I had my doubts on the brand new beer festival. Having been disappointed by many a shindig, my expectations were low.
But I was happily proven wrong.
The inaugural Craft Beer Helsinki exceeded expectations on most fronts, and proved that perennial SOPP has a lot of room for improvement: the small glasses were excellent in maximizing the tastings, the food was far better than the norm, and the cashless payments worked out surprisingly well.
There was twenty-ish breweries present. A lot of them domestic, but plenty of international guests as well.
Without further ado, a short but sweet review on the lot:
- Radbrew’s Ranger was a basic pale ale, good to get things started, but by no means anything special.
- The second Radbrew was something of a disappointment as well: Plumbbob, the first Fat IPA sighted never reached the promised heights of sweetness.
- Area 21 Saison is the first beer I’ve tasted from Olarin Panimo, a pleasantly wheaty saison is a fine debut indeed (their stand had run out of a couple of more interesting choices).
- Videogame-inspired Ocarina of Lime was a real disappointment – there was no hops or maltiness to offset the pungent acidity.
- Mila brewery had changed their name to a more generic Vallilan Panimo, but the change hadn’t affected the wares as Vallila Amber turned out to be a balanced take on amber lager.
- Founders’ Mango Magnifico raised quite a bit of doubts, I’ve never been much of a mango man, and chili is hard to get right in beer. But I was again proven wrong – this is indeed a magnificent beer that starts off sweet and easy and quickly crescendoes into palate-melting habanero attack in the aftertaste.
- Bourbon Barrel-Aged Arrogant Bastard didn’t agree with me: too spiky and haunted by an odd cassis-y sidetaste, I was glad it was only a deciliter.
- Sori’s Öökull was likely a victim of circumstances, after a couple of hefty beers the balanced pale ale just left a very shallow impression. Bonus points for forcing a belgian brewery to utilize umlauts in the name.
- Founders Nitro Pale Ale was probably the first non-canned-irish-stout nitrogen-infused beer. The mouthfeel was a bit thicker, but that’s impossible to attribute on the added gas alone.
- Tanker’s Animal Instict was the second wild IPA in a week. And like Bruxellensis Lupus the combination of wild yeast and american hops proved a winner.
- Lehe’s Kazbek was a more traditional IPA, but nonetheless packed with enough fruit to be likeable.
- Ogar Polski is the first grätzer/grodziskie I’ve sampled. Some smoke, some wheat, with chalky minerals thrown in the taste.
- Letra A was the only pure wheat beer tasted. Refreshing and light – devoid of the traditional estery character.
- The last beer of the evening was Hiisi’s Black Bretty, the second wild IPA of the day. The smooth black IPA takes an unexpected twist from the belgian yeast.
Best in show: Mango Magnifico (sadly not available generally, should have had a second glass).
Pluses: Sampled pulled oats and was moderately impressed (nice texture, taste masked by the hefty BBQ-sauce).
Minuses: Nothing special on Brewdog’s stand.
FI: Oikein mainiot festarit. Odotukset korkealle ensi kesän tilaisuuteen.
brewnardo 