IPA, Iisalmi Pale Ale by Olvi

Unfiltered & unpasteurized, semiclear beer, 4,7% ABV, EBU 55, EBC 16, Plato 11,5%. Hops used are Mosaic, Galaxy, Comet and Saphir.

This may sound and certainly is repetition, but the first two words of this text blatantly are the keywords. Filtration emasculates body and mouthfeel. Pasteurization kills freshness and wipes out hop fragrance transforming it into a stench bomb.

The intercontinental selection of hops is a bold one these days when American hops extrude from our ears. Aroma is appetizingly fresh with fragrant hops, as one would expect. The intensity of hop fragrance here, however, is a bit lower than that formidable aftershavish one in all Stadin Scandinavian beers coming out from the same assembly line.

Balanced and jolly stuff with pleasant maltiness hovering in the background; can't help dreaming of making beers like this by way of triple decoction.

It begins to seem as if the industrial making of excellent everyday beer with fine hops were easy, after all.

Black IPA, the dark side of Iisalmi by Olvi

Unfiltered & unpasteurized, opaquely black beer, 4,7% ABV, EBU 59, EBC 100, Plato 11%. Hops used are Cascade, Target, Yellow Sub and TNT [!] The blogger is familiar only with the first two. Target may well be the bittering hop and the last two the hoax of today.

Pleasantly crisp and sweetish licorice-hoppy aroma with the hops clearly hovering in the background. High expectations are certainly aroused.

The first sip, however, immediately ruins all the beautiful expectations to the hilt. Meager, watery body with repugnantly burnt taste. This unbalanced and abhorrent stuff certainly went quickly down the kitchen drain. Hops do not save a beer like this, actually they work to the contrary. I had to brush my teeth thoroughly to rid myself of the bitter burnt black bottom!

It seems to me, the blogger, as if the recipe here lay in the belief - definitely a wrong one - that opaquely black beer is simply made by painting a pale beer black using exclusively-and-enough the blackest paint available, black malt.

In my, the blogger's, notion the malt base of any Porter or Black IPA ought to include a delicate combination of other darker side malts together with black malt or maybe roasted barley. This would also lead to a higher original extract than 11% Plato and thus to a lower degree of fermentation imparting the necessary body - now lacking - at the fixed 4,7% ABV.

American Cream Ale by Olvi

Unfiltered semiclear beer, 4,7% ABV, EBU 25, EBC 17, Plato 11%. Hops used: Monroe, Fantasy, Kazbek. Unpasteurized and nearly as perfumely fragrant hop bomb as the Stadin Scandinavian beers coming out from the same production line; the dry hopping rate obviously being considerably higher in Stadin Scandinavian beers.

The issue of major importance and interest here is, once again, the fashion by which Olvi succeeds in packing the fragrant aroma hops fresh and intact into canned beer. Certainly the core of the secret lies in not destroying the precious hop aromas by pasteurization and oxidization. The implementation of all that, however, remains unknown.

On the whole, enjoyable top fresh and fragrantly hoppy stuff. Again, the good proof of well done aroma hopping applies to this beer: belches an hour after are odorously hoppy... Whether the use of both lager and ale yeasts is just a prank or a practical necessity, is another question, however, beyond the sphere of this text.

Saimaa Pils by Saimaan Juomatehdas; and way out of Saimaa beer chamber of horrors

Whereas freshness on the whole is the quintessence of any beer, in Pils(-ner) it can definitely not be overemphasized with crisp hop character apart from light maltiness. This is because there actually isn't much else to manifest resulting from the light malt base and low levels of fermentation aromas produced by some neutral lager yeast at low fermentation temperature range.

Saimaa Pils, 4,5% ABV, actually is the antithesis of what was said about Pils(-ner) above: it has repulsively stale cardboard-oxidized aroma without a trace of hops. Undrinkable stuff to the hilt; got the kitchen drain treatment.

Having roamed in the Saimaa beer chamber of horrors for the time of nine beers now, let this be the final one for the time being. Unlike many other bloggers, I have payed every can myself. Only three beers out of nine have been drinkable. Furthermore, the undrinkable six were so vile that I, the blogger, can't understand why they are on the market at all, among all decent beers galore!!! In my, the blogger's, notion this certainly signals apart from poor craftsmanship, also severe underestimation of the consumer.

Marsalkka Golden Ale by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Hazy, 4,6 ABV. Disgustingly stale, exactly the same way the preceding one, Joker Hop Ale. Stenchful cardboardy-oxidized & autolysis-beef stock aroma, again. Not a trace of hoppiness or any kind of freshness on the whole; freshness being in my, the blogger's, notion the quintessence of any beer from anywhere! Horrible stuff, got the kitchen drain treatment.

Brewer's Special Joker Hop Ale by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Hazy, 4,7% ABV, 11,5% Plato, EBU 30. Promises: "Hops vary in every batch, that's why it's called Joker", "Velvety maltiness with surprising aromas".

I'm sad to say so, but I have absolutely nothing good to say about this beer. I'm trying to be as concise and terse as possible on the bad as well.

Joker Hop Ale has abhorrently stale, oxidized-cardboardy and autolysed-sulphury aroma; terrible stuff! Not a trace left of those promised "joker hops" added into the kettle; a bad joke indeed. Really disgraceful failure, again. I just wonder how and why rubbish like this is on the market at all. Certainly went down the kitchen drain.

Hi there, folks in Mikkeli! What's the matter with the mill!!??

The editor-in-chief of YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) Scolded by the JSN

The Finnish JSN (The Council for Mass media) scolded the editor-in-chief of YLE, Atte Jääskeläinen, for yielding the journalistic power of decision to an outer party.

Prime minister Juha Sipilä was reprimanded by the JSN to have pressurized YLE in its newscasting about his connections to economic life whereas the editor-in-chief Atte Jääskeläinen got JSN's reproaches for giving in under prime minister's pressure.

How would you, my dear reader, react if I, the blogger, relinquished my journalistic liberty, impartiality and powers of decision to some outer party, say some shittery-class brewery extruding repugnantly stale beers upon us?! In such a case, I would certainly be forced to resign and abolish my blog.

Cider bar "Sidreria" opens in Helsinki

Cider bar specialized in genuine quality ciders opens in Helsinki, on Friday, March the 24th. Cozy "Sidreria" bar specializes in Spanish (Asturian), Portugese, French (mainly Normandy) and English ciders. All are imported by the house and painstakingly selected by the proprietor, Mr. Timo Konttinen, who is known as an outstanding connoisseur of fine ciders, beers and hops. The selection will be a dynamic one thus there will not be any danger for being bored. The Address is Merimiehenkatu 18.

Marsalkka Tumma by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Unfiltered dark lager beer, 4,6% ABV.  Clean, malty aroma with subtle smokiness. This beer clearly distinguishes itself, standing out in the boringly long rank of indifferent beers, in quite an uninteresting style of beers on the whole.

I remember the frustratingly long recursive making of this recipe in the gloomy rear corner of the brew pub Bruuveri, in Helsinki, where the tiny brewing gear was situated. The late founder of Saimaan Juomatehdas and a friend of mine, Pertti Oksa, gave me an assignment: I was to brew six consecutive and differentiated 200 liter batches out of which the patrons would vote the winner to be the final recipe. Patrons gave their votes, however, recursion continued...

I heard, only this morning, the staggering news that this beer has been awarded in a highly venerated contest, "Oscars of the brewing world" [!], The International Brewing Awards, since 1886, held in Burton-upon-Trent, England. Congratulations down to Mikkeli, well done!

The heartwarming news above thus makes "Marsalkka Tumma" probably the most acclaimed of the galore of prizewinning recipes I, the blogger, have made for Saimaan Juomatehdas since 2008.

When it comes to the many prizewinning beers of Saimaan Juomatehdas, the truth is that almost all of them have been brewed by me, the blogger, as single batches at the tiny two hectoliter brewery of the brew pub Bruuveri, in Helsinki; that is to say some 300 kilometers southwest of Mikkeli.

Vehnä by Maku Brewing

Unfiltered wheat beer in German style, 4,5% ABV. Freshly fruity with moderate spicy and clove-phenolic notes, without banana esters. Clean and neutral Hefeweizen. Emasculation down to 4,5% of ABV inevitably draws the OG quite low certainly rendering this beer quite slender in body and easy refreshing quaffer.

Maku Brewing seems to have chosen, unlike most of its competitors, not to disclose the brewing-technical and recipe-related attributes like the OG's, EBC-colors, EBU's, hop varieties etc. of their beers which may well be wisely done; why burden the consumer with pretty irrelevant brewer jargon and divulge too much readily to competitors.

Good beers & bad beers, breweries & shitteries

Right upon unwrapping a blue cheese or opening a bottle of beer, one's olfaction usually is tuned to a high state of selective sensitivity. This reflex probably resides deep in our backbone as an evolutionary safeguard. Would a caveman have accepted a glass of Czech or German Pilsner or a pint of fragrantly dry hopped IPA from San Diego...?

The aroma, the first sniff usually is decisively telltale when it comes either to danger or fulfillment of expectations. It seems as if the concept and differentiation of appetizing crispy freshness vs. discouraging staleness were an instinctive built-in faculty in everyone of us.

When thinking of beer and its quality the primary expectation certainly is crispness, the appetizing freshness produced by healthy yeast metabolism, i.e. fermentation, and hops. Different yeast strains produce different and distinctive profiles of fermenting aromas whereas different hop varieties impart specific hop aromas. Different malts impart their share.  All the foregoing basic variables, plus many more, make a beer style or a recipe within the beer style in question.

Whatever the beer style or the fixed set of brewing variables might be, the resulting beer must be fresh, and, microbiologically clean enough at the time of its release. Furthermore, the beer must retain its freshness up to the moment of consumption. In any beer or beer style, apart from crispy freshness, anything else is more or less a matter of taste and pretty irrelevant.

Thus according to the universal accord, fresh beer is good beer, stale beer is bad beer. Furthermore, we should all remember that any good beer inevitably becomes bad beer in the course of time, the decline being the faster the worse the conditions of storage. We could think of the length of a fuse. The disappearance of the blade of the finest hop aromas is actually a matter of days or weeks, even in the most favorable conditions...!

The foremost interest and the lifeblood of any brewery certainly is, at least ought to be, the ability of loading the maximum freshness possible into the beer at the time of release; the longer the fuse, the better the beer keeps, and, competes.

Inasmuch as there are good beers and bad beers there seem to be good breweries and bad breweries as well. The good ones make crispy fresh beers. The bad ones tend to make stale beers. How about calling the bad ones, instead of breweries, simply shitteries ("paskantamot" in blogger's native language).

One company, two breweries

Two Finnish craft breweries, Saimaan Juomatehdas (based in Mikkeli) and Malmgard Brewery (based in Pernaja) were recently consolidated into MBH Breweries.

I know personally quite well the founders of these two breweries since they attended my craft brewing classes in Mustiala in mid 1990's prior to starting their commercial brewing. Furthermore, I have followed all the phases of the breweries in question up to now, at short distance.

Both breweries clearly have built their own distinctive countenance, especially when it comes to their respective beers on the whole, as well as the target groups, quality and general reputation of their beers, in particular.

Interestingly, it remains to be seen whether harmonization of the beers will follow. Thus will there be any degree of Saimaazation of the Malmgardian beers or the Malmgardzation of the Saimaa beers?!

American Pale Ale by Stadin Scandinavian

Unfiltered semicloudy, 4,5% ABV, 11,4% Plato, 35 IBU. Staggeringly fireworking punch of fresh fruity-floral hops in aroma again, in canned beer!!! I'm not thinking about the recipe in particular, nor the selection of hop varieties in general.

What puzzles and pesters me, as a craft brewing man myself, is the uncertainty of the manner by which the lovely hop fragrance is caressed, preserved and conveyed intact into the can; certainly through the rough & brutal process of an industrial brewery of Olvi in Iisalmi.

Since the varieties of hops used in this beer are not disclosed on the cover, maybe the only remarkable difference in comparison to "The American Session IPA", discussed earlier in this blog, is the lower level of bitterness and fuller body due to, 0.5% by Plato, of more Extract of wort.

If I were anyone of the Founders guys down over there at Grand Rapids, MI, USA, I would certainly launch a snooping operation down to Olvi Iisalmi plant.

Columbus Pale Ale by Malmgård

Unfiltered, semiclear, 4,7% ABV, 11% P, EBU 35. As the naming betrays, this is a single hopped beer. Furthermore, Columbus certainly is not among the most common single hops. As a craftbrewer myself, I like this variety, apart from its use as high alpha bittering hop, as aroma hop as well, particularly in dry hopping with other American varieties; I have never tried it alone. Thus this beer aroused my interest in the first place.

The riffing bottom of fermenting aromas is ripe-fruity as one may well expect. Neither knowing the aroma hopping rate nor whether dry hopping has been applied or not, Columbus is clearly not fireworking here; maybe the blade of the Columbus in this very bottle has passed its pinnacle, as any hop always does, as a merciless function of the weeks passing by. In any case, the hoppiness on top of the fruity riffing base is pleasant and reminds me of an old-school British ESB in the brewing of which Columbus variety certainly wasn't present. Some twenty-thirty more EBU's certainly would not have ruined this beer...

Hey there! Folks at Saimaan Juomatehdas! How about an educational tour down to Malmgård on how to make decent beer?!

Brewer's Special California IPA by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Cloudy unfiltered, 4,7% ABV. Promises on the cover: "Tropical aromas with citrus, pine & spicy flavors" [!!!]. The preceding attributes certainly apply to the characteristic aroma profiles of the hop varieties printed on the cover: Columbus, Cascade, Chinook, Citra & Mosaic; they definitely do not apply to this beer!

Unfortunately, again, only the abhorrently stale and stinky debris of fine hops is left after the total annihilation taken place at the brewery. I hate to make a remark like this, again, but this is rather a disgrace than an IPA; an absolute failure. Went down the kitchen drain.

Just another part of the grim sequel; instead of brewing I'm thinking of consistent spoiling the fine ingredients.

The decent beer below seems to have had tough luck enough having been beleaguered by a couple of terrible ones...

Tough Luck India Pale Ale by Mallaskosken Panimo

Semiclear beer, 4,7% ABV. Proclaims on the cover being "High on hops" plus having high self-confidence! Likewise was having the brewer, bald-headed Jyri Ojaluoma when he gallantly made his entrée into my craft brewing class in Mustiala, it surely was in 1997, wasn't it.

Promises and expectations are set high. First of all, hilariously fresh, as any good beer definitely must, I repeat, must be. Elegant, perfumy-floral hop aroma, not fireworking one in intensity but more of the discreet and seducing feminine quality.

Balanced; still recognizably a malt beverage seasoned with hops! The hop varieties used are not disclosed but they surely are a swell selection treated with all the proficiency and respect they deserve. The aftertaste is nicely bitter while the femininely perfumy hops linger down there in the olfactories.

When it comes to the naming this beer, it seems to me, to the blogger, as if the beer underneath, unfortunately, had the tougher luck; ironically, who knows.

Brewer's Special Pacific Pale Ale by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Hazy unfiltered beer, 4,7 % ABV, 30 EBU. Promises on the cover: "Medium body, tropical aromas with citrus flavors". Delicious expectations aroused; leis & ukuleles, arecaceae sway in refreshing breeze...

Repugnantly stale aroma; only the stenchy debris of the fine aroma hops used (Cascade, Citra, Equinox) is unpleasantly left. This "Pacific Pale Ale" approaches a disgrace: how dares anyone on earth exterminate fine hop aromas so totally and transform them into stale-stinky mess like this!

I wonder who the heck down there at the brewery deserves the credit for extruding crap like this upon us, the consumers in good faith! Sincerely, couldn't finish this one, went down the kitchen drain.

Kukko Pils by Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas

This beer takes me, certainly in my reminiscences, way back down to 1995. That was the year when Rami Aarikka exuberantly marched into my craft brewing class in Mustiala; his cooool entrance and sparkling personality certainly caught my, and, everybody else's eye, right on the spot.

In those days Rami ran a tiny but comfortable home brewing shop "Bouquet" in the heart of "The old Rauma", he supplied, among the first ones, Wyeast dry yeasts to home brewers. Furthermore, he also fostered, as he undoubtedly told me on the loft of the Mustiala sauna, his determination to commence The Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas...

When Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas had successfully taken off and reached a safe cruising altitude, Rami sent another outstanding personality to my craft brewing class, Jani Vilpas...

Kukko Pils has 4,5% ABV. It is dry and crispily fresh. The Laitila house flavor is distinctively present, and definitely should be!, since I love that thing. Hop bitterness is quite all right, but, I'm begging for, at least, a pinch more of aroma hops. On the whole, a nice one, and distinctive!, down in its class of beers.

The one below may well illustrate the early vigor of the first wave of craft brewing in the backwoods of Finland; good old days, some notes!

Marsalkka Luomuvehnä by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Hazy wheat beer, 4,6% Abv. Distinct clovely phenolic-fruity flavor with a pinch of white pepper; pleasant and distinctive one, without bananas.

I will be cooking "les moules" for the lunch of today; the mussels thus will be boiled, as usual, in this beer together with hashed onion & garlic plus butter; voila!

Now, I'm talking about one of the many beers, and recipes, the development of which with nearly endlessly painful reiteration still warms up my heart...!

I'm not sure whether this is pasteurized or not; should it be, certainly it would be much better without that emasculating treatment...!

Saimaa Vahva by Saimaan Juomatehdas

This beer has been widely disliked lately, even derided; I just wonder why. In my notion this brew fulfills quite well and beautifully the attributes set for a strong pale lager. Bix Beiderbecke surely would have fancied stuff like this in the good old roaring 1920's.

Saimaa Vahva is, when properly chilled as it certainly should be!, clean & lagery in it's aroma with nicely warming upshot. A very good one in it's class.

How about instilling one or two more degrees of ABV, aside from a pinch of hop aroma; furthermore, discard pasteurization, voila!

American Session IPA by Stadin Scandinavian

Unfiltered, hazy beer, 4,5% ABV, 60 IBU. Appetizing, sparklingly fresh & clean, fruity fermenting aroma riffing down on the baseline.

Astoundingly fresh and intensely floral American hops, the varieties are not told on the cover, break heftily and hilariously on top of the clean and fruity baseline.

Aftertaste is pleasantly bitter-hoppy, as one certainly expects, and insists!, after downing a pint of IPA. Even the belches an hour after are fragrantly hoppy-floral which the I, the blogger, regard as an excellent proof of successful aroma hopping (dry hopping in particular!).

This beer fulfills quite accurately the attributes of an excellent American IPA, except the alcohol content! "Session" IPA is in my, the blogger's, notion, more or less an euphemism of an emasculation of beer in this particular style.

Furthermore, this beer certainly teaches a damned good lesson to the one below on being an American IPA!

Brewer's Special American IPA by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Hazy unfiltered beer, 6,0% ABV. Disgustingly stale cardboardy-skunky aroma. Not even the slightest hint of fresh & floral-fruity hoppiness, the quintessence of any IPA!, but only the skunky debris of the fine aroma hops used (Cascade & Mosaic), unfortunately, in this case spoiled.

Calling this an IPA, furthermore an American one!, signals serious lack of judgement. Could not finish this one; went down the kitchen drain, I'm really sad to say so.

Voe tokkiisa! Nyt viännytään vitsille; savolaishuumorin keruukilpailu.

Saimaan Juomatehdas on viime vuosina tarjoillut runsain mitoin verratonta savolaishuumoria; niin tuotteet kuin niiden markkinointipuheetkin käyvät vitseistä: "Suomen palkituimmat oluet ja siiderit" [!], "Nautinnollisia hetkiä laatuoluemme parissa", "Brewer's Special American IPA"...

Tässä blogissa julistetaankin nyt Saimaa-vitsien keruutalkoo alkaneeksi. Vuoden parhaat palkitaan! On vuosi aikaa, ei siis niin kiirettä, ettei Saimaa Vahvasta välillä kännejä.

Suomen palkituimmat pienpanimot; Osa 3. Kuka vei kunnian?!

Alla oleva kuva on vuoden 2015 Helsinki Beer Festival'in palkintokorokkeelta. Kuvassa oikella on tämän blogin kirjoittaja käsissään kaksi kunniakirjaa. Molemmat kunniakirjoilla palkitut oluet on pantu kertaerinä Panimoravintola Bruuverissa, Helsingissä.

Kirjoittajan oikella olkapäällä lepää vasemmassa kädessään olevaan kunniakirjaan liittyvän oluen ideoijan, seurapiiriblogisti Arden vasen käsi; Arde oli itse kyseistä olutta panemassa.

Mitä mahtoi seurapiiriblogisti Arde, toista olutta itse panemassa olleena, palkintokorokkeella tuumata, kun näistäkin oluista kunnian ja kunniakirjat Mikkeliin vei, kuinkas muutenkaan, Saimaan Juomatehdas!

Kuva: Jani Simonen