Finnegans Irish Amber

Finnegans Inc.
Brewed at Summit Brewing Company
Style: Irish Ale
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

Light copper color with a fizzy diminsihed... "damn" the heads gone already, so I don’t know what color it was, but is wasn’t white, so something darker and not quite white head. Wait, if it is gone before I got a good look at it was it ever really ever there? To be honest, one of the more worthless heads I have ever encountered. It still gets a two because the liquid still looks good, but I’m thinking the body is going to suffer. Caramel and corn soup aromas. Not bad, but not clean and very amber like. Actually the palate is quite light and with a nearly not as much fizz as I would have expected. Flavors of lightly toasted grain, touch of dark corn syrup and floral hops. I don’t find much that is Irish in this one. Generic sweetness in the finish and linger.

Draft @ Kieran’s Irish Pub, Minneapolis: Copper, nice head and lacing. Clean, easy drinking beer, typical I guess. Balance with a touch of caramel. The finish is toasty, meh.

On tap at Kieran’s Irish Pub, Minneapolis, June 2007. It is indeed amber in colour with a thin white head. Touch of light cereal malt on the nose. Not much hop coming through. Much the same on the palate with the malt coming through a bit more strongly. Mouthfeel is clean and smooth with a sweetish undercurrent. A bit gassy for my taste. Might have picked up more had I left it to warm up a bit, but I was thirsty so it didn’t last long. I would guess that the potato thing is more of a gimmick than a significant element of the fermentables. Pretty uneventful stuff but there’s nothing offensive about it.

12 oz bottle, from Blue Max in Minneapolis. Very clear medium amber, lost of bubbling, smallish head. Typical malty-sweet amber ale nose with just a hint of smokiness and hops. Potatos? Not sure I get them. Predominantly sweet front, drying slightly hoppy and herbal finish...a bit thin, somewhat bland.

Bottled. The body is dark amber with a lightly off white head. The aroma has some apples and caramel. There is also some light citrus. The taste is bitter orange peels with some nice black pepper spice in the finish. There is also a little bit of root vegetable character. The body is highly carbonated. A little strange.

Picked up a bottle from Cellars LexLarp in St Paul, MN. What was this doing in the "import beer" section? Oh well... Pours a crisp clear reddish amber with a white head. Aroma of sweet bread and potatoes. Could use some sour cream! Flavor of a watered down ale with some earthy malt added. Finish is light and watery. Ah so so brew.

Bottled. Poured clear coppery-amber with a sticky cap of off-white head.. really nice lacing followed it down. The aroma picked up some really odd vegetal character (must’ve been the potatoes) upfront that never fully went away.. toasty pale malts and faint fruit supported light earthy and floral notes.. non-offensive, but non-good too. The flavor was along those same lines.. pale malts and honey at the core with dry herbal and vegetal hits around.. more honey and some sharp notes (carbonation and a little boozage) on the finish. Light-medium bodied with overly-assertive carbonation.. just not a good feel.

Brewed with potatoes huh? Okey dokey. It poured a small head of light brown colored finely sized mostly lasting bubbles that left behind a fair lacing. The boduy is a carbonated transparent light amber brown color and the aroma is mildly malted with a sweet dough like notes. The mouth feel is smooth and finishes with a slight tingle. It has a thin malt hop flavor with a hint of spiceyness.