Review: Ska Brewing Modus Hoperandi

Brewery:  Ska Brewing

Locale:  Durango, CO

Craft Circa:  1995

Style:  American IPA

ABV:  6.8%

IBUs:  65

Notables:  Website indicates this is also available in bottle, but I have only seen Ska in can form.

Label:  I love it.  Love the play on modus operandi, love Pinstripe the villain, and the story behind their Legion of Ska.   



Ska Brewing website.

Overall:   I thought I was pretty certain a while back that I had this brew at a bar, late in the evening, and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, disregarding it quickly.  Now looking back after trying it with a clean palate, I am figuring I must have been hammered.  I was going into this with low expectations and this beer simply put me in my place. 

I really enjoyed the brew.  It has a unique trait compared to other IPAs in that it doesn’t kick you off your stool like some hopped up brews can do to you; but instead, it coats the palate, and wears on you slowly like an anaconda preparing dinner.  There is less carbonation than just about any other IPA I can recall, and maybe that is why it came off so poorly mixing it with other IPAs while out and about. 

Modus operandi per wiki is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as “method of operation”, detailing someone’s habits or method of working.  In essence, one’s M.O.   Appropriate given that IPA appears to be one of Ska’s M.O.  It’s a quality brew, and the more you savor it, the more you want to take down.  Quite smooth, some pine, nice dose of citrus, it’s a great rapport. 

Have to steal this from the Ska Brewing website, because I like the analogy:  “A mix of citrus and pine that will remind you of the time you went on a vision quest with Native American cousin and woke up in a pine-grove full of grapefruit trees.”  Throw in Jim Morrison and you got yourself one hell of a dream sequence.

Hard to imagine this quality brew came from a can, and even more impressive is that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Cans are not my M.O. but glad to see Ska provided some hope for the IPAs behind aluminum walls out there. 

Acquisition:  6 pack canned - $9

~gY