Sublimated
Finback Brewery - Glendale

Traded for this a while ago and finally got around to it this weekend. As smooth as it was, the taste and flavor profile of this beer was pretty underwhelming. It wasn't bad and although it went down easily, there wasn't much of anything that was memorable about it as it didn't quite measure up to Finback's better and more popular offerings.

Not a bad pour to this as the beer was a hazy gold with a moderate amount of light sediment in it. Plenty of head and fair amount of lacing rounded things out, as there were a few rings of it from the middle of my pint glass on down. Tropical fruit, grass, and stone fruit sweetness were in the nose to a moderate extent with much more of the latter in the taste. Passion fruit, star fruit, honeydew, and a bit of dank melon rind rounded out the taste but none of these were strong or alluring enough to really draw me in. A bit of honey and amber in the mouthfeel gave this a good body and helped to offset the lack of a real identity, as the carbonation was just quite light as well.

Dated 8/23 on the bottom of the can with "KUNG FU GRIP" written below it, the amount of booze in here was high but it couldn't be detected on the palate as it was only felt once I finished this off. While not bad, this was smooth and easygoing and would have been better had it been a bit more aggressive. It worked for a mild day such as this but the basic, bready malt and light flavors had me asking for more in the end.

 

 

 

Featuring Mosaic hops and Columbus and Mosaic lupulin powder, this double dry hopped double IPA pours a light gold color with a faint haze to the body, and produced a couple of fingers of white fine which slimmed quickly into a flimsy cap with some laces arms trailing behind... Aromas citric and grassy, light and bright; followed by dry and pithy citric impressions, mildly sweet and mildly bitter, crisp and tangy; clean-finishing and easy-drinking...

Amazing! My tastebuds are spoiled and I may have to pour my remaining Trilliums down the toilet now. Thanks Finback.

another major highlight shipped out generously by my brother! i have really been enjoying all these east coast hoppy beers he sent, but this one is a standout. it says brewed with mosaic lupulin, something i have not seen on a label before, but i assume is like the hop hash or the dust some breweries are starting to promote, which i really think might be the way of the future. i was skeptical as heck at first of this no pellets or cones idea, but it makes a ton of sense for freshness and clarity of the hops, keeping all that vegetal matter out of the beer, and allowing just the aromatic and flavor compounds to sparkle. this has all the juicy glory of a classic double dry hopped beer, but the freshness here is glowing, weed-esque really in its dank freshness, like concentrated, more hoppy than hops almost. the mix of hops is amazing too on top of the freshness, i get the heavy grapefruit and pine of the columbus, but also exploding mosaic, fresh pineapple and orange essence, juicy for sure, alive almost, seems wet hopped to me almost, just gorgeous. no more hazy than it needs to be, really well refined for its size and assertiveness. amazing combination of hops, amazing ipa, and something that has me curious about more lupulin extract beers. finback has really blown me away lately, and this is one of their very best that i have had. a top ipa in the game right now!

 

16oz. can into a Surly teku.

Less cloudy than most of there beers. Nose is lemon, starfruit and pineapple. Subtle with a light tartness. Beer opens sweet. Hints of lychee, honeydew and other melons. A light bitterness in the middle that is more boozy than anything. Coarse in the finish and aftertaste. Almost acrid with a alcoholic sweetness. Body is light to moderate with ample carbonation. Prickly in the mouth and goes down coarse and aggressive.

I'm not sure what happened here but this isn't a great beer. Too forward with flavors that are sharper than they should be.

Blueberry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz. can dated 8/23/17

Pours hazy foggy gold with a creamy frothy white foam head. Smells super dank and oniony with some tropical fruit notes of pineapple, mango, guava, passionfruit, some lychee, orange citrus, grapefruit, lemon rind, dark berry, caramelized bready malt, with dank resinous floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like pineapple, mango, guava, passionfruit, lychee, grapefruit, orange citrus, lemon peel, dark berries, caramelized bready malt, with dank bitter spicy resinous floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels medium bodied, creamy and slick with moderate carbonation. Overall a nice double dry hopped DIPA.