BQExC
Finback Brewery - Glendale

 

 

 

 

375ml capped bottle into a Surly teku. Shared with schen9303.

Nose is chocolate, espresso beans, lactose and roasted malt. Real creamy and smooth with an accented coffee aroma. Nice. Flavor is of creamy hop bitterness, chocolate, fudge, coffee and lactose. More coffee and roast towards the end with a chocolate and molasses sweetness at the finish. Quite good. Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. A bit thin on the palate and a touch prickly going down. Accented finish.

The flavor and aroma are on point but this beer needs a better body. A touch too thin for my taste.

Picked this up a while ago at the first Finback release that I made it out to (which also included the Oscillation 004) - I know it's not Stout season and though this packed a bit of a punch, it was enjoyable while just falling short of being too heavy! Because the alcohol was quite recessed, the flavors shone through nicely and the understated nature of this made it relatively easy to quaff given how strong this was!

The pour to this was pretty much what I expected - dark brown with just a hint of light seeping in around the edges, a copious head that was the shade and lightness of a good chocolate mousse, and a good amount of lacing left behind after my first few sips. Lots of chocolate in the nose with a mild burnt hint underneath that, though this certainly wasn't like a Porter. The espresso came out in the taste along with hints of roasted malt, bitter chocolate, milk chocolate, and just a trace of alcohol. Medium-bodied, somewhat slick, and not too carbonated, this was about as smooth as an American Double/Imperial Stout could get without being weak or categorized incorrectly. The slightly creamy aftertaste complemented the bitter chocolate tone to make this a great choice for a dessert beer.

While strong, this never smelled, tasted, or felt it and had I not traded the other bottles that I bought, I could have cracked open another. Not the best Stout out there but easily one of the more accessible ones as this reminded me of a lighter version of the Brooklyn Black Chocolate. A solid beer from Finback that shows how far along they've come in the short time that they've been having releases!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EBF sample pour. Pours quite dark. Nose is a well made stout that is heavy on the coffee. Espresso-levels of coffee intensity. Flavor is actually slightly less coffee-forward. The other aspects of the beer come out here more. Its more generally roasty and chocolatey. Slightly bitter and burnt. Medium bodied for the style. Not exactly super-viscous. I found this beer to be pretty delicious and one I'd rather sit down in pint form than sample form.