Spent an enjoyable late summer evening in Korkeasaari, the venerable zoo of Helsinki.
Unlike the neighboring Suomenlinna, there’s no brewery in Korkeasaari. Probably the goal is to keep the island as family-friendly as possible, and that precludes craft beer as well.
However, considering that Coco, the oldest resident, is an aging lady sloth, and the Los Angeles Zoo just announced sloth-curated beer, it would not be too much of a stretch to actually come up with a selection of animal-corresponding beer. The likes of spectacularly labeled Otter Gose, Poison Arrow Frog Sour and juniper-flavoured Bobcat Pils would probably rise above the news’ event horizon in the slow summer months, and the to-be-founded brewery would obviously be able to directly sell their wares all the way to the mighty Siberian Tiger Triple IPA clocking in just below the maximal 12 volts.
Oops, very late with this, forgot the longest tradition when resurrecting the blog.
The pole position goes to a very seasonally inappropriate beer: Coolhead’s Peanut Butter Caramel Crisp, a dark and sweet imperial stout better suited for November. Nonetheless, it beat the summery competition, all the perky pilses and invigorating IPAs clean out of contention. And happily enough it looks like being available in the Friday’s can sales in Tuusula.
Peanut Butter Caramel Crisp
The best non-domestic beer is FrauGruber’s Sunrise to Sunset, one of the invigoration IPAs, with a low ABV and a heady mix of fruitful hops.
FI: Synkänvärinen pähkinäsuklainen nesteytetty mutakakkuhan se heinäkuun palkinnon vei.
One of the many surprising things in Stockholm was the renaming of two classic Omnipollo beers: Leon is now Levon and Noa is Aon.
Noa / Aon logo
Found an explanation only for the latter, and it is unsurprisingly a legalistic one:
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: PLEASE DON’T DRINK IMPERIAL STOUT FOR EXTRA ENERGY. Being copied everyday but receiving “cease and desist letters” weekly from trademark lawyers demanding we change the name of our beers. This one is far fetched but @drinknoa thinks you might mistakably purchase a bottle of our 11% pecan mud cake imperial stout instead of their energy drink Noa Potions we are therefore changing the name of OMNIPOLLO®️ NOA PECAN MUD CAKE®️ to OMNIPOLLO®️ AON®️ PECAN MUD CAKE®️”
The grounds had been significantly expanded from last year, now the nearest hall was in full use, as only a fraction of the brewery stands were in the eponymous garden.
Craft Beer Garden Festival
The glasses (and portions) were pleasantly small, 10cl for the visiting breweries, 15cl for the domestics. The payments were easily dealt with using tokens, and no monetary transactions took place.
The beer selection was varied, with most of the stands offering between two and four taps. Concentrated on the favourite genres: IPAs and imperial stouts. Neither category disappointed, but neither featured absolute gems either. The best of the sample was Whiplash’s Let It Happen – a single-hopped DIPA that carried its very juicy load on a robustly multi-malted body.
Unfortunately Barrier Brewing, one of the American visitors, had experienced difficulties, as their kegs had exploded after transit. But there was easily enough replacements to the missed experiences.
FI: Onnistuneet puutarhakekkerit. Tänä vuonna paljon vähemmän omenoita Korjaamon puissa.
My pre-trip trial order at Systembolaget (done in the user-friendly website) pinged its readiness, and I walked down to PK-Huset’s shop to pick it up. The process was smooth, and easily conducted in english: announced my intention to a random employee who directed me to a very blatantly marked “order pickups”-location, had to flag down a second employee to get my three beers, but all in all this took less than two minutes and the result was tangible: three otherwise unavailable domestic imperial stouts in my paws.
SmĂĄ partier
So the trial was a rousing success, and I definitely look forward to trawling deep into the selection in the future.
The trawling is necessary, as the smĂĄ partier selection available in the shop was not that wide, but had nonetheless quite a few interesting offerings. Sadly most of the bombers were of the sour kind. Purchased the mopst prominent non-sour: a previously un-encountered Sierra Nevada brew. But the smaller wares included enough barley wines and imperial stouts to fill up the suitcase nicely.
All in all a very pleasant trip to cap off the summer vacation – easy flights, easy transport and easy hotel made this about stress-free as things can be.
FI: Oikein onnistunut lomanlopetusreissu Tukholmaan. Ja nyt on Systembolageting tilausvalikoimakin korkattu.
The second day in Stockholm was rather less beer-influenced than the first.
Took a long shopping detour in Gamla Stan to the almighty Science Fiction Bokhandeln. The selection is awesome, this is how spontaneous purchases are achieved, not by creating massive piles of top sellers as the domestic book stores seem to be playing the game.
Pizza menu
After a massive breakfast served by the Radisson guys, had no lunch, only dinner at Omnipollo’s Hatt. The pizza selection was great (ranging from truly conventional to “casus belli for Italians”), and the beer list as well. On account of the smallish bar being crowded we sat at the bar. Which was a great place to sit, since it allowed us to chat with the bartender during slower times – we learned of the existence of the “secret third drawer” where unadvertised beers were available. Sampled a few, ranging from a chili-packed imperial stout to the new Empress of the Rubæus Throne (i.e. the greatest raspberry beer known to man) via liquified rocky road ice cream.
Had spotted from the Systembolaget website that the Folkungagatan store had new Fjäderholmarnas Bryggeri brews available. Quite liked the initial batch back in 2017, and picked up the recent arrivals (imperial stout and barley wine).
Fotografiska logo
The walk from Södermalm to Fotografiska museet on Slussen was much longer than presumed (big intervening sheer cliffs tend to have that effect), but the museum is worth a visit. The exhibitions ranged from seriously disturbing to characteristic celebrity snapshots. The upstaits restaurant was booked solid for the rest of the week, but the cafeteria offered a splendid view on the bay below. Had no inclination to try the new waste-bread beer, mineral water hit the spot far more sweetly.
Stockholm bay at sunset
FI: Omnipollon Hattu tarjosi taas oivaa pizzaa, ja parasta hedelmäolutta toistaiseksi.
Spent three days in no longer so summery Stockholm last week.
Flew in on Wednesday morning, and departed early Friday afternoon. Moved the lodgings slightly – from Radisson Viking to Waterfront. Still conveniently close to Arlanda Express, but a definitely less weary hotel.
Perch @ Lisa Elmqvist
As per tradition, the first port of call was Lisa Elmqvist at Ă–stermalmhallen. The seafood was plain exquisite, and the beer menu same as every year – short, but not at all without merit. St Erik’s IPA was an appropriately fruity accompaniment to a magnificent plate of perch fillets. Took a slight detour at the nearest Systembolaget, and picked up a couple of mainly domestic cans. Ad Libris offered plenty of reasonably priced recent books (including a stealthily published new Jo Nesbø novel), and thus muled a stack of hardbacks back to the hotel.
Nya Carnegiebrygget building
Tanks at Nya Carnegie
After acquiring access to the room at the hotel there was not much time before the next leg: a tour at the Nya Carnegiebryggeriet. The trip across the bay on Emelie was pleasantly breezy and quick. The tour was in Swedish, and I must have missed quite a few of the inside jokes – but understood most of the presentation. No surprises (apart from the fact that Carnegie Porter is one of the oldest surviving trademarks in Sweden), brewing is brewing – no matter what the scale is, and at fifteenish tanks the brewery was definitely on the craft side of things. The attached tasting consisted of four very different beers. Kellerbier was immature, straight off a chilling tank. FrIPA and Passion Glow showcased the brewery’s range. The final beer was an unnamed and commercially unlaunched barley wine – easily the best in show: awash in brown sugar, plums and malts, this was a very worthy beer indeed.
Omnipollos FloraElsa and slushie cap
A detour on the way back to the hotel took us to Omnipollo’s popup reastaurant in HumlegĂĄrden. Omnipollos Flora served beer, soft ice cream and food. Opted for a good-sized octopus chunk and lobster rolls for a late dinner. The eight taps served mainly Omnipollo’s own, and quite a few of them were new: vanilla french toast version of Aon was expectedly sweet and dark, but Elsa (accompanied with a slushied cap) was a very fine example of a neither too sour, nor too sweet fruit beer.
FI: Tukholman ensimmäisen päivän anti koostui merenelävistä, kävelystä ja shoppailusta.
brewnardo 