Skitbit Sep 2017: Hartwall Lahden Erikois IPA

Brewery: Hartwall
Country: Finland
Style: Session IPa 
Abv: 4,7 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is golden yellow with a large white head. Aroma has lemon, grapefruit and mild fruity notes. Taste starts with very mild citrus. Nothing special or nothing ordinary - except the waiting for something to replace the thin watery malty flavour - takes over. Towards the end there's faint grapefruit bitterness and some malty sweetness. Aftertaste has mild pine and harsh cardboardy citrus bitterness.

Harmless, tasteless and forgettable Session Ale. Baa-ad watery stuff, ugly caricature of a hop-driven brew. This would probably go ok with some spicy food since its flavour could be enhanced a bit, but I would prefer a usual lager after sauna to this. As a beer, this didn't have any on- and only some off-flavours, so it's 0 points for the macro brewery and relegation to the 5th division. It'll take some time for me to pick anything from Hartwall again.

Skitbit

Things are going shitty in Lahti, Finland. The city is running out of good breweries - Teerenpeli is at its best mediocre and the others are bad or out of business. There aren't too many good pubs around - actually none. The music from the Chicago of Finland is worse than shit, the following example is a fine example of how bad things can go without good beer around.

Arttu Lindeman: Läikkyy (YouTube)

Published as a single 2016, the song was written by DJ Fresh and Diplo as Earthquake (and copied later by a bunch of incompetent d**kheads for this song).

Ölbeat 294: Rocking Bear Kuukkari Kreippi IPA

Brewery: Rocking Bear Brewers (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 4 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is clear light yellow with a large white head. Aroma has grapefruit, mango and pineapple. Taste starts with gently bitter citrus peel. Grapefruit juice with gentle bitterness takes over. Towards the end slightly sweet lemonade flavour takes over, otherwise it gets a little thin. Aftertaste is mildly citrusy bitter and sweet.

Citrus dominated Session IPA. Better than expected - easily drinkable, fresh summer beer. No challenge but not much else than citrus juice. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's nice to another new brewery in Pori.

Ölbeat

Just tried to pick a light summer song that doesn't disturb nor get the party started. Fits in the picture, since Jamiroquai visited Pori Jazz festival this summer. 

Jamiroquai: Seven Days in Sunny June (YouTube)

From the 2005 album Dynamite, the song was written by Jay Kay and Matt Johnson.

Ölbeat 220: Tanker Reloaded

Brewery: Tanker
Country: Estonia
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 5,8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is copper orange with a huge fluffy natural white head. Aroma has grapefruit, malts, orange and some floral notes. Taste starts with piny bitter citrus bite. Moderately bitter grapefruit with sharply piny dryness takes over. Towards the end sweet orange is added but bitter pine gets above other flavours. Aftertaste has extra dry pine with fruity bitterness.

Pine dominates this great Session IPA. But the citrus is nicely present, too. Rough stuff for this abv level. Which is nice.

Ölbeat

Now we get completely off the right path by matching an Estonian Session IPA with ex-Swedish House Mafia member's house track. Well, sometimes something unexpectable and beautiful happens. Enjoy!

Sebastian Ingrosso & Tommy Trash feat. John Martin: Reload - Vocal version (YouTube)

Published as a single in 2013, the song was written by Sebastian Ingrosso, Michel Zitron, Adam Baptiste, Tommy Trash, Vincent Pontare and John Martin Lindström.

Ölbeat 209: Alechemy Photon IPA

Brewery: Alechemy
Country: Scotland
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 4,3 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is hazy golden orange with a small white head. Aroma has grapefruit, malts and orange. Taste starts with bitter, slightly piny citrus. Tart-bitter malty grapefruit takes over with a sour citrus side tone. Towards the end some pine gets through. Aftertaste has sweet fruits, bitter grapefruit and a bit harsh dry twist.

Basically a fine session IPA with distinctive grapefruit and some malty-piny side tones. Some harsh dryness in the end makes a tiny crack to the freshness. Still a tasty thirst quencher.

Ölbeat

Bluesy rock was a sure choice for this one. For once I let the lyrics speak: "You can have your riches / All the gold you saved / There ain't room for one thing / In everybody's grave / Bang, bang, bang, bang. / Vamanos, vamanos." That's all I have to say about that.

Clutch: Electric Worry (YouTube)

From the 2007 album From Beale Street to Oblivion, the song was written by Clutch and Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Ölbeat 173: Stone (Berlin) Go To IPA

Brewery: Stone Brewing Berlin
Country: Germany (United States)
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 4,7 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is cloudy golden yellow with a 2-finger thick white head. Aroma has superfresh grapefruit, orange and mango. Taste lifts off with extra powerful dry fruity bitterness. Bitter grapefruit takes over with slowly growing pine flavour. Near the finish dry strong pine gets mixed with citrus and sweet fruity flavours. Aftertaste has bitter grapefruit with tropical fruit tones and strong lasting dryness.

The King of session IPAs is here. Unbelievably strong and fresh grapefruit is beautifully crashed with piny dry and a bitter kick. The fruity aroma and flavours fit perfectly together. Great. Delicious.

Ölbeat

"And all the guys say / it's pretty fly for a session IPA" No, no, it didn't go like that. Except it does. Session IPA, as good as it gets, is still a low abv beer. You just can't hit the skies with that. However, this one truly earns some pretty fly respect.

The Offspring: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) (YouTube)

From the 1998 album Americana, the song was written by Dexter Holland.

Ölbeat 065: CREW Republic Detox

Brewery: CREW Republic
Country: Germany
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 3,4 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is bubbly golden yellow with a thick foamy white head. Aroma has hops, lemon and grass. Taste bites first with extra bitter hops. Fresh grapefruit with carbonation joins the party. Near the end sour lemon and piny dryness are added to the flavour. Aftertaste has mainly dry and bitter grapefruit.

Detox is a nicely fresh and tasty session IPA. Bitter, sour and dry flavours are present strongly enough but still this one goes down easily and quenches thirst well. With this abv this works better than many around 4,5 % session beers.

Ölbeat

Many, probably most low-alcohol beers tend to fall behind the stronger ones. But sometimes it's better to be a good loser than a bad winner. I'm not referring to any certain Skippy-Digestive brews, but here's the song for Detox:

Beck: Loser (YouTube)

From the 1994 album Mellow Gold, the song was written by Beck and Karl Stephenson.

Ölbeat 053: Raduga Lift to the Scaffold

Brewery: Browar Raduga
Country: Poland
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 4,7 %
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A.k.a Elevator to the Gallows, French crime film, 1958

What about the beer?
Colour is semi clear golden with tiny white foam layer. Aroma is dominated by malt with some citrus on the side. Taste bites first with sharp hoppy bitterness. Then comes stiff malty backbone, which is joined by tart lemon. Towards the end the lemon turns to grapefruit. Aftertaste is smoothly dry and bitter.

What can I say? Surprisingly firm and nicely malty session IPA. Great citrus aroma and flavours - both lemon and grapefruit have a refreshing role. Very interesting beer indeed.

Ölbeat

Even though tempted to match the brew with something from the movie's (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud) soundtrack, instead I pick something else from the jazz master behind it. Smooth and tender but still strong fits the brew perfectly: 

Miles Davis: 'Round Midnight (YouTube)

From the 1957 album 'Round About Midnight, the song was written by jazz pianist Thelonius Monk.

Ölbeat 035: Sori Out of Office Session IPA

Brewery: Sori Brewing
Country: Estonia 
Style: Session IPA
Abv: 4,5 %
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After work it's time to chill

Sori Brewing, founded in 2014, is a microbrewery in Tallinn, Estonia. The people behind the brewery are two Finns, Pyry Hurula and Heikki Uotila, who decided to start a brewery without compromises. In Finland it would have been hard, if not even impossible. The brewery is owned by 225 investors, who have crowdfunded the brewery's growth with two batches of share emissions. Out of Office was one of the first brews from the brewery - tasted it for a couple of times and now bringing it out to the blog.

What about the beer?
Colour is cloudy golden yellow with huge white slowly suffocated head. Aroma has mild scents of orange, pear and pineapple.Taste gives fresh hops and lemon in the start: the absolute first bite is dry and very bitter. Lemon and grapefruit soon spread all over the mouth, some sweet fruit like pear or pineapple is sensed in the background. Palate adds some bitterness. Aftertaste is dry and piny.

This is a solid performance despite the low abv. The experience bites with a hop load and sour citrus fruits but is overall very balanced. I could imagine to start my weekend - or even better: an evening of any day of the week - with this beer.

Ölbeat

Ok. Even though this is an afterwork beer and not a beer for lightening one's teenage trauma, who can honestly say to have never thought of this song on Monday morning? Right, I explained this one:

Beastie Boys: (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party) (YouTube)

From the 1986 album Licesed to Ill, the song was written by Adam Yauch and Tom Cushman. The song was intended to be a parody of party and attitude themed songs like Mötley Crüe's Smoking in the Boys' Room and Twisted Sister's I Wanna Rock. (Un)fortunately, the parody has been lost with most of the audience and the song has became a legendary partystarter. Stylewise the song is a mixture of rap and rock, and the lyrics tell a story of a youngster who is anxious about living at home with "strict" parents. Out of Office fits the song perfectly: it surely can start the weekend, and the reason behind the brewery's "nationality" not being Finnish could be a parody. Unfortunately, it's not.

Ölbeat 006: Pyynikin Sessio White IPA

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

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.