Finch's Threadless IPA

Brewed By: Finch's Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois 

Purchased: 16oz CAN from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: American IPA, 6.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

For whatever reason, Finch's Beer Company reminds me of that creepy dude in a brown jacket at the bar. You know, that one guy...you talk to him, he offers to buy you a drink, and then five minutes later he is trying to get you to go look at his apartment so he can rape you. 

Maybe I get that vibe because Finch's seems more about advertising and trying to get you to tour their brewery. And rape you. Well, the last part I can't confirm. But if you have been raped or propositioned by anyone working for Finch's or while on a brewery tour, please email me at HopHead69@hotmail.com. Anyway, about Finch's:

The Finch's Beer Company is a brewery based out of Chicago, Illinois. These guys really want you to take their brewery tour. Finch's was founded back in 2009 by Benjamin Finch, Paul Finch, and Richard Grant. And that's about all the information you are going to glean off their crappy website. For a brewery about advertising, their website is a bit bare bones. 

The Threadless IPA is a "gold medal winner" at the 2013 World Expo of Beer. This is apparently a collaboration with Threadless? Threadless is apparently a t-shirt company. I apparently do not care. (look at my lack of care). Admire it. Awww yeah. 

Finch's Threadless IPA

This pours out into a hazy orange body, kicking up a finger or two of caramel-twinged head. The head is sticky and hop-fueled, and you would have no doubt that this is some sort of hoppy beer from looking at the appearance alone. In bright light, this takes on a pretty radiant orange color, with nice streams of carbonation ascending in the form of tiny bubbles. There's nice lacing here. 

The aroma here is deep, deep orange...getting into dank, far-reaching levels of orange. There's caramel orange, caramel sugars, and some orange marmalade. But the dankness...this is like a Phish concert, with hippy moms breastfeeding their future dropout criminal kids while listening to shitty jam rock. The dankness contributes some resinous notes, with pine resin and violin rosin on the nose. The dank resinous-rosin notes veer into guava and funky tropical fruit for a moment, but this is mostly a dank orange affair with sweet caramel backings. The aroma suggests that this is going to be sugary and caramel-forward, so let's see.

I'm actually getting a lot of pine in the taste. Orange, and orange-pine. This definitely has some caramel backings, and this is surprisingly easy-going for 6.0%. The beer rep guy at Binny's told me this is 90 IBUs, and I dunno. I find that hard to believe, plus I was trying to avoid being propositioned. This is pretty standard, with big notes of pine, orange, and caramel. The pine is bitter, and flirts with some dankness and resin. The back end is actually drying out pretty hard, so maybe this is in the 90 I-B-U range. I don't even know anymore, my palate has been used and abused like the people that go on the Finch's brewery tour. 

IPAs can get away with having some of that caramel baggage, and this one does. You'd probably never guess this is 6.0%, but this is by no means a crisp and quenching affair. This has a deceptively light medium-bodied mouthfeel, with dense caramel that is made fatter thanks to impressive bitterness that shows up in the back. I actually like this beer's balance, with tons of bitter hops fighting with tons of caramel sugars. The hops ultimately win, and for some reason the battle ground stays relatively clean and medium-bodied. This has average palate depth for the style, and pretty much nothing in terms of complexity. Up front: sugary caramels, orange, pine; the mids roll into more pine, with some dank resin and bitter pine/resin; the back end trails with bitter hops that beat out lingering caramel sugars. This is slightly turbulent, but ultimately finishes medium-bodied. Dry finish.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This is par the course, and not exactly standout or memorable in any significant way. It's by no means a bad beer...it's a well made IPA. But I wouldn't seek this out on the regular. There are just too many substantially more interesting IPAs out there. Half Acre's Heyoka! blows this beer away, and Revolution's Anti-Hero seems to be a tad more complex. I will say that all these beers are different. The Heyoka! is definitely a hop-forward beer, and the Revolution dials up some really nice tea-like notes. The Finch's Threadless IPA is all about the caramel malts and orange notes...it's substantial, and would pair well with buffalo wings, pizza, and chipotle sauces. I guess from a functional standpoint, the Threadless IPA is unique enough that it stands out for certain pairings. But ultimately, it's pretty much a caramel-forward IPA. Something like the Torpedo is more layered and complex. 

Random Thought: I've passed up on Finch's beer for a long time now...not because I hold any personal grudges, but simply because there is too much good beer in Chicago. It's a first world problem, for sure. But if Finch's wants to survive, I would strongly advise them to focus on making good beer. At the end of the day, most craft beer drinkers could not care less about advertising.