North East Beer Review

A trip to Poland is on the cards for today’s beer review and this is a new brewery to me with Funky Fluid. Seleção is a West Coast IPA which is part of Funky Fluid’s Final Eight series. Having been to Poland last year I must say I don’t remember seeing much of Funky Fluid instead a focus appeared to be on Pinta and Nepo. So during my trip out for the Durham Miners Gala I decided to pick up a can. So what did I think? During the course of this review I will cover the history of Funky Fluid and Seleção, the pour, the taste and aroma and finally my verdict. Cheers

Founded by beer enthusiasts

Funky Fluid was founded in 2018 in Warsaw, Poland. The founders are beer enthusiasts who are called Michał Langier, Karol Mizielski and Grzegorz Korcz, the brewery built its reputation by producing bold, modern beers inspired by the latest trends in the international craft beer scene. Initially, Funky Fluid were operating as a contract brewery having focused on quality of their brews over size. They done this by collaborating with established breweries to perfect their recipes. In its founding year it already gained international attention and was named as one of the best new breweries in 2019 by RateBeer. Today, Funky Fluid is known for its hop-forward IPAs, heavily fruited sour beers and rich imperial stouts, exporting its beers worldwide. This has helped forge Funky Fluid into one of the countries most respected craft brewers.

Funky Fluid Seleção is part of the Polish brewers Final Eight series, which is football-themed beer showcasing the world’s greatest national football teams. The Portugal edition of the Final Eight showcases the famous Portuguese ‘Seleção’ which is used to primarily refer to the Portugal national football team. Seleção is a West Coast IPA which carries an ABV of 6% and is brewed to carry a vibrant citrus, tropical fruit and resinous pine aromas, backed by a firm bitterness and a crisp, dry finish. This done by the hop formation of Rakau, Cascade, Mosaic and Motueka.

A Clean and bright pour

Seleção West Coast IPA pours a bright yellow to golden colour which has excellent clarity. A frothy tight white head forms which left a persistent cap on the top of the drink. A ring of lacing persists down to the glass to accompany the moderate carbonation. Overall, it’s a clean, inviting pour that hints at the crisp, hop-forward experience to come.

A classic west coast pour

Aroma

The aroma opens with vibrant notes of grapefruit, orange zest and lime, followed by layers of tropical fruit including mango and passion fruit. Resinous pine and subtle herbal hops provide a classic West Coast IPA character, while a light biscuit and cracker malt backbone adds balance without overshadowing the hops. The nose is fresh, clean and inviting, with no noticeable sweetness.

Taste

The first sip of Seleção delivers a citrus forward flavour with notes of grapefruit, orange and lemon. This is followed by tropical notes of mango, pineapple and stone fruit. Mid Palate, delivers a resinous pine and a touch of dank hop character build through the middle of the palate, leading to a firm but restrained bitterness that lingers into the finish. The malt backbone is light and has hints of biscuit and toasted bread. The finish is crisp and dry with a slight resinous bitterness lingering afterwards. Overall, I felt this was ok, the fruity notes added a juicy and refreshing edge but I felt the resinous nature was too restrained for me.

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Time for my verdict

Overall, I would be willing to try more from Funky Fluid with their cool can designs and interesting flavour combinations. However, I was left wanting a little more from this West Coast IPA. This did have a pleasant flavour and was certainly drinkable. I just felt this could the trademark resinous bite was somewhat restrained. For this reason I will give this a 3.5 out of 5. This was good but not blow your socks off.

Where did I purchase this beer?

I bought this beer from Head of Steam in Durham.

Thanks for reading my review. If you enjoyed my review you will love my review of another Polish craft brew called Lubrow Brewery Ginger Trip.