Where? In Pori, Finland.
When? On Friday, 24 February, 2017. Between 6 and 11 p.m.
Why? It was the gentlemen's evening out.
"Sometimes a man feels lucky." No, that's not the sentence for anyone's wedding day or a phrase to say on the morning of one's 50th anniversary. The words don't describe the feelings that buzz around romantic or marital relationships, getting children and finally kicking them out of the house or attending the funeral of your father-in-law... or wait... No. A man feels lucky when he gets a chance to have a pint, two or many in good company.
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| Bar from outside. Notice surrounding the East German style architecture. |
And that's the way it was last Friday. Me and my buddy - two married guys with children - had a rare chance to step out of the role of father and husband for couple of hours. Started our journey in the heart of the Finnish West Coast Pearl at around 5 p.m. First at Blind Burger with fine burgers. Then around 6 p.m. entered the Pori pilgrimage site for beer lovers.
Restaurant Beer Hunter's - as well as the brewery of the same name - is led by brewer Mika Tuhkanen. Both the restaurant and the brewery were founded in 1998. The original brewery is still in function at the restaurant premises but used mainly for special batches. The larger brewery that lies in Herralahti - couple of kilometers from the center - was started in 2014 and it's used for brewing the main commercial products (like CCCCC IPA) of the brewery.
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| Half of the tap row from the left... |
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| ... and the other half from the right. |
The restaurant went through a major change in the winter-spring 2016: the tap line was completely renewed. The amount of taps was increased from X (a few, five, less than then, who cares?) to 24, of which 15-16 are changing craft beer taps. The amount of brewery's own products on tap has seemed to vary between four and six. In addition, there is a decent collection of bottled beer available. As a whisky bar, Beer Hunter's has even more to offer. But that's another story.
One thing that didn't change was the genuine pub style. Even though one can get sour beers, sometimes even on tap, the restaurant hast been decorated either with cheap bling or with artificial second-hand barn furniture. It's a cozy suburbian bar style pub with a beer lover's selection.
But enough with the advertising - back to the business!
Let's start with the Beer Hunter's own Mufloni brews - from tap of course.
Mufloni Savuportteri (@Ratebeer)
Colour is black with a two-finger thick natural white head. Aroma has meaty smoke and roasted malts. Taste starts with a smoky bitter bite. Intense smoke and roasted malts take over with nice
bitterness. Near the finish smoke gets sweeter and roasty bitterness
comes through. Aftertaste has roasted malts and smoky bitter dryness.
Mufloni Tripel (@Ratebeer)
Colour is hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma has pineapple, orange and yeast. Taste begins with yeasty and fruity wheat malts. Yeasty sweet malts and sour citrus takes
over with gentle bitterness. Near the finish sweet yeasty citrus fruits
get on top. Aftertaste has bittersweet citrus and yeasty dryness.
Both Mufloni beers were between good and excellent. Savuporter had the qualities of both well-smoked beer and thick roasted porter. Tripel seemed to be traditional abbey brew with a citrus-flavoured hop twist.
Then to the guest taps - one Scottish and one Belgian beer, please!
BrewDog Self Assembly Pope (@Ratebeer)
Colour is black with a small tan head. Aroma has strong perfumeish coconut and chocolate - like a liquid Bounty bar. Taste starts with bittersweet coconut and cocoa mix. Sweet coconut-chocolate and
bitter roast take over. Near the finish spicy coffee and vanilla get
mixed to the flavour. Aftertaste has sweet coconut, roasty bitterness and alcohol
warmth.
Rodenbach Alexander (@Ratebeer)
Colour is hazy red with a huge natural white head. Aroma has heavy sourness, cherries and yeast. Taste begins with sour berries. Sour cherry juice takes over with slight bitterness. Near the finish cherry sweetness gets through. Aftertaste has sweet-sour
cherries.
Mmm and grrr. Whereas BrewDog SAP surprises with a tasty imperial porter with almost artificial coconut-chocolate-vanilla coating, Rodenbach Alexander really disappoints with pretty one-sided less sour and more sweet cherry juice. Well, I'm not the best friend of fruit or berry sours, so don't take it personally.
In the end, we have couple of American bottlings.
AleSmith Old Numbskull (@Ratebeer)
Colour is beautiful dark brown with a thin white lace. Aroma has caramel, chocolate, nuts and sweet liquor. Taste starts with fruity sweet bitterness. Sweet rich caramel and milk
chocolate take over with a bourbon boozy bite. Near the finish fruity
bitterness and nutty vanillaish alcohol kicks in. Aftertaste has aged nutty
bitterness and bourbon vanilla alcohol.
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti (@Ratebeer)
Colour is black with a small vanishing beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, vanilla and chocolate. Taste begins with bitter oaky roast. Heavily roasted malts and vanilla-flavoured
bitterness take over with dark chocolate. Near the finish cocoa and
oaky flavours really get through. Aftertaste has bitter dark chocolate and roasty dryness.
Delicious finish for a great visit. Old Numbskull proved to be a barley wine worth every dime - soft but strong, probably aged for some time. Oak Aged Yeti showed the flavours of rich imperial stout - worthy older brother to the excellent standard version.
Ölbeat
Classy visit with only one miss, which can always be thought as lack of my personal taste. Let's end the story with a couple of classic and timeless 60's rock songs. Just to avoid putting here crap they call "music from Pori". To be continued...
Del Shannon: Runaway (YouTube)
Released as a single in 1961, the song was written by Del Shannon and Max Crook.
The Who: My Generation (YouTube)
From the 1965 album My Generation, the song was written by Pete Townshend.
