Ölbeat 324 (BC17 #11): Põhjala Cellar Series: Öö XO

Brewery: Pôhjala
Country: Estonia
Style: Baltic Porter
Abv: 11,5 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a finger-thick beige head. Aroma has fruity liquor, chocolate and sweet roasted malts. Taste begins with sweet fruity boozy bite. Syrupy roasted malts, sweet espresso and dark chocolate take over with fruity alcohol coating. Towards the end fruity and boozy warmth of cognac is released against bittersweet chocolate. Aftertaste has sweet dark fruits, dark chocolate and smooth liquor warmth.

Really rich and fabulous barrel-aged Imperial Stout. Fruity biting cognac flavours really enhance the sweet roast and chocolate of the original Öö. Delicious aftertaste seems to linger around and warm the mouth endlessly. From any other brewery this would be a superb surprise, but from Põhjala this adds to the continuum of solid dark brews.

Ölbeat

"Under his spell / Blinding my eyes / Twisting my mind / Fight to resist the evil inside." Ok, that's Satan alright. Someone would call it sacrilege to combine a strong and beautiful dark beer with a thrash metal classic. Well, I think it's pretty devilish to brew this kind of barrel-aged stuff again and again.

Slayer: Black Magic (YouTube)

From the 1983 album Show No Mercy, the song was written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King.

Ölbeat 285: Ôllenaut Must Eksport Puidul

Brewery: Õllenaut
Country: Estonia
Style: Baltic Porter
Abv: 11,1 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a diminishing beige crown. Aroma has milk chocolate, vanilla, roast and coffee. Taste starts with sweet boozy roast. Sweet charred malts and milk chocolate take over with some coffee and vanilla flavours. Towards the end chocolate-malty sweetness gets joined with roasted smooth bitterness and spicy oak. Aftertaste has sweet vanillaish chocolate, bitter cocoa powder and malty roast.

Delicious sweet-spicy Imperial Baltic Porter. The bourbon barrel chips show their nature in flavour. Otherwise it's smooth layers of chocolate supported by roast and vanilla. Excellent dessert brew. Top of the art once again by Ôllenaut.

Ölbeat

This is the 10th post of a beer brewed by this great Estonian brewery - hopefully the series continues*. Haven't had an ordinary beer from them yet. All step out of the pack and have been excellent. So the song choice reflects my relationship with their brews.

Apocalyptica (feat. Brent Smith): Not Strong Enough (YouTube)

From the 2010 album 7th Symphony, the song was written by Diane Warren.

* I count the whisky experiment with traditional Must Eksport in, because the beers chosen to the test were top of the notch brews. And other opinions don't matter.

Ölbeat 245: Thisted / Mikkeller Beer Geek Limfjordsporter

Brewery: Thisted Bryghus (in Danish) / Mikkeller
Country: Denmark
Style: Baltic Porter 
Abv: 7,7 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a large beige head. Aroma has ash, charcoal and espresso. Taste begins with heavy ashy-charcoaly and bitter roast. Ashy and smoky dry malts take over with bitter burned bread flavour. Towards the end burned malts get espresso and liquorice tones. Aftertaste has extra dry smoky charcoal roast and bitter coffee.

Heavily ashy, smoky and bitter Porter. Both the roast and the bitterness go through the roof in this one. The flavour is powerful and intense. Raw and violent in a good sense. It's clear that this divides drinkers to lovers and haters. I liked it a lot, but love didn't start easy.

Ölbeat

The choice was made between two songs with the same name, one from David Bowie and the other from Faith No More. But it wasn't tough: Bowie's hit from 1980 still didn't hit the spot - Major Tom simply sucks. Instead, Faith No More's Album of the Year gets its second entry to the blog, which is simply great.

Faith No More: Ashes to Ashes (YouTube)

From the 1997 album Album of the Year, the song was written by Jon Hudson, Mike Patton, Mike Bordin, Billy Gould and Roddy Bottum.

Ölbeat 190: Sori Brewing Vanilla Cake Fever

Brewery: Sori Brewing
Country: Estonia
Style: Baltic Porter
Abv: 9,9 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a finger-thick vanishing beige head. Aroma has charred malts, espresso, spices and dark chocolate. Taste begins with sweet vanilla-spiced chocolate. Sweet roasted chocolate malts with spicy bitterness and vanillaish black coffee takes over. Towards the end chocolate, vanilla and alcohol come through. Aftertaste has roasted dryness, spicy dark chocolate and alcohol bitterness.

Black, sweet and tasty. Great Imperial Baltic Porter with lots of chocolate and vanilla. Roast, coffee and booze flavours are there too. Excellent dessert brew.

Ölbeat

This was a choice between vanilla, cake and fever. Since Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli are meant for other blogs than this, and Peggy Lee's or Madonna's Fever just isn't there, we're left with the cake. Since it's always nice to watch middle-aging men running around the stage on the music video, I chose this classic. What? It ain't a Benassi or Prydz video, is it?

Van Halen: Poundcake (YouTube)

From the 1991 album For Unawful Carnal Knowledge, the song was written by Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen.

Ölbeat 144: Ôllenaut Must Eksport

Brewery: Õllenaut
Country: Estonia
Style: Baltic Porter
Abv: 8,3 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with just visible thin beige crown. Aroma has sweet roasted malts, luring coffee and vanillaish chocolate note. Taste bites first with sweet alcohol. Roasted malts and sweet coffee with a dark chocolate twist take over. Sweet bitterness with dark fruit and chocolate notes rises near the finish. Aftertaste has roasted malts, sweet coffee and alcoholic bitterness - and it lasts long.

Magnificently tasty Baltic Porter. Delicate sweetness is dominant but flavours under it vary from roast and coffee to chocolate, fruits and bitterness. Definitely more complex than classic Finnish Koff Porter. Even slightly more delicious?

Ölbeat

The beer feels smooth and silky, though the flavours are strong. This time I connect the brew's colour with a smooth English singer. The mellow mood of the song matches the dark and bitter liquid. Sadly, Colin "Black" Vearncombe passed away in January 2016 after being in a traffic accident.

Black: Wonderful Life (YouTube)

From the 1987 album Wonderful Life, the song was written by Colin Vearncombe.

Ölbeat 058: Pôhjala Öö

'Brewery: Pôhjala 
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial Baltic Porter
Abv: 10,5 %
@RateBeer

Estonian version of the night

What about the beer?
Colour is intense black with tiny beige crown. Aroma has black coffee, sweet roasted malts and chocolate. Taste begins with sweet roasted malts and slight bitterness. Coffee joins the party right after the start. Near the finish we get a roasted hoppy bite, more coffee and dark chocolate. Aftertaste has bitter sweetness and roasted malts.

Absolutely beautiful beer. Sweet roasted malts with delicious coffee and chocolate flavours, not forgetting the smooth hoppy bitterness in start and finish. Superb Imperial/Baltic Porter as they should always be.

Ölbeat

The beer is named the night, it is black and has dark flavours. So we pick a song with a theme and the feeling beyond sunset:

Deep Purple: Black Night (YouTube)

Originally released as a single in 1970, the song was written by Deep Purple.

Ölbeat 004: Sinebrychoff Koff Porter

Brewery: Sinebrychoff
Country: Finland  
Style: Baltic Porter
Abv: 7,2 %
@RateBeer

Possibly the best porter in Finland

Sinebrychoff is Finland's largest brewery by sales and the oldest one still working (founded in 1819). Since 1999 the brewery has been owned by Carlsberg. Its most popular beer brands are Koff and Karhu, which are among the most sold beer brands in Finland. But that's not the reason for the brewery's product to end up here.

There are two reasons:

1. Sinebrychoff Koff Porter is by far the brewery's flagship beer, so it would have been on this blog sooner or later.
2. This is one part of a joint blogpost by some Finnish beerbloggers, whose posts will be linked in the end of this post. The father of the idea writes posts to Tuopillinen. (Actually, he stole the idea from some winebloggers, the witty bastard, but hey, I don't mind.)

What about the beer?
The beer pours black with two-finger thick brown head. Aroma has sweet malts with a hint of burned wood. Taste is first roasted then caramel malts with chocolate-ish coffee. Palate adds bittersweet hops that come gently through in the aftertaste. Not in any way an easy package, but then again very drinkable.

Well, how can I put it? Jaska ain't completely off the course while praising this to be one of the best beers made in Finland. Very tasty porter that could and should be The Beer from Finland instead of all industrial-tasting brands we all know. If you don't know, have a pint of Koff Porter first.
  
Ölbeat

With The Beer from Finland you have to get an originally Finnish band. Someone could describe this a performance by a male choir, but it's not. It's a piece of Finnish rock:

Seminaarinmäen Mieslaulajat a.k.a Semmarit: Life is a Highway (MySpace)

From Spotify you get the Finnish original version Mopedimies (from Sampo Texas, 1996):
 

From the 2014 English album, the title song Life is a Highway pretty much sums up the band's/choir's way to success. Abandoning the traditional way of male choir performance - controlled singing and standing  - and building a rock show with crazy coreographies and references to popular music is how the group of 21 men can give the audience an unforgettable experience. I had my first in summer 1998 and have had some more since.

Even though MySpace or Spotify can give one only the music without the movement, you'll probably get the idea. And if you don't, check out YouTube and the tour dates. I would say that Semmarit does the same to Finnish choir music that Koff Porter does to Finnish beer: makes a difference.

Links to the other bloggers' posts on Koff Porter (in alphabetical order - blogs in Finnish):

• Arde arvioi
• Huurteinen 
• JaskanKaljat
• Kaunis humala
• Keikyblogi
• Loppasuut
• Maistuva Mallas 
• Maltainen 
• Musamiehen oluet
• mushiMALT
• Olutverkko
• Pullollinen 
• Punavuori Gourmet 
• Reittausblogi
• Tuopillinen
• Tuopin ääressä
• Tyttö ja tuoppi
• Viinihullun päiväkirja