Beachcomb-over
Finback Brewery - Glendale

Canned 3/21/18
Pours a nice frothy 1 finger head that fades semi slowly decent lacing, clear pilsner blond color

Nose brings loads of passion fruit tart, little lime zest, mild dank tropical passion fruit, touch of pineapple juice, little malt maybe wheat,

Taste quite tart, almost sour acidic, tons of passion fruit again, tart juicy passion fruit, a touch of lime zest and mild salty, little pineapple juice but not much, mild creamy wheat and malt with little bready doughy especially cracker on the finish, dry flemmy finish, little acidity, lingering passion fruit

Mouth is med to light bod, decent but milder carb, little acidity and flemmy

Overall not bad, def delivers passion fruit but less so everything else, no alcohol though and decent for a spring/summer beer

 

 

 

 

 

This is a collaborative sour beer created alongside Hoof Hearted Brewing. It utilizes pineapple, passion fruit, lime and lactose and seems 100% certified to be both refreshing and complex given all those ingredients. I have actually had another sour beer that claimed to invoke the whole "Tiki" shtick before, and that was Off Color's Spots which they consider a "Tiki Weisse." Granted, the ABV on that is just about half of this beer's stated strength, so perhaps they don't quite have the same aim, but the fact remains that they are both American sours with tropical fruit added. Anyway, on to this one!

Pours a somewhat nondescript golden light-amber color with a thin and long-lasting head of white foam which forms a ring around the surface in my glass. No lace to speak of and no surface obscurity at all, but I still like the rather stark simplicity here. It's mostly opaque and quite vibrant if held up to light, so I have no real issue with the way this presents in my glass.

The nose has a lot of sweaty passion fruit, bringing out a lot of tropical aspects right off the bat. I consider myself somewhat of a passion fruit sour connoisseur, having had most commercially-available goses, Berliners and other miscellaneous sours utilizing that fruit, and I'd say it is much more redolent of that than the pineapple or lime. That being said, there is a bit of tangy citrus going on here. I think the souring bacteria (whatever is used here; not 100% sure what organisms are doing the souring or what the process is; oh well) is clouding out some of the more subtle pineapple elements that could be brought to the fore. I'm actually reminded a lot of Idle Hands' newest addition to their Kill Your Idles kettle sour series, which was a tropical version that utilized mango, guava and passion fruit alongside lactose, in a somewhat similar vein to this beer.

The flavor profile here gives me a lot more sour pineapple candy crossed with some tangy lemon-lime and a twist of passion fruit toward the mid-palate. The lactose is rather unobtrusive here, just the same as I felt it was with the latest KYI I mentioned; it provides a little bit of apparent sweetness/levity toward the finish, which would likely be dry and astringent given the sourness. One thing I'm not sure about here is why this is almost 8% ABV. There's no need for that; it doesn't taste like it, and sours like this should never really be above 6% at their highest... I feel like the idea of a tropically-fruity sour beer should be quenching and sessionable to at least some extent. 7.8% is far too high, making me feel like this accidentally fermented a bit stronger than intended. Of course, I'm not speaking from a place of authority, but I can't see why these two talented breweries would intentionally make such a strong beer in this case. That said, it's really flavorful, puckeringly-sour and quite well-rendered at the end of the day.

This seems to be just about medium bodied, beginning with an intense hit of sourness and wheat-laden malt that gives it a crisp yet mouth-coating overall feel before some strong fruitiness takes over in the mid-palate and leads the tongue into a complex and engaging finish. The lactose here is mostly used as a fairly finely-tuned balancing aspect, and it does well to soften the proceedings. I'm a fan of this despite its slight misgivings, and would gladly drink it again if given the opportunity. Solid stuff, for sure!