Week 12 of 52
Finnegans Irish Amber
March 17th thru March 23rd
Brewer's Description
Finnegans Irish Amber is brewed with potatoes and three varieties of imported two-row malts. The beer is pale amber in color but light in body. A gentle hop bitterness compliments its complex malt character.
Finnegans is unique in that 100% of the profits are donated to The Finnegans Community Fund which disburses grants to help the working poor and at-risk youth throughout Minnesota.
Overall Rating based on 20 reviews
3.23 of 5 stars
Brewery Information
Contract Brewed at Summit Brewing Company
Saint Paul, Minnesota
www.finnegans.org
Interesting Fact
The Finnegans Community Fund has raised and donated over $50,000 back to community programs in Minnesota. read more
Photography
Courtesy of Erin Reichelt. View more on her flickr set.
Reviews | Learn More About the Brew52 Reviewers | Previous Beer | Next Beer
Ben R says just ‘whatever’
April 2nd, 2008
Finnegans is an OK beer, nothing more nothing less. Its interesting that they have summit brew it, and they use summit bottles. Its also cool that they give away their profits to charity.
I found these two interesting facts to be better than the beer itself 
Joe Lunchpail says I love potatoes!
April 1st, 2008
But I’d rather sip on a cup of mashed ones with gravy than to drink this crapola. Weak flavor, flat, and has a crummy aftertaste. It doesn’t help that my first experience with Finnegan’s is when I ordered it at a half-ass Irish pub (Kip’s in St. Louis Park) and caught major attitude from a 1/4-ass waitress. Maybe that’s the bad taste in my mouth, nope, wait, it IS the beer. Boo this beer. BOO! My rating is extremely generous at 1.5
erik says BbbbbbbbbbbbbbbBoring
April 1st, 2008
This beer is a bore. I can taste the potatoes, but I’m not into it. I’m not the biggest Summit fan, so I kind of expected to like it considering it is a completely different style then the rest of their beers. Boring.
slepow says kinda like an irish bud light
March 27th, 2008
Not bad. Does it taste like soap? Maybe that’s its cleanness. Like, its gimmick? I don’t know.
I’m totally reaching I think.
Kinda sudsy, Kinda Sour, Kinda good…
foureyedg says Finn-again?
March 24th, 2008
I usually end up having a cold Finnegans every year around this time. Once again I did and once again I realized there is reason why I only drink this beer once a year. Finnegans is an average beer with common characteristics found in your Miller/Busch realm.
CJ Camp says mighty battle
March 23rd, 2008
My grandmother’s maiden name was Sullivan. Her father dropped the O’ when he came to the US.
In ancient times, the O’Sullivans of Tipperary and the Finnegans of Galway were enemies. Something about a Finnegan goat that went missing. Despite the distance between them, the Finnegans blamed an O’Sullivan and it sparked a bloody feud that lasted well into the 16th century.
As a descendant of the O’Sullivans, I was eager to do battle with this beer called Finnegans. It made very little sense and I stopped midway through. No, wait. That was Finnegans Wake.
Upon further reflection, I take that back. I, of course, am talking about Ulysses. Yes, I did mighty battle with Ulysses and lost.
But I rather enjoyed the beer.
Mac says Bonus Points!!!
March 21st, 2008
Brewed with Potatoes sounds more interesting than the end result, at least to my taste buds, but this beer gets major bonus points for donating the profits to local charities! It also gets bonus points for the Finnegan Lasses (http://www.finnegans.org/sitepages/pid121.php)! Now I better go drink some more before my wife starts questioning me about those lasses!
manofwy says Back at it and top o’ the morning to you
March 21st, 2008
No, I didn’t take off for Lent although it seems like it. I finally got around to going to the liquor store and picked up something on the list. I bought the Finnegans and love it. I have had it before and when I want a beer that doesn’t hit you on the side of the head and say “you just drank a beer”, it is Finnegans. I has just enough taste to be called a beer but doesn’t leave a bad aftertaste. I also find it different enough to be interesting.
flashmcduff says beer with a hint of…
March 21st, 2008
French fried per-taters.
DeRushaJ says Charity = Good! Beer = Eh.
March 20th, 2008
So it’s super-cool that Finnegan’s gives all their profits to charity. I’d rather buy a Finnegan’s than a Miller Lite, for example, for that very reason. So if you’re looking for an eh beer, and you want to feel better about yourself, buy this beer.
This beer did nothing for me. I considered not finishing it, but then considered that I spent $1.49 on the bottle, so I reconsidered and drank it. The taste was a little too bitter.
Erica says Completely Average
March 20th, 2008
Kinda thin. Zero finish. If someone just handed me a pint glass, I would probably assume it’s something on par with what they serve the 19-year-old Americans in Canadian border cities. I might drink a second one if it appeared in front of me, but that would be my limit.
And while it’s not overly enjoyable in and of itself, I think it would go great with your standard pub fare. I’d gladly toss it back with some Shepherd’s Pie.
chrishansondc says A very good beer
March 20th, 2008
I tasted Finnegan’s for the first time about a year ago and liked it quite a bit then. I was equally as pleased with the beer this time around as well. It’s got a familiar Summit taste, which I really dig, but a bit more mellow. In my book they get four stars just for giving so much money to charity but luckily the beer is good as well.
Erin says Hmm…?
March 18th, 2008
I drank a few sips of this beer after having a few other beers. Thus, I can’t give a very comprehensive review. (As opposed to all of my other VERY comprehensive reviews…)
I don’t think I really liked this one that much. I had a few sips, gave the rest to Ben, and got another Miller Lite.
berrywise says The problem with the mix and match six pack
March 18th, 2008
Which can be purchased at Heritage Liquors by the way is that the beer sits in your fridge tempting you to drink it. This was the case with the Finnegans. I drank the beer and then forgot to write down any notes. I do remember it being pretty tasty, easy to drink, could have had three or six more no problem.
5igmund says Better in the Bottle
March 18th, 2008
It is rare when I would say the beer out of the bottle is better then beer on tap but this little beer is one of them. I originally had this in the bottle and though it had a nice taste and I had no problems drinking another. However, on tap the potato taste was much more prevalent, it was decent but not great. If I just had tried it out of the bottle I would have rated 4 stars.
Barrett says Summit Extra Bland
March 18th, 2008
One of the bars I frequent most has Finnegan’s on tap for cheap, and I usually order it there as a price/taste compromise. I’ve always found it to have the signature Summit taste, but with far less hoppiness and less flavor overall. Still, it’s a nice beer. I had no idea about the potatoes until I read some of the other reviews, and now as I’m sitting here writing this, sipping on a bottle of Finnegan’s, I can vaguely taste it and now I’m beginning to think it’s kind of gross. Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot.
Aaron says Potatoey
March 17th, 2008
A good amber. Not exactly my thing but I don’t mind having a couple of these. Leaves a bit of a sour taste on the tongue. An extra star if they’re donating 100% of their profits.
Josh says Finnegans: Irish for Beer
March 17th, 2008
I thought it was only fair to sample this week’s beer on St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not usually impressed with Irish themed food and drink. I don’t like corned beef and cabbage or Jameson whiskey or Killian’s Irish Red but Finnegans has broken that cycle.
Finnegans is a great session ale without an over indulgence of hops. I think Rett was right about the crisp, creamy taste and I like that the profits go to charity. The only bad part is that TurboTax doesn’t accept my charitable purchase of Finnegans as tax deductible. Must be a bug.
Rett says Happy St Patty’s Day!
March 17th, 2008
I had a lot of different “Irish” drinks over the weekend: Irish Eyes, Black and Tan’s, Black and Blues, and Finnegans. Finnegans was by far the best session drink. Our fridge was extra full so we left the 12 pack of Finnegans outside during the day and then just had it sitting on the kitchen table for the evening. I found Finnegans to be much tastier as it warmed up a bit. I use this term probably too often, but I thought it tasted creamy. I wish I could say that I tasted the potato, but really it was just a nice light and crisp amber beer. I’ll definitely be having another one today.
mattberan says Another balancing act, well done
March 10th, 2008
A very fulfilling beer, very well balanced, another one for people who hate hops and bitter. This does lack some flavor though, and comes at me as weak. The fore and mid palate are tasty but the back palate is crap, like dirty water. Could slam about 50 of these if necessary.BOO TWIST OFFS.