Six Year
Finback Brewery - Glendale

 

 

Pours a very hazy straw color - looks like it is nitro! Great citrusy / dank aroma; mango, pineapple. Flavor is semi sweet orange juice, loads of pineapple, Some lemon, light earthiness and dankness. Hops feel scratchy on the back of my throat. Carbonation adds to a creamy texture. Thick and syrupy. Overall a very enjoyable triple ipa, would drink again.

6/22/20
16 oz can dated 5/7/20
4.5 rating

Can from the brewery in Queens during the 2020 Covid pause. Pours a hazy golden orange with fluffy white head, smell is macerated overripe whole orange and orange blossom/honeydew melon with hints of peppery dankness and mashed potatoes, taste sweet orange flesh, overripe melon, and honey, hints of citrusy candy orange peel, finishes with mild pithy bitterness, mouth feel is full bodied and creamy, like oatmeal. An IPA meal, thick and citrusy, like biting straight into an orange, peel and all.

16oz. can into a Brookly Brewery snifter.

Looks like orange juice with pulp. Nose is citrus, pineapple, mango and starfruit. A robust juiciness. Beer opens clementine, overripe pineapple, mango, starfruit and booze in the back. Ethanol throughout. Super sweet. Cane sugar sweetness at the finish with a punch of tropical fruit. Body is moderate with ample carbonation. Rich and robust on the palate and goes down boozy, astringent with a lingering aftertaste.

This one's just a little too much for me. I think I'll ever need my IPAs to be 10%+. The ethanol and booziness covers the not-so-delicate flavors this one is trying to hammer home.

 

 

 

I was pretty sure I'd written a review for one of the previous Finback anniversary TIPAs on this site, but I can't find one for the life of me and this is probably quite different in terms of hop bill anyway (I don't remember any of the previous anni beers utilizing Cryo Centennial, for instance), so here goes I guess.

This beer pours an opaque pale orange color with an oat/wheat-driven haze to it that is absolutely relentless. These guys have produced their fair share of turbid beers (mostly IPAs) in the past, but this seems poised to overthrow the competition. With absolutely zero light penetration, and boasting a nice collar of foam to it, Six Year is a good looking brew in my glass as long as you can stand the sight of a hyper-doughy looking pale ale. This means business, I can tell that much already.

Alright, so time to wax poetic about the hop bill here. I have to say, it doesn't seem to feature as many heavy-hitters as some past anni beers by Finback, but the combination of Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, Meridian, Azacca, and the aforementioned Cryo Centennial are altogether an inspiring combo. My first sniff of the beer comes out punching with soft, musky melon notes with a core of zesty tangerine, soft spice, and resinous pine. A little bit of dankness/greenness here with elements of chive and light sniffs of tropical fruit. I'm not a huge Azacca fan, but this seems to mostly feature Simcoe and Meridian with flashes of Mosaic by my initial sensory overview, so that's fine.

The flavor profile is heavy on citrus oils upfront, almost overpowering in its dedication to lemon and orange aspects mingling with light mint, pine, and papaya on the mid-palate. This is suuuper hot, though, with a high-octane ABV hit that boasts the full strength of its 10.1% ABV fairly apparently. Chalky grains reminding mostly of oats (go figure) and a light hit of melon toward the finish... hmm, I'm kind of torn here. The feel seems super vivacious and bright, while the hops are laid on so thick it's tough to think of this as anything but a vehicle for them, and the combination doesn't gel super-well so I'm left a little disappointed. I think either Five or Four Year was a much better beer, but like I mentioned, I don't seem to have reviews for those. Ah well. Pick it up to check it out, maybe you'll be a bigger fan than I am, but this isn't something I'd get again even though it's definitely an interesting drink.

Poured from a can (5/7) into a Finback glass (stemless wine glass, sort of)

L: creamy yellow orange with a large off-white head. Fades after a couple minutes, decent lacing especially considering abv

S: dank, overripe tropical fruit immediately followed by a hint of abv heat. Mango, grapefruit, orange, papaya, possibly come coconut. A really thick, inviting aroma

T: very creamy, rich overripe fruit. Get the citrus at first, with the tropical mango/papaya notes not far behind. Some pleasant abv heat toward the end but restrained, medium finish with a bit of bitterness but no hop burn or other issues I fear from recently canned TIPAs

F: incredibly smooth, medium carbonation, bit acidic/drying, medium body

O: a very good TIPA, delivering the rich overripe flavors I expected. Steers clear of being an overly sweet NEIPA, excited to see how it tastes after a couple weeks may revisit. Happy 6th Finback!