Beer of the Week: Today’s Forecast

From the Beer Writer: Most of the world hears the word “mosaic” and it conjures visions of artistic works created using multi-colored tiles. Beer fans feel sorry for those people, because when they hear Mosaic, they salivate as their minds and taste buds recall IPAs lent intense citrus and tropical fruit flavors by the hop of the same name. Its myriad aromatic and flavor qualities have cemented Mosaic’s place in the New-World hop hall of fame, along with Citra, Nelson Sauvin and Strata (it’s not too early for enshrinement). Arguably, no varietal is better suited for single-hop creations, but the real magic happens when skilled brewers find great complimentary hops to accompany this standout. That’s just what happened with this week’s featured beer, Today’s Forecast from Pizza Port Brewing. An autumn seasonal from renowned IPA specialists, it presents a sharp fruitiness up front, the layers of which peel away to reveal mango, papaya, orange and a little lemon before shifting to grapefruit pithiness with a touch of toasted bread in the bone-dry finish. It’s a work of art made possible by Mosaic and the rest of an ensemble cast its creators took time assembling.

From the Brewer: “Today’s Forecast is our latest seasonal IPA brewed to showcase Mosaic hops. We chose some pretty amazing and very tropical Mosaic from selection in 2019, and wanted to build the beer around that. We also wanted to brew with some lesser-known, newer hop varieties, so we did a little hop-blending session with the brew crew. Mosaic and Cashmere was a combo that jumped out, so we leaned heavily into that and rounded it out with some Azacca and El Dorado. Those four hops give a ton of passion fruit and tropical fruit with a dank herb quality. This being a fall release, we wanted a malt bill that had a little more flavor than our typical West Coast IPAs. We added 20% Simpsons Best Pale Ale Malt, which is a British base malt that has a rich yet clean barley flavor. The Simpsons Best, combined with a more modern kettle-hopping rate, makes this a really well-balanced IPA. Today’s Forecast will be available everywhere we sell beer throughout the fall season. Cheers!”—Sean Farrell, Director of Brewery Operations, Pizza Port Brewing