Ölbeat 235: Pyynikin Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Stout 
Abv: 13 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has chocolate, sweet coffee, roast and a drop of bourbon vanilla. Taste starts with sweet malty chocolate. Sweet coffee, dark chocolate and spicy roast take over with a boozy layer on top. Towards the end sweet chocolate-spicy liquor and roasty bitterness rise up. Aftertaste has bitter roast, sweet chocolate and gently spicy bourbon.

Wow. We've reached the point where beer turns to art. Fantastic Imperial Stout! Beautiful balance between bourbon barrel aging and sweet chocolate-coffee flavours of a great standard impy. Growing bitterness decorates the artwork. Pyynikki brewers truly show the divinity of craftsmanship with this one - top 2 Finnish beer. Huge thanks to Tampere!

Ölbeat

A world class brew I wish the world would know about requires to be paired with a song by a world class rock band I wish the world would know about. Forgetting the borders, politics and shit. "Save yourself now / You've got a mind all of your own." Powerful, aggressive and beautiful from the beginning to the end - like the beer. To be perfectly honest, I think Cold Kingdom are much closer to the goal, so there's the challenge to Pyynikki brewers: get there first. And no, Diablo is not my thing.

Cold Kingdom: Let It Burn (YouTube)

From the 2015 album The Moon and the Fool, the song was written by Cold Kingdom.

Ölbeat 161: Pyynikin Black IPA

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: India Black Ale
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a lasting fluffy finger-thick beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, sugary coffee and sweet chocolate. Taste begins with roasted bittersweet malts. Roasted-charred malts and slightly sweet coffee takes over with some dark chocolate in the background. Towards the end dry bitterness and dark fruit flavours get mixed to the taste. Aftertaste has roasted dryness and alcoholic citrus bitterness.

Black IPA is actually misleading in the name - this is closer to Porter or Stout. But a rather tasty one anyway. Roast, coffee and dark chocolate create a gloomy brew with rich and uncompromised flavours. There is some India Pale Ale style citrus in the aftertaste bitterness, though.

Ölbeat

Black, gloomy-themed brews seem to be the brews that make the brewers at Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo hit my soft spot. In autumn 2016, they released a limited edition Imperial Stout called Post Mortem, which was superb, too. With Black IPA we're not in the 'already dead' state, but thematically very near. As is the main character of this song.

My Chemical Romance: Welcome to the Black Parade (YouTube)

From the 2006 album The Black Parade, the song was written by Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, Mikey Way and Bob Bryar.

Ölbeat 130: Pyynikin Papan Vanilla Stout

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Stout
Abv: 6,8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with almost non-existing white crown. Aroma has charcoal roast, sweet black coffee and some fresh vanilla. Taste begins with gentle, slightly sweet roast flavour. Dark-roasted and slightly sweet coffee dominates the taste with malts and spices in the background. Towards the end chocolate malts and vanilla come through. Aftertaste has malty roast and some spicy charcoal dryness.

Deep and delicious Stout. Sweet roast and coffee, malts and vanilla. What's there to say? I'd love to drink this on every windy, rainy and cold autumn night. Excellent brew by the artisans from Tampere.

Ölbeat

Deep dark stout has to paired with southern state blues. This song is often interpreted to refer to SRV's personal, and eventually won, fight against alcohol addiction but others have thought that it's about living life to the fullest, moment by moment. Either way the song has similar positive mood as the brew gives.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Life by the Drop (YouTube)

From the 1991 album The Sky Is Crying (released posthumously, recorded in 1989), the song was written by Doyle Bramhall and Barbara Logan.

Ölbeat 038: Pyynikin Vahvaportteri

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 7,5 %
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Enjoy - or the Bogeyman gets ya!

What about the beer?
Colour is black as the night with medium beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, black coffee, hops and a tiny slice of liquorice. Taste begins with black coffee and sweet bitter hops in front. It smoothly rounds up to roasted caramel malt, and towards the finish liquorice and dark chocolate are added to the palette. Some rye taste is clearly present. Aftertaste is dry bitter and slightly burned.

Here we have a classic imperial porter at the purest. Slightly roasted malts, black coffee and sweet bitterness make this one a very enjoyable brew. As a bonus we get some liquorice and rye. Excellent - gets my recommendation.
 

Ölbeat

Something dark, powerful and spooky was the kind of music that was needed here. After some searching I got my hands to this happy and joyful tune. My apologies to the band (and the blog readers), but instead of the razor blade I'll keep choosing the bottle opener: 

Children of Bodom: Blooddrunk (YouTube)

From the 2008 album Blooddrunk, the song was written by Alexi Laiho.

Ölbeat 006: Pyynikin Sessio White IPA

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