Following the unexpectedly succesful debut, I had high hopes for this year’s Craft Beer Helsinki.
The list of breweries included Omnipollo, whose products I’ve been quite righteously impressed.
However, their reputation turned out to have preceded them, and by Saturday they had ran out of all of the more extreme beers (i.e. only the more traditional IPAs were available). That simplified matters quite a bit, juggling several 12+ ABV sweet imperial stouts was not my idea of an ideal warm July day.
This time (like on quite a few events on Rautatientori) Radbrew was the first brewery after the entrance, but this year bravely skipped the post-apocalyptic ales and opted for something different. The first surprise about Jakobsland Brewers was that it was not from Jakobstad, but from Santiago de Compostela. Their two pale ales, Dumbstruck and Na Terra Dos Xigantes, turned out unevenly chilled, with the former at a closer to freezing temperature taking the top spot. A good start for the shindig indeed.
The Omnipollo stand, which, despite the shortage of dessert stouts, had pretty much the only queues of the day was easily skipped and so were the Brewdog (very pedestrian offerings) and Founders (likewise, no Mango Magnifinique available). Stone/Arrogant had inequal naming policy: Who You Callin’ Wussie was a very good modern pils, and Imperial Brown Ale delivered a plummy bomb that was not very brown.
Fat Lizard’s stand was the first domestic one sampled. Raspy Mary was highly hopped and a lot drier than expected (with the raspberry never coming out of hiding), Mu Isamaa was hopinatored, and on the warm side, so I’ll refrain from rating until a second encounter.
Mu Isamaa was a collaboration with Tanker. And a far better collaboration than the second one tasted: Silly Juice (co-produced with the usually very reliable Hiisi) was simply terrible – a saison overrun by berries. Had to resort to emptying the glass to a bin halfway down, the sweet and sour saison rubbed me the wrong way from the very start. Fortunately the second Tanker beer, Skeleton Force was a far better one: a piney IPA was a welcome relief after the berrymonster.
Malmgård had also succumbed to the sirens of sourness, and their Proto #14 was a disappointing wit that had some extra berriness in the mix.
8-bit Brewing, on the other hand, successfully atoned for the pretty terrible Ocarina of Lime with Mogul IPA, a very well-done west coaster.
I had never previously encountered United Gypsies, and both beers sampled from them were good indications that repeat visits would be required: Snake Charmer was a DIPA bursting with hoppy goodness and while my notes on Pohjoisen Jättiläinen are curiously empty I do recall it having been a seasonally somewhat inappropriate but well-done barley wine.
Following a miscalculation of funds on the charge card ended up queuing for a hamburger without the ability to purchase it. Instead of recharging said card opted for a couple of quick fills and a burger that could be eaten sitting down.
Käbliku Pruulikoda was a previously unencountered brewery, but both their sampled products proved that this relationship needs to be kindled to a far bigger flame. El Mosaico was a fruity IPA served mightily cold and Penumbra, their imperial stout ended up being the best in show despite being a dark and hefty imperial stout instead of anything seasonally more appropriate.
The last beer of the day was a Mufloni CCCP, the kid brother of the almighty CCCCC. By no means bad, but lacks the heft of the original.
My high hopes were mostly fulfilled, the beer selection was good, organization smooth, and all in all this was, again, just the thing to kick off the summer holidays with.
Looking forward to a repeat performance in 2018!
FI: Onnistuneet kyöstit tälläkin kertaa, Omnipollon erikoisuuksien missaaminen harmitti hetken, mutta IPAisella terapialla olo parani oitis.
brewnardo 