Ölbeat 006: Pyynikin Sessio White IPA

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 4,6 %
@RateBeer

Cold, hoppy and refreshing

Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo, which operates in Tampere, was founded in 2012 and has already made its mark among Finnish microbreweries. The brewery is the first and yet only one to have a bottle tasting pack of different beers commercially available in Finland. The Sessio tasting pack has six under 4,7 % abv beers: American IPA, Bitter, Red Ale, Stout, Wheat and White IPA. The last on the list was my favourite, so it ended up here. Of course, there are many other quality brews in the brewery's beer selection, so this probably won't be the last Ölbeat about their products.

What about the beer?
Colour is cloudy yellow with a medium white head. Aroma has sour fruits, mainly grapefruit or lemon. Taste comes first with some dry hops and is followed by some grapefruit. Bitter and fruity aftertaste last somewhat long. Fresh package, I'd say.

The freshness and hoppyness of a wheat ale is a pleasant surprise. I'm not much of a friend of wheat in beer. Because of the usual over-the-top orange peel taste I find wheat ales very summerish and seasonal. And seasonal beers are not my pint of brew. 

Ölbeat

The freshness of the beer requires something fresh and funky besides it. Since the brewery has had its say in Finnish beer culture and doesn't have problems in using the public word, the choice was this Finnish funky jazzy swingy tune:

Ricky-Tick Big Band & Julkinen Sana: Julkinen sana (YouTube)

From the 2013 album, Burnaa, the song was the first public sign of collaboration of the big band and three Finnish rap artists Paleface, Redrama and Tommy Lindgren (from Don Johnson Big Band). Julkinen sana got a lot of radio airplay at the time, though the song is somewhat far from mainstream pop and rock. Personally I felt it was nice to hear something fresh and funky from the radio: Finnish rap lyrics and big band come together well, although these collaborations aren't so usual in the Suomirap scene. Redrama and Tommy Lindgren usually rap in English, so another surprise was that the switch of language didn't sound artificial.

Overall very refreshing, like Sessio White IPA is.