Edwin Howard Armstrong Quote

Edwin Howard Armstrong Quote: Anyone who has had actual contact with the making of the inventions that built the radio art knows that these inventions have been the product of experiment and work based on physical reasoning, rather than on the mathematicians' calculations and formulae. Precisely the opposite impression is obtained from many of our present day text books and publications.

Brasserie Le Triangle; an equilateral one in Paris

Brasserie Le Triangle, 13 Rue Jacques Louvel Tessier, Paris 10 Ar. is an amazing place; cuisine, beer and atmosphere are equilaterally of high-class.

This is a small bistro, a real "brasserie", run by a clearly ambitious and apt team, the core consisting of relatives. The exceptional, contagiously inspiring drive of this place can be sensed right upon entering.

I opted for a portion of Ravioli, which proved to be the best I've ever had. As an eager amateur cook and pelmeni & ravioli maniac, I'm still trying figure out the cereal composition of the phenomenal dough; does it contain either rye and/or buckwheat?!

Being a microbrewer, I certainly was impatiently thirsty to try all their own beers. Those were five altogether, all of them on tap: India Dark Ale 7% abv, Nelson fume en cachette / Berliner Rauch 3% abv, Muôi tiêu chanh / Saison sel poivre lime 6% abv, Petite Passion / Blonde avoine & fruit passion 3% abv, Simone / American Pale Ale 5,5% abv.

All beers were appetizingly fresh, well balanced, fragrantly and adeptly hopped; furthermore in top condition at the same time! Great beers on the whole. Unfortunately the brewer was not present, or maybe fortunately, after all; the chef de cuisine took me down to the cellar... The brewing set-up is as basic as it can be out of which the three hot side vessels are positioned beyond the comptoir.

Shit-house blues; pest infesting craft brewing scene

In this blog I've reviewed several quite miserable products, non-beers, and affiliated manufacturers which I call rather shitteries than breweries. Some of these very unfortunate cases exhibiting serious and disgraceful underestimation and disrespect of the consumer on the whole have occurred quite recently.

Fortunately, these shit-houses just can't live long and are doomed to go bust in a short time. Before doing so, however, they'll have time enough to smear the reputation of the good breweries and the trade on the whole, in particular, when it comes comes to the mass of potential consumers. Very unfortunate here is that the damage done remains long after the scoundrels are gone.

Refer also to: http://strasselberg.blogspot.fi/2017/03/good-beers-bad-beers-breweries.html
and: http://strasselberg.blogspot.fi/2017/02/jaatynytta-oksennusta-craftkaljaa-ja.html

Linden American Pale Ale

Semihazy beer, 4,7% ABV. Hops used are Magnum for bittering and Mosaic for aroma.

Unlike the two rubbishy non-beers below, this one is a textbook example of an excellent, well-crafted beer in general; staggeringly crisp and fruity ale, absolutely free from off-flavors.

Furthermore, to be concise, Linden APA is one of the best within its style I have run into, for a long time over here. The preservation of the beautiful Mosaic fragrance galore in the bottle is phenomenal. Aftertaste is florally hoppy with a plenty of long-lingering pleasant type of bitterness. Good recipe, good ingredients, culture & good craftsmanship come up with good beer, that's simply the way it is.

Elevating the ABV of this brew to the range of anything between 5,2-5,6% ABV would probably promote this one to the world-class of its style.

Honkavuoren 347 IPA by Panimo Honkavuori

Semiclear, 4,5% ABV, Oh, boy! 

When it comes to decent beer, either lager or ale, in general, the first and foremost requirement in universal concord, obviously is crispness, freshness. Furthermore, ales in particular, are usually more or less fruity due to higher amounts of fermentation aromas alone; aroma hopping is applied to impart the desired quality & quantity of hop-originated fragrance and fruitiness atop...

IPA is supposed to be fresh and amply fruity ale by fermentation alone, furthermore generously hopped, heftily and fragrantly aroma hopped in particular...

347 IPA has absolutely no fruitiness, no freshness, not a trace of hoppiness. Instead, we have got the same horrible stale cardboardy-oxidized stench as had the foregoing "Iloliemi" Pils. It begins to seem as if this were the house flavor of Honkavuori, no matter which beer or which style whatsoever. Futile rubbish & non-beer again, definitely catastrophic failure as an IPA!

The brewery spokesman says in the paper Helsingin Sanomat that their beers are made to be easy to drink. Again, I take the liberty to disagree; yuck!, certainly got the toilet treatment.

Iloliemi, Ilosaarirockin Luomupils by Panimo Honkavuori

Semiclear stuff, 4,5% ABV. Repulsively stale, cardboardy-worty-oxidized aroma. Where the hell is the crispness required of any lager, pale or dark, or even the slightest hop character, the quintessence of any beer daring to call itself a Pils(-ner)!?

The label proclaims this liquid to be strongly hopped, furthermore, to have been brewed by able hands! I, however, take the liberty to disagree, strongly, on both points.

I'm sad to say this, but "Iloliemi" lacks all the attributes of decent beer, either lager or ale on the whole, Pils(-ner) let alone as a style!!! The sole positive thing I'm able to find here is that this produce is, unlike many others turned out by the ongoing craft brewing boom in our backwoods, quite obviously free from microbial contamination!

Futile rubbish on the whole, a typical non-beer extruded upon us, consumers, in increasing amounts by the ongoing boom of craft shitteries. Certainly got the toilet treatment.

Summer is at hand, so is swindle! Amber Ale, Pirkan Parhaat [!!!] by Saimaan Juomatehdas

Muddy stuff, 4,7% ABV. Brewery declares on the can, as usual, a fine bunch of super-fragrant hops: Columbus, Cascade, Citra, Chinook, Mosaic. Upon opening, however, instead of the fragrant hoppiness one might expect, we get a glass of terrible, stale-cardboardy rubbish; damned swindle!

What is most amazing here, is the skill with which the brewery pigheadedly turns fine ingredients declared on the outer of the can into miserable & undrinkable crap inside, consistently from year to year, summer to summer, all over again!

If I were the CEO of the brewery in question, I certainly would have flushed myself down the same toilet together with the produce.

Honkavuoren Valo, Vehnäolut

Hazy, self-proclaimed Wheat Beer, 4,5% ABV. Aroma is clean but hopelessly impotent. Taste is disagreeably thick-syrupy. In the blogger's notion this stuff is a stuck fermentation rather than beer, i.e. closer to bottled wort. Hence elevating the degree of fermentation here could well come up with decent Wheat Beer...

What a day! One drinkable out of four; telltale score revealing the miserable level of culture and craftsmanship of the ongoing craft brewing boom in our northern backwoods.

Suomi Neito, Golden Ale

Yeasty-hazy, watery stuff, 4,7% ABV. Lacking absolutely all the attributes of decent beer; It would probably be absurd to cite any list here. Calling this futile rubbish Golden Ale, or furthermore beer, causes the blogger's blood pressure to rocket up to ionospheric levels. Certainly this liquid is fermented wort, surprisingly, free of microbial contamination [!], and, character; just one more non-beer, I'm sad to say so.

Kaski, Kylmäsavulager

Semiclear stuff, 4,6% ABV. Repugnantly moldy stench right upon pouring transforms into stale and dubiously phony smokiness. Terrible echo again from the chamber of craft beer horrors of the 1990's.

Can't figure out how and why this non-beer has been released in the first place. Could it be blatantly either the lack of culture, wit or judgement alone or furthermore some combination of those constituents of the pretty little thing we call craftsmanship...

Sonnisaari Pils, Dry Hopped

Semiclear beer, 4,7% ABV, hops used are Magnum and Hallertauer Mittelfrüh. Has immaculately clean and appetizingly fresh,teasingly thirst-arousing aroma exactly in the textbook manner any genuine Pilsner simply has got to bear; absolutely no more futile trash talk required.

Taste honestly and flawlessly fulfills the aforementioned expectations with long-lingering delicious bitterness. I, the blogger, as an inveterate Pilsner-fanatic, certainly wouldn't mind an increase of a few more EBUs; furthermore, elevating the ABV to the range anything between 5,2% & 5,5% would quite obviously promote this brew to the world class of its style, the most challenging and uncompromising one among all beers.

Definitely a telltale proof of high-level craftsmanship and overall command of the brewing process.

Spring is supposed to be on!

Strasselberg himself takes the liberty of wishing hilarious May the 1st to all hardworking beer makers & beer drinkers!

Schnaps ist Schnaps und Bier ist Bier!

Jawohl!

Perhon Rohkea by The Perho Culinary College

Semiclear, unfiltered beer, 4,7% ABV, having clean and briskly fruity aroma, the product of fermentation done by some British style ale yeast. This Amber Ale certainly isn't meant to be a hop bomb; obviously, primarily bittering hops have been used, which is most welcome choice and line these days of the overwhelming aftershaveishly fragrant prevalence of American and Pacific hops.

Perhon Rohkea is a full-bodied Amber Ale characterized by, aside from its gentle fruitiness of fermentation origin, chocolaty maltiness counterpoised by moderate hop bitterness suiting well to wide range of beer drinkers and food.

This beer has become a classic having been brewed at the same locality over 20 years now the recipe unchanged. The brewery is a waistcoat pocket-sized educational one with the lilliputian batch size of 120 liters housed by The Perho Culinary College, in Helsinki; the place where the most of the Finnish top chefs de cuisine originate from. All the beer turned out by own brewery is quite naturally consumed by the guests of the popular educational restaurant The Perho located at the premises.

Pietniemi Pale Ale by Rocking Bear Brewers; the chamber of craft beer horrors of the good old 1990's revisited, part two.

Hazy, unfiltered stuff, 4,5% ABV. Watery, nonexistent body with harsh polyphenolic, mouth-puckering astringency in mouthfeel. Furthermore, overcarbonated. Lack of body together with that terrible mouthfeel alone makes this undrinkable to me, the blogger.

Whereas the mouthfeel was marked by astringent polyphenols, the aroma is prevailed by volatile phenols, presumably from various sources! Overwhelming is the clove-like one (4VG) with some pepper. This may well originate from the brewing yeast strain used. In the background, there is an unmistakable farmyard-type phenol (4EP) signature which is most likely to originate from brettanomyces wild yeast contamination. Moreover, the bewildering complexity of the blend of phenolic off-flavors in this non-beer or shit-bomb makes me, the blogger, even to think of the most horrible possibility of the involvement of wort spoilage bacteria...

This self-proclaimed "Pale Ale" makes the blogger's blood pressure rocket to dangerous levels. Just another warning example of crap hastily turned out by the ongoing craft brewing boom. Certainly got the kitchen drain treatment immediately after verdict.

We ought never to forget that in brewing decent beer we need, more than anything else, three assets: culture, experience and wit. Those are the main ingredients of the thing we call craftsmanship...

Rokkarin Luu APA by Mallaskuun Panimo; the chamber of craft beer horrors of the good old 1990's revisited!

Cloudy unfiltered stuff, 4,5% ABV. Aroma is dubiously sulfury-phenolic with cooked vegetables galore (dimethyl sulfide, DMS); disgusting! Certainly there isn't a trace of the hops used (Centennial, Citra, Columbus) mid the thick mess of abhorrent off-flavors.

Taste confirms what the aroma promises, and fulfills the worst fears: vile mess of sulfury and phenolic off-flavors including burnt rubber and bakelite, dimethyl sulfide dominating...

I, the blogger, characterize this as a non-beer, a miserable failure, probably due to both microbial contamination (bacteria and wild yeasts) and brewing technical shortcomings. Calling this an American Pale Ale is a disgrace! Undrinkable crap, certainly went down the kitchen drain immediately after verdict.

A flop like this reminisces me, the blogger, about the notorious contaminated stench bombs from the beginning of the first Finnish craft brewing boom in 1990's; hopefully the ongoing one won't conjure up those old horrors in greater numbers...

In brewing decent beer we need, above all, three assets: culture, experience and wit. Those are the main ingredients of the thing called craftsmanship. Fortunately, the firs two can be developed.

Coyet Ale by Suomenlinnan Panimo

Semiclear beer, not a coyote, obviously unfiltered, 4,5% ABV, having appetizingly fresh, clean and fruity fermentation aromas produced by some reliable British workhorse of the yeast world accompanied by gentle, very English hoppiness.

Immaculate and balanced, full-bodied beer, hairsplittingly anything between Best Bitter and Pale Ale. A delightful example of a traditional and tasty beer style standing up in the chaos of savagely raging "beer trends" of today.

Another proof of Suomenlinna's excellent brewing process and fine craftsmanship; these guys seem to turn out outstanding everyday beers of consistent quality, and, without the hellish rush & fuss.

Seth Lager by Suomenlinnan Panimo

Clear beer, 4,7% ABV; no sputter of irrelevant data like EBU's, EBC's etc. to baffle an ordinary consumer. This beer contains apart from barley malt, wheat and rye, presumably in unmalted form.

Crisp and immaculately clean lager aroma, subtly on the malty side. Medium-to-full-bodied. Probably filtered but not at all too sharply to emasculate the body too much. Furthermore, pleasingly not excessively carbonated!

Taste is clean and pleasantly malty as the aroma forebodes. Rye is likely to impart that agreeable note maillard-like cereal sweetness and flavor as well. A pinch or two of bitterness could well be supplemented, although I, the blogger, don't see this beer as unbalanced at all.

Well done, absolutely no off-flavors at all in an example of the least forgiving beer style; a telltale mark of an excellent brewing process and high craftsmanship.

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

Suomen palkituimmat pienpanimot; osa 2. Harhaanjohtavaa, vai peräti kieroa mainontaa?

Saimaan Juomatehtaalle on annettu vuonna 2013 HBF:n (Helsinki Beer Festival) "Vuoden Siideri" -palkinto; voittajasiideri tuolloin oli "Cidre Sec Brutal".

Kyseessä olevaa siideriä ei kuitenkaan ollut valmistettu Saimaan Juomatehtaalla Mikkelissä, vaan Panimoravintola Bruuverissa, Helsingissä.

Samaisilla festivaaleilla Saimaan Juomatehdas palkittiin myös kahdesta oluesta: "Papa Laine's Parade IPA" & "Buddy Bolden's IPA". Näitäkään oluita ei ollut pantu Saimaan Juomatehtaalla Mikkelissä, vaan Panimoravintola Bruuverissa, Helsingissä.

Saimaan Juomatehdas sai v. 2014 HBF:n "Vuoden Olut" -palkinnon "Django & Steven Pale Ale" -oluella. Kuten arvata saattaa, tätäkään olutta ei ollut pantu Saimaan Juomatehtaalla Mikkelissä, vaan panimoravintola Bruuverissa, Helsingissä.

Suomen palkituimmat pienpanimot

HBF siintää jo horisontissa! Ei siis kulune montaakaan viikkoa, kun Saimaan Juomatehdas jälleen virittelee räyhäkkäät mainoslakanansa Suomen palkituimpana panimona, tahi jotain sinne päin.

Tuossa alla on joitakin tositteita Saimaan Juomatehtaan jonkin vuoden HBF:ssa kahmimista palkinnoista.

Kysynkin, kuinka moni kuvaan liittyvistä palkituista tuotteista oli pantu Saimaan Juomatehtaalla Mikkelissä? Entä missä ne kuvaan liittyvät tuotteet, joita ei ollut valmistettu Saimaan Juomatehtaalla Mikkelissä, oli tehty ja kuka ne oli tehnyt?

Seuraava City-lehden juttu ja siinä toimitusjohtaja Jussi Laukkanen valottavat asiaa.

http://www.city.fi/kulttuuri/saimaan+juomatehdas+on+suomen+palkituin+panimo/9663

Fast ones; The inventor of Jazzz, Swing & Stomp

When ever, either talking about or playing Jazz, in my, the blogger's notion, we should always start with and from Mr. Jelly Roll Morton, the piano king of New Orleans; he is, undoubtedly, an American classicist and national hero in a fine form.

Jelly Roll Morton, Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe by birth name, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, around 1885 and died in Los Angeles, California, in 1941.

Jelly Roll started his career in Good Old N.O. as a pianist. He played piano in the French Quarter, Storyville area, also known as "The District". It comprised thirty eight blocks where flourished the brothels, a.k.a. "mansions", and around them, cabarets, saloons and gambling joints on 24/7-basis.

Right from the start, Morton was a prolific composer. He wrote, and performed, utility music to entertain the wealthy guests drinking champagne and enjoying good time on the whole with the "handsome women" employed by the mansions under supervision of the Madame of the house. Josie Arlington's and Lulu White's Mahogany Hall were certainly two of the most famous and fanciest mansions. It has been widely cited, over and over, that Jelly Roll played piano the way that made guests, and the handsome women accompanying them, feel comfortable. And as Jelly was regarded as one of the best, he certainly worked for the best mansion and was well paid. Those were the good old early years of the 1900's preceding the WW1, the period in France called the "belle époque".

New Orleans had harbored, for a long time, the marching band or street band tradition which gradually transformed into jazz-bands which proliferated all over the town; there were negro bands and white bands galore, engagements and gigs were many.

Morton was probably the first who started systematically arranging and orchestrating, mainly his own piano compositions for the traditional New Orleans-style band set up making him quite close as America's first Jazz composer. He was the first jazz big shot to leave New Orleans while it was still in full swing. Jelly went to California, he was in New York in 1911 while his colleagues happily jammed at home... WW1 suddenly closed down The District, a lot of boys lost their living, and, had to go up the river to the Midwest; that's the way Jazz came to Chicago, propagated to New York...
The roaring 1920's took full swing, with prohibition, gangsters, booze, gambling, flappers, dancing, and, jazz galore...

Morton was well prepared since he was and had already established himself up in The North when his colleagues were only arriving down to the scene. He was running his Red Hot Peppers band and was the best selling recording artist for the Victor company and making big money, as long as it lasted... His business card from Chicago days reads: "Jelly Roll" Morton, king of jazz pianists, composer of many popular numbers such as "Jelly Roll Blues, Wolverine Blues, Mr. Jelly Lord, Big Foot Ham, Millenburg Joys, King Porter Stomp, Kansas City Stomp, ... , New Orleans Blues and many others [!]; And from later New York days: Jelly Roll Morton's Orchestra, Originator of JAZZ-STOMP-SWING, VICTOR ARTIST, World's Greatest Hot Tune Writer, Music Furnished For All Occasions, Nothing too Large, Nothing too small, 15 pieces or less. The cards really speak for themselves!

Morton's obsessive notion was that jazz piano must always be an imitation of a band; for him it certainly meant: The tarditional New Orleans -style jazz band! The imitation comprises the left hand standing for the riffing rhythm and base line (drum(s), tuba and/or string bass, trombone) whereas the right hand takes care of the breaking solo instruments like cornets & trumpets, saxophones, clarinets etc. The younger generation musicians certainly thought quite the otherwise in the 1930's, but, that is another story...

The one below is the solo piano version of Morton's composition Kansas City Stomp played (cut) by himself on a player-piano roll; this is quite the authentic way he sounded playing for the guests & handsome women at Lulu White's Mahogany Hall...

The next one is the orchestrated version recorded by Morton's band; pay attention to Jelly Roll's resolute idea of  piano as an imitation of a band...

The one below makes it quite clear that Morton's legacy is doing well in his home town New Orleans, Kansas City Stomp here played by the Tuba Skinny, led by a charming lady, Shaye Cohn, cornet.

Good jazzzz & dancing outdoors; wait at least until the drummer makes her stylish & coooool enrée, and,some dancers, some dancers!

... Should there be any hop heads over there, can't help adding the next one; it takes place at the beer garden of Abita Brewing Company.

... Where Jelly Roll insisted piano to be an imitation of a band, Bryan Wright is a perfect imitation of Jelly Roll at the grand piano below.

... And how about the duo version of Kansas City Stomp below; drums impart quite hilarious flavor.

Aki Kaurismäki quits whereas Kaljatehdas taistelee

Aki Kaurismäki has announced he relinquishes filmmaking whereas film noir piece "Kaljatehdas taistelee" [working title] is well under way and high swell starring Arde, the high society blogger et al. ...

Conflict

Grandstanding & trash-talking

Happier life over there

Will be released sometime in the future.

Kolkki Olut by Maku Brewing

Immaculate pale maltiness, clean estery fruitiness, just a subtle pinch of hoppiness in flavor. First mouthful certainly confirms the verdict: balanced, moderately bitter hopped and fruity lager; damn, this is Steam Beer! See on the back of the can, it is: "Kolkkiolut-Steam Lager".

By the way, there is definitely no way hiding off-flavors of any kind or origin down in beer like this (of this type)!

Fu***n' good just as quaffer lacking absolutely all unnecessary ornamentation and luster.

Fast ones; on & with Bix Beiderbecke

When ever it comes to the guys who really made the great dance orchestras of the roaring 1920's swing and stomp, Bix Beiderbecke incontrovertibly pertained to the elite of the cadre together with names like Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey, Frankie "Tram" Trumbauer, Gene Krupa, Don Murray, Steve Brown, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Spiegle Willcox et al.

All these boys were hot, and white, jazz musicians. To make their living, they just had to shine on the surface of the great dance orchestras, factory bands of the time like Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman bands; they really did, both things and were lavishly paid though playing just a few bars here and there. When they did, take solos, usually stupid dance tunes and arrangements got a couple of bars of hot jazzy pep up; the thing that flappers expected, and, insisted.

This one below is a pretty good example of what we're talking about. Idolizing by Jean Goldkette band recorded in 1927. Bix Beiderbecke makes some lovely bars with his Conn Victor cornet just between the unison intro and the vocal part which certainly is swell stupid lyrics of/for the time's flappers.

The next one is Sweet Sue by Paul Whiteman's band recorded in 1928. This is a superb demo of the fashion Beiderbecke's solo work saves otherwise silly semi-symphonic arrangement of the rubbishy dance music of those days. Bix's cornet solo comes after the vocal part, immediately following the tempo-breaking trumpet unisono-intro. Just stunningly lovely phrasing, soft and mellow tone, with derby hat over the Conn Victor's bell as it has been told.

The third one below, Lonely Melody by The Whiteman orchestra (1928) features in a beatiful manner Bix's sharper angle of attack, the snotty (over here we may say "räkäinen") Bix, both in phrasing and tone. The solo begins immediately after, the more or less, rubbishy unison semi-symphonic intro by the entire band and is quite distictive! When it comes to the matter of distinctiveness of artists on the whole, regardless of the instrument, I, the blogger, immediately go down to some of my compatriots: Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin, Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki, Olavi Virta and Albert Järvinen.

Fortunately, these guys recorded also jazz, under their own names, certainly with best possible formations and far reaching artistic liberty; the one below is a pretty good example.

Renaissance genius, craft beer snob & star blogger Arde before Bix's home in Synnyside of Queens.

Just couldn't help adding the lovely home-video above from the good old 20's; it's about the same time Andania borne sax virtuoso Wilfred H. Tuomikoski taught some lessons to our "Dallape"-guys on how to phrase jazzzz down here in Helsinki, on the shores of his ancestors. Sylvester Ahola, band fellow of Bix and radio amateur, certainly is a story of his own and in his own right...

By the way, Bix was born in Davenport, Iowa...

Good old days, some notes!