Our long-awaited cans of Finch’s beers finally arrived thanks to one of many friends that often serve as beer runners for us.  Sadly, one of our four Goldens blew a seam during its reasonably short voyage from Chicago to Kalamazoo, so we really owe Mike (and the trunk of his car) more than the usual gratitude for corralling this one for the CraftCans team.

From the Finch's Beer Co. site:

"Finch's Blonde Ale is an easy drinking and approachable American craft beer. It has a moderately sweet malty aroma and is deep gold in color. We like to think of this particular one as more of a 'Dirty Blonde.' When you first pour it, a soft lacey foam clings to the glass as malty aromas fill your nose and linger to the final sip. Upon finish, this blonde turns heads with a smooth finish and a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste. Enjoy this medium-bodied craft beer anytime of year."

Here we go...

Pour - Hazy gold color with profuse sediment floating about.  Being neither “clear” nor “brilliant” as prescribed by published style guidelines, we must conclude our beer suffers from chill haze. A thick off white head sits on top and invites us to drink up.

Aroma - This beer triggers my brain to think American Pale Wheat Ale. Some sour wheat notes, lemon juice, stale saltine crackers and corn.   

Taste - Rather tart, and almost sour. Subtle malt flavor with a lemony astringent bitter finish after each sip. Otherwise this beer offers not a whole lot more flavor to evaluate. The finish is parching and is reminiscent of a pale lager and club soda.   

Overall - We sampled all of our surviving cans to make sure we were giving this beer a fair review and found no difference between the three. I’ll offer that the can colors and design are very nice and the empty looks good on my shelf.

Note - We're going to go ahead and say that we enjoyed the Cut Throat Pale Ale more than the Golden Wing. We look forward to Finch's Threadless IPA which should be released in cans in the near future.