Ölbeat 337 (BC17 #24): Vakka-Suomen Prykmestar Savukataja

Brewery: Vakka-Suomen Panimo (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: Smoked Ale
Abv: 9 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is dark brown with a small natural white head. Aroma has pure smoked ham and spices. *A short break while the blogger couldn't help himself from making and eating a cheese-ham rye sandwich. And another cheese-ham rye sandwich.* Taste begins with smoothly bitter meaty smoke. Heavily smoked malts and thick cured ham takes over with spicy peppery side tones. Towards the end bitter burned liquorice gets mixed with the dominating meaty smoke. Aftertaste has sweetish bitter liquorice and spicy smoky dryness.

Strong and meaty Smoked Ale. The association of smoked meat or heavily cured ham is present from the first aroma to the final end. And that's stunningly beautiful. Frankly, this is the best smoked beer I've had - beats Bamberg any day. A modern classic from the Uusikaupunki-based brewery.

Ölbeat

For the sake of Christmas Eve, I had to give in a little and pick the only seasonal song of the calendar here. Originally from the animated movie The Snowman (1982) and written by composer Howard Blake, I picked a slightly modernized version from the 90's. Merry Christmas!

Nightwish: Walking in the Air (YouTube)

From the 1998 album Ocean, the song was written by Howard Blake.

Ölbeat 319 (BC17 #6): Sori Anniversary Barley Wine 2017

Brewery: Sori Brewing
Country: Estonia
Style: Barley Wine 
Abv: 11,6 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma has caramel, chocolate and brandy. Taste begins with sweet and boozy bitter fruity bite. Sweet caramel and bitter dark fruits take over with some alcohol kick. Towards the end sweet chocolate and creamy caramel get on top with smoothly bitter and fruity - grapes, plums and raisins - cognac coating. Aftertaste has sweet red grapes, bitter caramel and lasting fruit liquor warmth.

Sweet and fruity barrel-aged Barley Wine. Caramel, dark fruits and cognac play excellent head roles here, some chocolate and lingering gentle bitterness fit in the picture perfectly. Beautiful brew for celebrating both the brewery's 2nd and Finland's 100th anniversary.

Ölbeat

Just something great and Finnish music to accompany this superb brew.

Nightwish: Deep Silent Complete (YouTube)

From the 2000 album Wishmaster, the song was written by Tuomas Holopainen.

Ölbeat 187: Malmgård Barley Wine

Brewery: Malmgård
Country: Finland
Style: Barley Wine
Abv: 10,4 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is dark reddish brown with a small tan head. Aroma has a strong malty scent, sweet dark fruits and some hops. Taste starts with strongly malty bitterness. Sweet caramel malts and bitter dark fruits take over. Near the finish bitter and slightly piny dryness gets on top with alcohol warmth. Aftertaste has lasting piny bitter dryness and a spike of alcohol.

Tasty Barley Wine with nasty attitude. Strength rolls over, unhidden and unleashed malty power fills the mouth. Supported by sweet fruits, biting bitterness and beautiful long dryness it makes this an unforgettable brew.

Ölbeat

For some reason I decided that this requires a great Nightwish song. Despite most of the songs have a female vocalist - Tarja, Anette or Floor - , my favourite tracks have vocals of the band's bassist Marco Hietala. One the favourites to match a great Finnish brew. Powerful ballad from the edge of the world.

Nightwish: The Islander (YouTube)

From the 2007 album Dark Passion Play, the song was written by Marco Hietala and Tuomas Holopainen.

Ölbeat 147: Plevnan Siperia Imperial Stout 2016 vs. 2015

Brewery: Koskipanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 8,0 %
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The 2015 senior on the left, the 2016 junior on the right

Out of curiosity and thinking about the nearing Finland's Independence Day, I tried a fresh and a one year old bottle of Plevnan Siperia. This Imperial Stout from Koskipanimo brewery in Tampere has been selected as the best beer in Finland several times and it tops the Finnish beers at Ratebeer as of now (= 6 December 2016). People seem to have different opinions on if you get the best out of Siperia straight from the tap, from a fresh bottle or after some time in the cellar. Well, I don't care about other people's opinions on this kind of things - I had to test it myself.    

First up goes the freshman...

What about the beer (2016)?

Colour is black with a large beige head. Aroma has orange, mild roast and chocolate. Taste starts with dry roasty bitterness. Roasted malts and bitter grapefruit take over. Near the finish powerful citrus flavours step in front. Aftertaste has lasting grapefruit bitterness and roasty dryness.

Citrus-grapefruit-aroma packed, strongly bitter Imperial Stout. The roast comes truly out only in the beginning and in the finish. There are no signs of coffee or chocolate flavours one expects from "an Impy". If this was a Black IPA, it would be great. As an Imperial Stout it falls behind some Finnish Imps. Very tasty brew in any case.

...followed by the sophomore.

What about the beer (2015)?

Colour is black with small beige head. Aroma has sweet citrus (mostly orange), chocolate, coffee and roasted malts - truly delicious scent. Taste lifts off with dark chocolate and soft citrus bitterness. Sweet soft roast and gently sweet bitter grapefruit-orange juice linger around the mouth. Black coffee and dark chocolate rise slowly. Near the finish roasted malts and bitter grapefruit step in front. Aftertaste has fruity bitterness, roasty dryness and alcohol warmth.

What happens when you don't expect much? You get blown away. For me, Siperia straight from the tap is "just a bitter stout". Fresh from bottle it's a decent Imp with a Black-IPAish strong citrus bite. Cellared for one year? Man, the flavours: bitter and sweet citrus, gentle & striking roast, coffee & chocolate. One year turns this one to a specially delicious world class brew. 

Ölbeat

At first we'll have to get something aggressive to match the heavy citrus and roast flavours of the 2016 Siperia. In Finnish, there's a saying: "Siperia opettaa." (roughly translated "Siberia educates"). The saying goes back to the time from the start of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, when criminals and contrarians were sentenced to labour camps in Siberia. The idea was to break the human.

Mokoma: Nujerra ihminen (YouTube)

From the 2007 album Luihin ja ytimiin, the song was written by Marko Annala and Kuisma Aalto.

Then there's the richer older version. The illusion of just simply crushing the human with pure force has vanished. Instead they offer you a dream of something or someone beautiful that seems so close in the dream. But you wake up in the real world where there's no sign of the dream. And that crushes you more than... The glass is empty. Damn. 

Nightwish: Ever Dream (YouTube)

From the 2002 album Century Child, the song was written by Tuomas Holopainen.

Ölbeat 048: Huvila Arctic Circle Ale

Brewery: Malmgård
Country: Finland 
Style: Spiced Ale
Abv: 7,3 %
@RateBeer

Northern brew spiced with rye and juniper

What about the beer?
Colour is thick dark brown with medium vanilla head. Aroma has sweet malts, mild toffee and vanilla. Taste starts with moderately hoppy first bite, but quickly turns to sweet malts with herbal notes (juniper?) and rye bread flavour. Toward the finish we get hoppy alcohol-twisted bitterness. Aftertaste has sweet bitterness and alcohol warmth.

Very enjoyable spiced malty ale. The juniper twigs and rye malt used in the brewing really come out and give plenty of unique taste to the beer. It was really fortunate that I managed to grab a bottle of this in February, since right now it's not available. But I'm sure we'll get more in fall. 

Ölbeat

Arctic Circle as an inspirator for and a theme of the brew made me look for a song that reminds me of the northernmost parts of the world. Despite the fact that this particular song was inspired by a solar eclipse in Europe, the Finnish band and the name of the song just popped up to be matched with the beer:

Nightwish: Sleeping Sun (YouTube)

From the 1999 MaxiCD Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads of the Eclipse), the song was written by the band's keyboardist-songwriter Tuomas Holopainen. The song was re-recorded and re-released in 2005 for the compilation album Highest Hopes.

Ölbeat 017: De Molen Tsarina Esra

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen
Country: the Netherlands
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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The Empress of imperial porters

Tsarina Esra is shortly described as being an imperial porter, which thanks to the fullness, the richness in flavour and the warming feeling makes it perfect for cold nights. In Finland the winter nights tend to be cold, much colder than the Dutch ones, so we didn't need long marketing speeches for this one.

What about the beer?
Colour is black with tiny vanishing beige head. Aroma has coffee, roasted malts and liquorice. Taste begins with gently-heavily roasted (not burnt) malts, soon accompanied by sweetish strong black coffee and salty dark chocolate. Palate adds late hoppy bitterness and some yeast. Aftertaste is sweet and warmly alcoholic.

If there was a porter brewed by the book without any impurities or defects, but still roughly challenging its drinker to a "wishing-this-would-never-end" experience, then this would be it. Truly a royal beer.

Ölbeat

For a counterpart of a beautifully tough beer, I chose this metal ballad by two by-then-veterans of heavy rock:

Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne: Close My Eyes Forever (YouTube)

From Lita Ford's 1988 album Lita, the track was written together by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. For a result of drinking, singing and jamming the song was a success - as the usual story goes. The voices of rough raspy Ford and gloomy high-toned Osbourne make it an unforgettable duet. The lyrics have been interpreted to be about i.e. being scared of falling in or losing love, but there's no confirmed background story. When I heard the song for the first time I was caught in the chorus: "If I close my eyes forever, will it all remain the same?" Closing my eyes while sipping Tsarina Esra immediately reminded me of the song: while tasting a majestic brew I was probably asking the question in my mind.

Brewer's Choice

Nightwish: Over the Hills and Far Away (YouTube)

From the self-titled 2001 EP, the track is a cover of Gary Moore's 1987 original from Wild Frontier. The Nightwish version is a symphonic metal update: the opera-singer-trained vocals of Tarja Turunen bring the singing more in front and the arrangement by songwriter-keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is heavier than in the original. Otherwise the Nightwish version is loyal to Moore's story about a man who gets framed for a robbery he didn't commit. His alibi is spending the night with his love, who is his best friend's wife, but he doesn't want to reveal the secret and goes to jail instead. The song helped to lift Nightwish to international success, but the EP marked another turning point in the band's history: it was the last recording for bassist Sami Vänskä, who was replaced by Marco Hietala.