Fine Balance

[S. St. Jeb]

A colleague and beer buddy brought me 4 beers today that someone had gifted him. Two were from Fine Balance, which was a surprise since I do not recall ever hearing about them, and that doesn't happen often.

I checked it out, and discovered they've been around since 2020 November. Good for them, that was a tough time to open a brewery. They are in Kingston.

I searched this forum and see they have been mentioned a couple of times as participants at beer events.

I have their "Light Hazy Pale Ale" and "Tiptoe IPA", the latter of which isn't listed on their website.

Anyone else familiar with this brewery?

[Craig]

That's a question for @Masterplan

[sofakingdrunk]

I’m not familiar personally, but I have a friend who has family in Kingston. He has had their stuff a number of times and he tells me that their IPAs are nearing barncat/badlands/3moon level

[Cass]

I have a work colleague who moved to Kingston during the pandemic and he's often spoken fondly of Fine Balance when we have Zoom catch-up beers. I'm not sure if I've had them before, but maybe they've shown up as a guest tap at Beertown so may have tried then.

[Masterplan]

Hey all,

Just seeing this now. Fine Balance is good at what they do, hazy IPA's and fruity sours. They opened during covid, and are located in the East end not far from the 401. The owner is a good guy and personally did local deliveries during the pandemic so I've met him a few times. Their brewery is in a newish commercial strip with a good size tap room.

They are definitely hanging with the right crowd too, doing collabs with Wood Brothers, All My Friends, Volo, etc.

For me they are a tiny step behind Badlands, but being local and decently priced they are definitely one of my go to's

[sofakingdrunk]

I managed to get my hands on a good number of their stuff recently. The IPAs I’ve had so far have all been very good, I find them particularly good at getting mileage out of the lower abv offerings and making them seem bigger than they are. Everything has been hazy in style but restrained in the sweetness for the most part. The barrel aged stout is quite nice, if a little thin…but decent barrel character going on. For me though, the standout of the bunch is “precipice” a NZ style Pilsner. Again, hazy and unfiltered but it’s got a great crisp cracker backbone and finishes with a decent bitterness. Gooseberries, canary melon and kiwi flavours coming through, as you’d expect with the NZ hops. I’d happily drink this regularly if I could