Finch's Golden Wing Blonde Ale

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 Blonde Ale, 5.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

I'm still not sold on Finch's, but they are local so there's that. And I'm not if anything but a nice guy. Har. 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 Golden Wing Blonde Ale comes in a can, and while I wish it was unassuming, I am getting rapey vibes from the bird artwork on the can. Yeesh. 

Finch's Golden Wing Blonde Ale

For a blonde, this one pours out into a hazy, honey-yellow body, kicking up a finger and a half of wispy, clingy, white head. The head retention is fantastic, leaving webs of lacing as it drops off. In bright light, the beer is almost yellow-gold, with orange tones, and a glazed honey appearance. There's nice carbonation, but I attribute a lot of that to the teku.

The aroma is malty and sweet, and surprisingly so. I'm also getting some faded hops...that could be on me or the age of the can...with some tea, herbal hops, hemp, pine, pine sap, and aged American Barleywine notes. It's actually a really nice, melded aroma, if you're into that sort of thing. And I am. I love those piney and forest-like hops. It reminds me of crushed leaves and camping trips.

The taste mirrors the nose...you get bready and honey malts as the backbone with big iced tea and aged American Barleywine hops on the forefront. I'm getting pine, crushed leaves, forest, pine sap, maple syrup, hemp, tobacco, and resin. This is fairly simple, and has nice bitterness. I enjoy the hop profile here, I just wonder if it is past the expiration date. 

This is medium-bodied, well-carbonated, crisp, and clean. As it warms up a bit, a drying, cracker-like character emerges. Palate depth is good for the style, but this is simple in terms of complexity. More or less, you get iced tea and pine-like hops up front; that rolls into some of the bread and honey body, with more iced tea and crushed leaves; the back end lingers with forest-like hops, and you get some drying cracker notes on the back end. It's hard to say if this would be more vibrant fresh, since it has a similar character to the Threadless IPA. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This isn't bad, it isn't good...it actually has a nice resin character that sort of reminds me of Sixpoint's Resin. Only that beer was way better. You could pair this with a leafy burger, chicken, or even some heavier meats...maybe a gyro even. This has some malt heft, and it fills out nicely for a 5.0% beer. I will have to revisit this one, but I just can't see myself picking this up regularly. 

Random Thought: I should stop busting Finch's balls...they seem alright.