Explorations in beer
In a not-too-surprising turn of events (since it happened once before), Speedway Stout has been banned from being sold in Finland.
With the argument that its name is too strongly connected to driving.
I missed out and have to eventually pick up a bottle in international waters.
FI: Byrokratia yllätti oluenystävän.
Domestically the top beer honours land on Bryggeri’s Rauchweizen, an unusual combination of wheat malts and smoke. Despite the unorthodox pairing, the result is worthwhile indeed, as both components work out well and do not crowd each other out. Haven’t been much of a Bryggeri-fanboy lately, but this beauty resurrects my faith somewhat.
FI: Epätasaisen huhtikuun annista huomiotaherättävin oli Brewdogin kausijulkaisu.
Haven’t yet tasted their products – the availability in Alko is highly localized as well as limited, and haven’t run into their beers in bars either.
FI: Toinen espoolaispanimo saapuu, tuotteet toistaiseksi kokeilematta.
This is the second favourited beer that is named after a local sea monster, Hiisi’s Iku-Turso being the first (and his appearance precedes the arrival of this blog).
Domestically the best beer is Sori’s Dark Humor Club – maltiest beer in a long time, with vanilla and cocoa nibs added to the mix for good measure. A full chocolate-y taste that demands to be warmed up in the hand just a bit more.
A spontaneously awarded Apple Cider Spider-award goes to Peder’s Aplagård’s Ren Äppelcider – an alcohol-free cider whose refreshing and true to the fruit taste puts the more mainstream offerings to shame. A chance pickup from a coffee shop downtown, will definitely look for more in the future.
FI: Virolainen merihirviö-DIPA määräsi maaliskuussa.
One of my pet projects is homebrewing.
Projects as in “not happening yet”.
Brewdog just released their full recipe book, so there’s plenty of instructions to experiment with. And experimentation is indeed needed, since the timing of hopping is absent from the book.
FI: Brewdogin reseptit (melkein kokonaisina) ovat nyt julkisia.
The periodic table lends itself to beer without a great stretch of imagination, beer styles do have mappings to multiple variables and the tabular form is put to good use in displaying them.
Obviously the number of boxes is woefully inadequate when compared against the current set of genres in the Beer Judge Certification Program‘s listing – there’s no quad listed, and double/imperial variants are mostly absent.
But it’s a start, nonetheless.
FI: Vähemmän hyödyllinen kuin alkuaineiden jaksollinen järjestelmä.
The domestic winner of February is also a dark beer – Ruosniemi’s Musta Lomittaja is a smoked saison, the top dog of this year’s Käsityöläisoluet-campaign.
FI: Mustaa helmikuuta.
The annual domestic craft beer showcasing campaign is upon us again.
This year the selection contained nineteen beers, and the variety amongst the entries is pleasantly wide.
The ratings are conveniently captured on a page.
Skipped one, had tasted one beforehand.
Two really good ones surfaced: Mufloni Imperial Stout and Musta Lomittaja. Sadly the former was quickly sold out, so wasn’t able to stock up.
FI: Monikulmainen oli käsityöläisolutkattaus tänä vuonna, parhaat palat tummimmalta sektorilta.
All in all the calendar was a rousing success, even if no five star beers were included. Only had tried a handful of beers beforehand, and in most cases a repeat performance was by no means an unpleasant one.
The highlights:
2016 calendar? Count me in, count me in.
FI: Toimi Mikkellerin joulukalenteri sen verran hyvin että uudestaan taas joulukuussa.
Of the domestic entries, the moving finger points at an IPA as well. I originally tasted Ruosniemi’s Diplomi-Insinööri at the last summer’s SOPP-festival and was quite thoroughy impressed by the doubled up big brother of the original. The beer excels in bottled form as well, and proves that the brewery can deal with higher ABV products as well.
FI: IPA ei pettänyt tässä kuussa, vaikkei talvisin olutgenre olekaan.
As the blog now has begun its second calendar year, it’s time to establish rules on how the montly “best beers” work out.
I try to promote new arrivals over things tried out before, and hence there shall be no repeats in the selections and new beers trump old favourites even if they do not manage to exceed the grade.
FI: Ennen kokeilemattomia oluita esiin vanhojen tuttujen kustannuksella (ellei nyt vallan heikko sato jollekin kuulle osu).
Finally updated the page with tasting notes. Not the greatest batch indeed, missing bold entrants from the new world as its gravest sin.
FI: Eipä ollut jouluolusto mitenkään suurten kehujen arvoinen, Bambergin savumörkö setin ykkönen.
Spent the first cold day of the winter on a day trip to Tallinn.
Took the morning ferry, whose trip towards the steaming sea (quickly freezing up at -16C) was on the surreal side.
Spent most of the day walking and shopping, stopping for a quick lunch at Clayhills in the Old Town. Sadly their house beers were probably the weakest links on the menu, and the food was heavy on the batter.
The last stop of the day was Uba ja Humal, a beer shop I’d heard plenty of good things about. The grapevine did not do justice to the place, the selection was wide and reasonably priced, the location out of the downtown hustle. In my best “kid in a candy store”-impression managed to buy no less than 38 beers, and take no pictures whatsoever. Concentrated on Estonian beers and picked up a couple of others along the side as well.
Tallink had expanded their range of beers in the ship’s tax free store to cover domestic craft breweries as well, picked up two sixpacks worth of them.
A cabin on the backswing was a very useful purchase, and fortunately the car hadn’t suffered in the freezing weather in the harbour either.
A very nice shop indeed, and one where I aim to return in the spring. It’ll be a while before this stash runs dry.
FI: Tallinnan olut-tarjonta yllätti talvimatkailijan.
Whoa, December just flew past on the wings of multiple unrelated crises on several fronts. I promise to be a more diligent blogger this year (and to complete the woefully inadequate christmas beer-campaign and julepakkekalender-content pages).
Despite a twenty four bottle exposure, the best beer of the month was not a Mikkeller one, but Metro Man by the Brazilian wing of Evil Twin. I picked the beer on recommendation in downtown’s Ølhus Köbenhavn, and wasn’t disappointed. Metro man approaches the traditionally robust imperial stout with a couple of extra arrows in its quiver (certainly didn’t expect the minerals/salt to be so prominent).
On the domestic side of things the top finisher is not a christmas beer, but an unexpected discovery in the depths of the cabinet. I though we’d finished Malmgård‘s Barley Wine already, but there was one more bottle. The intervening half a year had been kind to the beer, the flavours of dried fruits had become far more pronounced, but hadn’t overwhelmed the bitter-ish frame. Unfortunately the barley wine is no longer available, should definitely have picked up at least half a case from last year’s Käsityöläisolut-round in the spring.
FI: Musta oli valttia joulukuussakin.
brewnardo 