California and Hawaii. See if Modern Times ships to your area!

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured clear golden into a pint glass. White head. 4.25/5

Smell (25%): A combination of piney, floral, and melon. Frankly, the hops used also make it smell like weed. Seriously. 3.75/5

Taste (40%): Floral, hop-piney-bitter from the start. More of the melon and citrus notes come in right after. I found it rather tasty. 4.25/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-bodied, some carbonation. Sticky, yet juicy. Slightly dry on the tongue. 4.25/5

Overall (20%): A great IPA. Chipping away at all the various seasonals and monthly offerings that Modern Times has to offer. While the aroma is one that people may either enjoy or despise, I found the melon-bitter flavor much more favorable. I'd pay a couple bucks to get another can, but Modern Times has a few other beers that I'd get first. 4/5

Final Weighted Rating: 4.075/5