Ölbeat 029: Kotipanimo Hirvi Otso 2.0 / Homebrew

Brewery: Kotipanimo Hirvi - Homebrew
Country: Finland
Style: Stout
Abv: 5,2 %
Won't find this @RateBeer.

It was Teddy 2.0, not 2.0 Teddies...

Kotipanimo Hirvi is the name of a homebrewery of one young dude in Helsinki, Finland. The dude has his beer review and homebrewing blog, Nuorukaisen vaahtosukelluksia (Foam Dives of a Young Man), in Finnish. His own review of Otso 2.0 tells us, that the stout is spiced with lactose, vanilla and cocoa. We should expect a beer with coffee, dark chocolate and roasty aroma and flavour. Let us wait no longer - time for tasting.

What about the beer?
Colour is black with half-finger thick beige head. Aroma has roasted malts on top, black coffee and dark chocolate on the side. Taste begins with roasted, slightly burnt malts and a tiny hop bite. Journey continues with black coffee, dark chocolate and malty flavor. Palate adds some medium-sweet bitterness. Aftertaste offers mild coffee with malty hints and lasts nicely long.

Mouthfeel is nicely silky and round all the way. One could probably ask more edge, but then again there are no overpowering factors present. The start is powerful enough, maybe a late hop (Saaz or Sladek?) or a crazy amount of vanilla could have made the beer strong all the way. Anyway, Kotipanimo Hirvi is on its way from good to great. Cheers until the next time!

Ölbeat

The brew had a nice dark mellow mood. I decided to find a Finnish song that has somewhat shady and heavy - ended up with this:

Sara: Vielä muodostan varjoni (YouTube)

From the 2006 album He kutsuivat luokseen, the song's composition was credited for the whole band and the lyrics wer written by singer-guitarist Joa Korhonen. The music in the song relies on the combination of Korhonen's soft and clear tenor vocals and piano-guitar -based rock. There's a short synthesizer solo in the middle of the song. The song's name translates to "I still form my shadow": the lyrics don't form a coherent story but they might have something to do with need to change and dependance to other people in doing that. There's some uncertainty in the bridge: "Kuinka paljon kestän vielä? / Onnistunko kerran vielä?" ("How much more can I last? / Can I succeed once more?"). The song's mood is shady as it was with Otso brew, too.

Brewer's Choice

The brewer himself thought of big band music from the 30's or the 40's - round and mellow but still energetic. His ultimate choice was this fine classic.

Glenn Miller: Perfidia (YouTube)

Recorded by Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1941, the song was originally written in Spanish by Mexican composer Alberto Dominguez. The English lyrics were written by Milton Leeds. Vocals were sung by 16-year old Dorothy Claire and vocal group The Modernaires. The English lyrics are addressed to a woman called Perfidia (translates from Spanish to 'perfidy' i.e. 'betrayal' or 'treachery'), whom the narrator has loved before finding out her being unfaithful. The orchestration shows Miller and his band in its best with heavy brass in the start and the clarinets following. Smooth and swingy, like the brew.