Explorations in beer
Porgu, the legendary craft beer bar behind the Old Town in Tallinn is no more, having closed its door for the last time at the end of October.
Porgu was the first Estonian craft beer bar I visited (in 2009 or 2011, I dimly recall), and will cherish the memories of a properly medieval cellar location and horizons-expanding selection.
FI: Porgu on poistunut keskuudestamme.
Had a very pleasant autumn holiday in Tallinn in late October.
Non-busy transits with the ferry (with a cabin to stay off the crowds on the way back).
Two nights at the traditional accommodations in Telegraaf in the old town.
Had the first dinner at Manna La Roosa, an impressively designed fusion-italian. Sadly, the beer list was short and thus no match for the food.
Had the first encounter with Koht – whose arrival instructions are nothing short of a legend:
Once you hit the puppet theatre, the bar is behind you in a courtyard.
It indeed was. And after some ten minutes waiting, there was a barmaid, too.
The beer selection was announced with printed out labels on a wall. By far the highlight of the visit, and one of the best beers of the whole year was Browar’s 7th Anniversary Imperial Stout. The attached beer shop was closed (on account of it being Wednesday), and attempts to peek through windows did not reveal much.
On the second day made it to the Koht-adjacent bottleshop. Very cramped, very packed. First Lost Abbey in ages! Multiple Silver series entries (though some of the rarest entries priced through the ceiling). Forgot to take photos.
Also was impressed by the beer selection in Kaubamaja food section – multiple Silver and Cellar series clocking in at less than ten euros.
Accidentally participated in the Collabfest in the Brewdog in Rotermanni. Somewhat eclectic selection, sampled a few without stumbling into disasters or jackpots.
Neighboring Taptap boasted a nice selection of domestics.
Had dinner at Pull. The best steak in years was – once again – accompanied by a very lackluster beer menu.
FI: Tallinna vakuutti olutosaamisellaan jälleen kerran, bonuskertoimena yllätys-collabfest Brewdogissa.
After a two year Covid-induced absence, the first trip abroad was the very much traditional annual summer visit to Stockholm.
A lot had stayed exactly the same, but some things had changed – no more large-scale urban renovation at Sergelstorg.
Pre-ordered some beers from Systembolaget, and was kind of disappointed at the selection available on the “tillfälligt sortiment” shelves – nowhere near the circus of taste I recalled from the earlier visits.
Ate at Lisa Elmqvist (best seafood risotto so far anywhere) and Blue Light Yokohama (massively good small Japanese dishes). Unfortunately neither locale offers a meaningful beer menu, especially the royal fishmonger’s selection is borderline ridiculous, considering the quality and ultra-local nature of the food.
Omnipollo’s Hatt provided a very welcome pizza & beer late evening meal. In the intervening years a new neighbour had sprung up: Stigberget’s Fot. The taproom is located very near the Slussen tunnelbana station and offers a wide selection of in-house beers, but more than half of their taps were guested.
Walked past Omnipollo Flora in Humlegård and dropped in to Mikkeller after the first round of shopping.
Spent the warmest day (uncomfortably reachingh past +30C) walking around Skansen – the original plan of visiting the UNESCO world heritage site on Drottningholm having been scuttled by too many other people having the same idea (and the ferry thus being sold out). Skansen’s outdoor museum / zoo fortunately was windy and shady enough for comfort, capped the visit with cold beers, accompanied by some very inquisitive chickens.
Had our very first “release date pickup” on the last day in Stockholm. Omnipollo released a bourbon barrel aged version of Noa, picked up a bottle from NK-huset’s shop before heading out to Arlanda for the flight home.
All in all a very pleasant visit. Imported a score of beers, only one bottle had leaked a little during transit (but that’s what plastic and duct-tape sealed Wineskins are for).
FI: Tukholmassa kuumaa ja mukavaa. Matkalaukullinen olutta tuomisina.
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.
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 små 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.
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).
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.
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.
As per tradition, the first port of call was Lisa Elmqvist at Östermalmhallen. 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.
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.
A detour on the way back to the hotel took us to Omnipollo’s popup reastaurant in Humlegården. 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.
The annual late July Stockholm trip is upon us again.
This time I’ve made preparations on two new fronts:
FI: Kohta kohti Tukholmaa.
Spent a lazy hot sunday in Fiskars, after an absence of a couple of years.
The village had changed a tad for the better – on the previous visit the number of vacant shops was noticeably higher.
Unfortunately the number of restaurants remains low. Opted for Kuparipannu for lunch, and the result was the same as the last time: the fishy appetizers were excellent, the main course far from it. And as an insult to injury, the dessert buffet ran out of pannacottas just before I went to claim mine.
Kuura Cider was also down in its selection. Their three mainliners were all at zero, but picked up a couple of ice ciders and limited editions, and got a look inside the factory – so definitely came out ahead.
Fiskarsin Panimo was chugging along as well. Hadn’t really paid much attention to them since their “we’re getting out of pale ales”-statement, but picked up a full set of the farmhouse series, as well as a bomber-sized Floridus. While Flanders Red is nowhere near the top of my genre-list, it’s nonetheless an interesting bottle to crack open in an appropriate company.
FI: Fiskars oli muuttunut edukseen sitten viime näkemän, etenkin Kuuran meininki vakuutti.
So THIS is what an eighteen month break feels like… It’s the gestation period an asian elephant.
No good reason for taking a break, it just happened.
As did plenty of things meanwhile (which would’ve been blogged about):
Considering that Mikkeller opens a bar in Helsinki tomorrow, and Craft Beer Helsinki is just a week away, this is a good time to leap back into the saddle.
FI: Pidin taukoa.
Heila, the local produce market located in Heinola has added a craft beer shop to its already formidable and unusual array of sales departments. Unusually for a normal store, Heila is able to sell both sahti and wine, even though the ABV of both is far north of the legal 4.7% limit.
While the selection was larger than in a run of the mill store, it pales in comparison to that of Pien.
But that’s confined to the capital region, and thus it’s very good to have a another sales channel for the small breweries.
FI: Odottamattomasti volttirajat ylittävän viini- ja sahtimyynnin lisäksi Heilassa nykyisin myös sangen edustava pienpanimokattaus.
Spent a good chunk of the trip’s last morning in SF Bokhandeln – its selection on books, movies and games is so far above the domestic alternatives that it’s not even remotely funny.
Took a look in the Drottningsgatan’s Systembolaget and picked up an odd Omnnipollo can (lemonade never sounds too enticing in beer context) and a serendipitously discovered Thomas Hardy Ale. Neither of these was available in the “big” store, which just proves that a proper flagship location would be a good addition.
Picked up Alice Cooper’s new album – one of the very few artists whose records I keep buying in the age of streaming. He’d had a release gig in Gröna Lund and an afterparty in the Hard Rock Cafe yesterday, but the threat of rain and untold kilometers walked kept me away. Turns out there’s been quite a few bands playing in the amusement park lately (with no extra ticket fee) – sadly this is not geographically contagious, it’ll be an astronomical while before the likes of Megadeth appear in Linnanmäki.
Arlanda had an unexpected disappointment in store: Bath & Body Works had disappeared, so the stash of foaming soaps at home remains sorely depleted.
FI: Lystiä oli, ja matkalaukullinen olutta riittää pitkäksi aikaa.
The morning of the last full day in Stockholm was spent roaming the museums in Djurgården. Junibacken was nostalgic, Abba-museum told the story of the band without much polish and Vikingalivet was smaller than expected (but nonetheless packed with interesting objects). Lunch at the Viking-museum’s restaurant was very underwhelming, and considering the amount of walking done thus far, almost dangerously so.
On the backswing took a serious look at the Systembolaget in the NK-huset, and was once again disappointed. The glory days of shelves bursting with interesting imports are clearly gone – the selection was mainly domestic, with very occasional american entries. Nonetheless, the shelves were far from empty and bought a suitcase’s worth of interesting beer.
For dinner in Södermalm we’d picked a couple of interesting restaurants from the travel guides and magazines. However, last year’s disappointment repeated itself, as every shortlisted place was either on summer vacation or otherwise closed. After a medium-length ramble settled on Signora Vecchia, the very first Juventus-themed restaurant thus far. The food was good, but took a seriously long time arriving at the table, but the taste was worth the wait. Södermalm had a “shops open until very late”-evening, took advantage of it in Urban Deli (cheese and bread).
The way home went by Katarina Ölkafe, and there was no way to avoid dropping in. The selection was domestic and quite well established in the sour end of the spectrum. Tried out a pomegranate IPA whose taste was obliterated by Sorachi ace hopping and capped the trip with an unseasonal autumny stout.
FI: Systembolagetin valikoima kapenee (ja hajautuu myymälöiden välillä).
Most of the second day was spent in the Fjäderholmarna. It’s an island in an archipelago located conveniently some half an hour away from Stockholm.
On account of the early hour (just after breakfast), neither the water taxi nor the paths on the island were too packed, but the warm day drew in a lot of folks later on.
The island contains a sleepy crafts-y village and a handful of restaurants. Restaurants that were uncomfortably full around lunchtime. Finally settled on the quickest alternative – self-served patio of Rökeriet on the waterfront. The smoked mackrel and prawns were and excellent stopgap for hunger, and the very local beers (from the brewery almost literally next door) a very good accompaniment.
Indeed, Fjäderholmarnas Bryggeri is a recent arrival on the island (wasn’t there on the previous visit in 2010-ish), and they served a wide variety of good beers.
The highlight of the tasting was the Östersjö porter, whose unseasonal caramelly roastiness stood out amongst the hoppy ales. The collaborated Desert Island was very trendily new england-y: cloudy and juicy.
FI: Höyhensaarten panimo yllätti positiivisesti.
Spent a few days in Stockholm, embracing the well-known and exploring new things.
The travel and accommodation were firmly in the former category (Norewgian Air, Arlanda Express and Royal BLU Viking), so apart from the hotel being late in delivering a room, no time was lost in getting acclimatized to the western neighbour’s capital.
Ate a very traditional (for the second year in a row) late lunch at Lisa Elmqvist’s, where the seafood takes precedence over exquisite beers. The fresh shellfish on the Toast Skagen-appetizer were a firm reminder that we were now in a country that was able to harvest its own prawns.
As the weather was nice, Tunnelbana was by no means a necessity in heading out to Omnipollo’s Hatt, the eponymous brewery’s restaurant south of the bay. The restaurant turned out to be small in size, packed to the gills, and hot from the pizza oven. Fortunately the turnaround was fast, and we landed a table well ahead of the pizzas for supper.
The pizzas were half and half on the usual and the very unusual – opted for one of each, without daring to explore the (apparently) vanilla flavoured chorizo that was quickly consumed in the neighboring table. The pizzas were served without utensils – only a wheel-cutter and fingers used in eating.
Oddly enough, the selection of Omnipollo’s own beers was limited to the commonly available IPAs, and the only member of the excessively dessert-y selection was the familiar Noa Pecan Stout. Noa that was served with slush foamed from the beer itself on top. The experience of drinking a very chilly imperial stout on a hot summer day was less odd than it originally felt like.
Since we were in the neighbourhood, walked home via Akkurat, whose tap-selection was once again awesome, but the service less so. Exited quickly after the first glasses and walked back to the hotel in the evening sunshine.
FI: Tukholmassa taas. Omnipollon hatussa oivaa pizzaa ja yllättävän kapea hanasto.
Took the new Tallink Megastar both ways. The ship is indeed new and large. And while the shop is the largest on-ship shop I’ve seen, the beer selection is quite limited. Settled on picking up two fill-it-yourself -sixpacks on the way back. An unexpected surprise was the existence of not only one but two ship-specific beers (one from Pühaste, the other from Suomenlinna).
The new marketplace (Balti Jaama Turg) behind the railway station contained plenty of interesting shops, and a central brewpub that was just opening up (either for the day, or in general).
Ate at von Krahl Aed, the food was very veggies-led and rather imaginatively put together. And the restaurant, too, had a house-branded beer (brewed by Lehe).
Uba ja Humal had plenty of goods, but as noted in earlier postings, the amount of US imports has decreased significantly from the early days, and it seems that UK is being cut down as well (e.g. only half a dozen Brewdogs and a handful of Buxtons). Picked up a lot of Estonian beers, and avoided the temptation of Amagers (of which there was not much shortage).
One of the shops in the terminal had adopted to the era of craft beer by expanding far beyond the cheapest eurolagers.
FI: Vallan onnistunut pikareissu etelänaapuriin. Megastar kuljettaa, Uba ja Humal varustaa.
brewnardo 