Macchiato
Finback Brewery - Glendale

 

16oz can poured into a small snifter.

A: Midnight black with an easy three fingers of fine-bubbled brown head. Retention is excellent. Thin rings of lacing.

S: Lots of espresso front and center. Woody and roasty. Brown sugar and burnt sugar. Sticky toffee pudding. Slight whiffs of green and earthy hops. Definite lactose.

T: Espresso, fudge, treacle, toffee. Straight-up caramel. And then comes the diabetes-inducing wave of sugary lactose that smothers the whole experience. Green, earthy, hops try to escape from behind all the sweetness. So does a nice smokey and roasty malt profile. No dice, though. Finishes with a lot more trailing sugar with whispers of smoke and roast.

M: Big and weighty in the mouth. Creamy and mildly chewy with a good silkiness. Coating in the mouth and sticky on the lips with residual sugar.

O: Look, I know a macchiato has steamed milk in it, but come on. Did that really need to be an excuse to turn this beer into a fucking milk sugar bomb? A macchiato is still an overall bitter experience. Why are brewers afraid to make a bitter beer these days? The sweetness here makes it impossible to enjoy all the nice malt and espresso roastiness. It makes it impossible to even drink more than a couple ounces. This is nothing like a macchiato. This is far more like a "Basic B*tch Starbucks Order with Ten Sugar Packets and Five Pumps of Caramel Syrup." My suggestion to Finback is that they use that name and re-brand this beer to better set consumer expectations. I give them full permission. Holy shit, where's the Tylenol?

 

Served from the can in a Lagunitas mason jar.

Pours a straight obsidian topped by a finger or so of sandy brown foam. The nose comprises coffee, roast, and a hint of toasted rye bread. The taste brings in more of the same, along with some chocolate syrup, light vanilla, and a vague sweetness that I can only imagine is the advertised caramel. The body is a stolid medium, with a light moderate carbonation, a fluid feel, and a somewhat dry finish. A very tasty stout, but one that could do well to cultivate some mass, so to speak.

 

 

 

Can from the brewery in Queens. Pours black with two fingers of dark tan rocky head that disappears, smell is earthy dark roast coffee, big bitter roast malt character, burnt caramel, molasses, hints of licorice, taste is fruity dark roast coffee, sweet roasted dark malt, burnt caramel, burnt toast, hints of vanilla and licorice, feel is full bodied, medium carbonation. Big roast character rounded out nicely by sweet dark/ caramel malts.

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a thin tan head that rapidly dissipated and completely faded away.
S: Light aromas of dark malts and burnt caramel are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell but has stronger flavors of caramel to complement the stout.
M: It feels medium-bodied and silky smooth on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: I thought that the taste of this stout had a nice balance between the flavors of dark malts and caramel. It's definitely an adult version of a macchiato.

Serving type: can

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canned 2021/01/08
Pours a dark brown frothy creamy 1+ finger head with med retention, soapy lacing, jet black color, decent legs

Nose big coffee, espresso and fresh roasted coffee, a bit nutty, little vanilla, some roasted malts, caramel, cocoa

Taste brings more roasted coffee, fresh coffee grounds, plenty of caramel, some vanilla and baking spice, dark chocolate, cocoa, mild roast and hint of smokey char, mild bitterness, fairly sweet, mild sticky sweet finish and touch of alcohol

Mouth is fuller bod, rich thick, creamy, med foamy carb, hint of warming alcohol

Overall pretty good

 

16oz. can into a wine glass.

Pours pitch black, rich, oily, and heavy. Near no head. Nose is dark chocolate, espresso, iced coffee, and roasted malt. Very aptly named with huge aromatics. Beer opens espresso, roasted malt, dark chocolate, and molasses. Caramel and brown sugar in the middle. More coffee, espresso, and dark chocolate in the finish. Dense. Pretty good if you're into very coffee forward imperial stouts. Body is full with low carbonation. Slick and oily on the palate with some minimal bubbles going down. The carbonation makes this one feel a bit thinner than it is. I'd like this a touch chewier.

I'm a huge sucker for a good coffee imperial stout and this one fits the bill. Nice.