Finer Days
Finback Brewery - Glendale

 

 

A: The beer is hazy whitish pale yellow in color. It poured with a short white head that quickly died down and left a thin ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of grapefruit, herbal and piney hops are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, except that the herbal hops are a bit stronger and there are also notes of spicy hops. There is a light to moderate amount of bitterness. As the beer begins to warm up, the spiciness and herbal flavors mellow out and there are additional notes of stone fruit.
M: It feels medium-bodied and very crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: I found this IPA to be interesting as the dynamics of the taste changed significantly as the beer began to warm up.

Serving type: can

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woo, another new Finback IPA. I mentioned this on NBS (sorry NBW... I don't do well with change, you see) yesterday, but it feels like it's been a while since I've been able to review some new Finback beers; for a while there it was like a new one came out every few days and they'd get dropped off at my local store in groups of three or four. Recently, they've been kinda quiet, though. Perhaps, they're building up their energy or only releasing really, really high-quality stuff. Could Finer Days be one of those, I wonder? This is A 7% IPA dry-hopped with Mosaic, Citra, and Rakau, so... this could potentially be really freakin' good, yeah.

The pour is a bit deeper than expected. A hazy, nigh-opaque orange colored beer is topped off with a consistent, appreciable head of white foam that leans a bit more toward the khaki end of the spectrum than a lot of similar-looking IPA's heads do, and it leaves behind some decent lace and solid legs, to be sure. In other words, this is essentially a good-looking Finback IPA without much to bias it more-positively or more-negatively. It simply is, and that's good.

The nose is dominated by Mosaic, in my opinion... so much intense dankness and prominent earthy, berry-like fruitiness meshing with some citrus undertones. I pick up green onion, kiwi, guava, papaya, and nectarine mostly, followed by some mango and a hint of grassy spice hanging around in there. Citra and Rakau are a great combo, as they both demonstrate immense, complex tropical fruit on their own, and when combined, seem to really push a lot of intriguing elements. I think Mosaic is actually doing some damage here, though, to be honest; it just seems to be a party-crasher with all of its unstable weirdness flexing in places it doesn't quite belong.

My first sip is intensely punishing, in a way that I'm not 100% sure I find appealing. Jesus, they really did dose this with a lot of Mosaic, eh? Super chive-y, earthy, dank, and berry-forward with only slight room for other stuff to happen. Guava, papaya, and pineapple cream cake with some undercurrents of bitter orange, yuzu, and tangelo. This is super-duper dank in a way that makes me feel oddly uncomfortable, though. It crowds out some of the fun Rakau-driven nuances and really harms drinkability, honestly. I still think this is a pretty good beer, but it's not one of Finback's best IPAs in recent memory. Just has too much going on and doesn't seem to want to settle down and focus on anything specific, plus the feel is alternating between heavy and crisp in a way that seems unusual for them. Not highly recommended, but might be worth a drink if you're a weirdo that wants to get hit with an incognito Mosaic bomb. Shrug... not really my thing, but some people are odd.

Can from Vinyl Beer on the UES NYC. Pours a hazy light yellow with a finger of bubbly white head that dissipates, smell is musty mango, peach, and cantaloupe, also getting hints of garlic/green onion/ sour cream onion/ dank mashed potatoes, cotton candy and orange juice popsicle, taste is papaya, cantaloupe, sugary orange juice concentrate, hints of honey and orange blossom, maybe a pinch of sour cream and onion/ dank mashed potatos, finishes with orange zest that lingers, feel is medium to full bodied and creamy, mildly prickly on the finish. A fleshy melon and dank borderline savory citrus treat!