A refreshing wheat beer with a tidal wave of hops
I caught myself referring to Modern Times’ Fortunate Islands as “really sessionable” the other day. It felt a little ridiculous: Of course a wheat beer should be easydrinking.
My first tastes of “wheat beers” were Bavarian hefeweizens and Belgian witbiers, perfect for crushing on a sultry summer day, which is something I still associate with the “wheat beer.”
That was, of course, before “wheat IPA” became a thing, and brewers such as Stone and Mikkeller began marrying the smoothness of wheat malts with truckloads of hops. The flavors got bigger, but so did the amount of alcohol in each serving.
Modern Times’ Fortunate Islands, on the other hand, manages to capture both the easy-drinking body of a wheat beer and the tropical hops that are all the rage in the IPA world while keeping its alcohol by volume down to a mere 5 percent. A year-round offering from the San Diego brewery, Fortunate Islands has a lovely golden color and a solid white head, but the body bursts with tangerine, pineapple and orange. It’s a thirst-quenching beer you’ll want within reach all summer long.
If you like hoppy wheat beers, try these:
3 Floyds Gumballhead: “Boatloads of amarillo hops” go into the Indiana brewer’s signature wheat ale, providing a rush of citrus flavor.
Union Craft Brewing Steady Eddie: This tribute to one of the Baltimore Orioles’ greatest players boasts lemon and fruity flavors. It’s as smooth as Eddie Murray’s home-run swing, despite being 7 percent alcohol by volume.