It's been a long time coming - Finland Pt. 3

For anyone who hasn't forgotten and may have some interest; here's the final instalment of my Finnish story.

Pt. 1 here
Pt. 2 here

Part 2 (here) Finnished (gedit?) with our intrepid hero and friends turned away from the microbrewery. On our wanderings we had noticed what looked like a promising pub, despite the Guinness sign outside - I've always been suspicious of pubs that aren't bogged down by a culture of draught, notro, cold Guinness drinking that nonetheless choose to serve it and make a feature of it.

This pub was called Olutravintola Sillansuu. (Details here - in Finnish.) Upon entering, the first sight to hit me was some high up shelves directly across from the door proudly displaying, maybe, about thirty world bottled beers with labels clearly stating their origin, price, style and strength. Oh, the unexpected joy! Beer, lovely, varied, visible beer. And what's this? Could it be a barman with interest in and knowledge of beer? Yes it seems to be.

Now it may seem like an obvious thing to do to clearly display your beer selection and some basic information about them but it is a practice sadly lacking in many beer bars in Ireland. I've spent so much time peering over the counter of Irish bars, I fear my body will permanently take on that stooped shape. A large, clearly visible, well written blackboard is also a good way of getting the information across.

This bar had an admirable selection; there was a strong emphasis on Belgian - and not just the usual suspects (Gulden Carolus Classic caught my attention), British and German beers with a smattering of Finnish and other world beers. Alas, I didn't make a list and the webpage doesn't appear to have one either - anyway I don't like making lists on my blog, it doesn't make for good reading. I also suspect that the selection changes on an ongoing basis.

The quiet downstairs bar looked inviting. Overwhelming, more like!! I was, for once, left speechless by the amount of beers displayed in floor to ceiling, glass cabinets lining every wall. I've never seen so many beers in one place - and mostly full. They have a thing that if you bring a beer that they don't have, you get a free beer. Maybe a gimmick but it kept me somewhat distracted for the night. An amazing collection of contemporary and historic bottles.

So, being in Finland, first up was Kukko Dark Lager (4.3%) for me and Kukko Porter (6.5%) for my willing tasting partner. Damn, should have taken the porter which did all that a coffee, chocolate, strong imperial porter should - the dark(ish) lager being rather unremarkable.

Oh oh, this is turning into a list/beer review. Mmmm. Okay very quickly....Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel (4.7%) was had, so was Lia Fail (4.7%) Scottish dark(ish) ale - all very nice but not too memorable. But what did stand out in a big way for me was Ivanhoe Very English Pale Ale (5.2%). Wow! a complex, fruity, big, balanced pale ale which I believe to be English brewed for the Scandinavian market. Lucky Scandys!!

This pub had an odd pricing policy on 75cl bottles. Although just a little over twice the size of a 33cl, they charged a little over three times as much as for a similar strength and quality 33cl bottle. Strange. Their speciality beers were priced much the same or maybe a little less than an Irish beer bar.

When it came to chucking out time, these guys politely do not mess around. Two minutes after the light flash, beer was not to be had. And three minutes after we were informed that the bar must be cleared in three minutes, we were outside, slightly bemused. They stuck to their habit of having the bar cleared on time and we stuck to our habit of staying until the very last minute. All quite agreeable really.

Oh, and they served food too but as we had been driven to a dodgy kebab by the microbrewery (see Finland pt 2), I never thought to check out what it was they were serving

My time there saw me in two other bars. What's the general story? A lot of generic lager. A lot of Lapin Kulta. A lot of Czech lager and some Estonian lager. But what pleased me was that every bar seemed to have some Czech dark lager - mostly Kozel. If every bar in Ireland had such a thing, I'd be a little happier.

They also, like their Scandinavian neigbours, drink lots of fruit "cider", Koppaberg and Rekorderlig being omnipresent as well as some English made, Scandinavian market cider. Oh and sweet, salty, strangely nice, black, vodka shots! Salmiakki!! And they also have what may be the original alcopop - a grapefruit and gin based drink called 'Gin' which was developed for the 1952 Olympics and stayed around getting Finns inadvertently smashed and giving them terrible hangovers ever since.

To finally wrap up this much longer than intended Finnish entry, I must tell you about a new use for beer that I learned. Now, this might sound horrible but trust me on this - it works. While having a leisurely afternoon after sauna, our host suddenly get excited about something (no, not in that way!). A can of beer is produced, a little is mixed with water and the mix thrown on the hot coals. We were gently enveloped in a steamy, malty, bready, beery cloud. Honest, it was really nice. My non beer drinking wife even liked it! It's not unlike the smell you get from breweries when they're boiling the wort.

The Sauna


Now, I'm off to find some more uses for beer.

My last drink was; Schneiderweiss/Brooklyner Hopfenweiss, 50cl, 8.2%abv