Finch's Beer - What say you?

They definitely keg their beers. Everything at GTMW was kegged.

Sad I missed the two barrel aged treatments of Secret Stache up there.

That along with missing Red Eye Brewing were probably my biggest "Whoops!" of the day.

 

My favorite Finch was the Curry IPA made available at Day of the Living Ales earlier this year. I don't know if this one made any other appearances. I love Indian cuisine and the Curry IPA satisfied that interest.

I think their barleywine was also one of their better offerings. As Duff27 states, it is not an "XXXTREME" example of the style, but still enjoyable. In agreement with Etan, I can say the same about Toasted.

I've had all of their regulars and now would only seek out their seasonals and one-offs.

 

Now that is good to know, thanks for the heads-up.

With so much up at GTMW, Finch's was not on my list of places to stop by. Now I'll be looking out for some of their stuff on Saturday in Oak Park.

 

I have to share my opinion on two thoughts that have been expressed in this thread- the idea that Finch's doesn't get a lot of love because their beers aren't extreme and the idea that Threadless IPA is a decent beer.

First off- if you read around these forums enough, you'll see tons of love going towards very sessionable, well-made beers. For a local example, just look at Metropolitan. Everyone I talk to LOVES Metropolitan, and anytime a discussion comes about about the best made U.S. lagers, all us Chicagoans can't wait to chime and and say, "Check out Metropolitan!" This is because Metro beers are really well crafted and of extremely high quality. Take something like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as another example. It has been around for a long time, is pretty tame by today's craft beer standards, but beer lovers still geek out over it. Personally, I do get excited over really great double IPAs and imperial stouts, but I get equally excited about a well-made pilsner. I feel like a lot of beer lovers are the same way.

Which leads me to my second point... Finch's beers just aren't very good. I'm actually surprised with how many comments I have seen about their IPA being decent while their other beers aren't very good. Their IPA may be the most disappointing beer I have tried in a long time. What are all the things we love about a good IPA? They can range from very dry to fairly malty, but we love the complex, multi-layered hop flavors and range of citrusy and piney aromas. Threadless IPA (to me) is really one-dimensional. It is just straight up bitter and gross. Seriously, pour it into a glass and compare it to Two Hearted... or Founders Centennial... or Union Jack. If you need a can comparison, compare it to SN Torpedo... or Modus Hoperandi. I have a hard time believing that any beer lover with a good amount of IPA drinking experience would say that Threadless even comes close to any of those beers.

I write all this not to say that I have anything against Finch's or hope that they fail... but just because when I have tried their beers I have been perplexed. If I were a brewer there, I would be embarrassed and want to improve the product. It's weird to me that they are just riding with it and marketing the heck out of it as it is. But I guess the fact that they are selling alright just shows that most beer consumers don't pay quite the level of attention to the product that BA members do. Personally, I hope that Finch's makes improvements and I'll have another local option to enjoy. Until then, I'm putting all my support towards breweries like Half Acre, Revolution, Pipeworks, Metropolitan, and anyone else who comes around and puts out a well-crafted, much loved for product. There are so many new breweries opening... and if they're doing it right, they're gonna get my love!

 

Me stating decent was a very relative term to their other offerings. I should have said that I thought it was a decent "take" on an IPA. Definitely not typical of the style. It had an interesting apricot/tangerine taste from what I recall, that I enjoyed. But besides that, it didn't do much for me.

 

Word. I hope I didn't offend you or anyone with my rant. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who legitimately like Finch's IPA or just think it is decent. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I was just getting at that- for me- it was very disappointing. And I wanted to like it. Heck, I want to like EVERY new local beer I taste.

 

no offense taken at all. I've actually wanted to start a thread about Finch's for a while to gauge other's opinions. I think many people here are on the same page.

 

And this thread reminds me of.... this (for what it's worth):
Is Finch's abandoning cans?

 

... and we're done here.

 

Most of it is what I would call decent.

 

This is the only one that I've had -



I was shocked by it. I thought it was delicious, and one of the better vanilla stouts that I've ever had. I wish I had access to it regularly. I would consider getting a case of it.

 

Thats what I was going to say. Secret Stache is somewhat of a one hit wonder for this brewery. For 5 dollars a bomber, I stocked up and I am glad I did. Its still drinking really well.

 

Tried golden wing last night it was pretty bad

 

Good than I can try is some time!

 

Got one bottle left. I can save it for you. went through my "secret stache" really quick. No pun intended.

 

i think the quotation marks imply that a pun was indeed intended.

 

To continue the discussion, it seems like Secret Stache is one of the few respected beers they've made, but remember that it was a one-off that they haven't made since and don't seem to care much about reproducing. I talked to a rep a few months ago about it and he said that they were thinking about making another tweaked batch but there was nothing solidified. It's been a while and I doubt we'll be seeing a new batch out.

As to the idea that marketing is more important than quality to Finch's, I agree (from what I've seen). Threadless IPA was essentially marketed on the collaboration with the T-shirt site. How about smoothing out the quality problems before getting out there with hip collaborations? The label and can design of their beers in general has been "high quality," but the beer inside disappointing.

 

i heard their sales were picking up in Chicago due to Half Acre not being able to keep up with demand....

 

I agree with this 100% and I hear there may be a barell aged version available in the near future and I for one am looking forward to that offering.

 

Nay