Ölbeat 332 (BC17 #19): Sonnisaari Juomahammas II

Brewery: Sonnisaari (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has milk chocolate, vanilla, sweet roast and oak. Taste starts with bitter chocolate roast. Sweet milk chocolate and bitter roasted malts take over with hints of vanilla and oak. Towards the end sweet roasted malts, dark chocolate and spicy oak flavour get on top with soft boozy warmth. Aftertaste has bitter dark chocolate, sweetish roasted malts and oaky-spicy whisky bite - and it lasts.

Warming and delicious Imperial Porter. Chocolate, oak, roast, spices, booze - complex and layered rich flavours. Finish is phenomenal. Hard to tell whether I loved this one more than the sherry version. Absolutely beautiful brew.

Ölbeat

Searching for great Finnish craft beer can sometimes seem to be "hunting high and low and even in between", if high is considered to be the Northern Finland and low the Southern Finland. This time we caught an excellent brew from one of the breweries up north.

Stratovarius: Hunting High And Low (YouTube)

From the 2000 album Infinite, the song was written by Timo Tolkki and Timo Kotipelto.

Ölbeat 325 (BC17 #12): Sonnisaari Juomahammas I

Brewery: Sonnisaari (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a finger-thick foamy beige head. Aroma has roast, espresso, chocolate and vanilla. Taste starts with bitter heavy-roasted espresso. Vanilla-spiced espresso and powerful roast take over with bitter dark chocolate. Towards the end bitter roast gets on top with some sweet cherry notes showing up. Aftertaste has coffee roast, chocolate bitter and spiced oaky dryness.

Strong and delicious Imperial Porter. Powerful basic elements - vanilla sweetness, turbo roast, espresso and chocolate - get some cherry-oaky vibes in the finish. Excellent one from Sonnisaari.

Ölbeat

Strong, passionate and complex - sounds like a troubled relationship. This rock ballad is about one near the end or, as the final verse of the lyrics says: "I will try until the last drop falls."

Sonata Arctica: Last Drop Falls (YouTube)

From the 2001 album Silence, the song was written by Tony Kakko.

Skitbit Oct 2017: Sonnisaari APA

Brewery: Sonnisaari (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: American Pale Ale
Abv: 4,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy golden orange with a large natural white head. Aroma has grapefruit, lemon and mild pineapple. Taste begins with bitter grapefruit bite. Rough grapefruit and spicy pine take over with herbal side tones. Towards the end really bitter pine and strong herbal flavours take over. Aftertaste has heavily bitter pine and somewhat harsh dry herbs.

Roughly bitter and piny American Pale Ale. The good thing is that despite the low abv there's character in the brew. Tha bad side is that the character is really rough, harsh and possibly a bit earthy. Not so impressed but not very disappointed either. If Sonnisaari makes a miss, I'm glad that it's with this style.

Ölbeat

Since Sonnisaari has, despite it's rather short existence, become one of my trusted Finnish breweries, one miss won't spoil our relationship. On the other hand, the song I picked is one "half a hit" after a long line of bad misses from this band. The only thing wrong is that it kinda pays respect to another Finnish band Yö which has always sucked big time. 

Popeda: Helvetin Pitkä Perjantai (YouTube)

From the 2017 album Haista Popeda!, the song was written by Jimi and Costello Hautamäki. 

Ölbeat 240: Sonnisaari Humalaja

Brewery: Sonnisaari
Country: Finland
Style: India Pale Ale 
Abv: 6,7 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy golden orange with a large white head. Aroma has orange, grapefruit and pineapple. Taste begins with spiking citrus. Bitter grapefruit with stingy pine and sweet orange takes over. Near the finish orange and grapefruit bring out a storm of citrus. Aftertaste has citrus bitterness and piny dryness.

Deliciously hopped India Pale Ale. Fruits and bitterness come on powerfully but smoothly. Every sip seems to strengthen the leading flavours. I prefer the bottled version against the tap (Cafe Rooster visit). Clearly one of the top IPAs from Finland now.

Ölbeat

So, the name of the brew is a word game with 'humala' (Finnish for hop) and 'Himalaja' (Himalayas). Since it's clearly an American style brew, some good blues rock seemed appropriate. Then Mr. Bonamassa offers a song that describes how it is to have a microbrewery in Finland, I presume. If it's not climbing and "pounding the hammer between steel and stone" every day, it's surely not a bed of roses either.

Joe Bonamassa: Mountain Climbing (YouTube)

From the 2016 album Blues of Desperation, the song was written by Joe Bonamassa and Tom Hambridge.

Ölbeat 222: Sonnisaari Pils

Brewery: Sonnisaari
Country: Finland
Style: Pilsener
Abv: 4,7 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is straw yellow with a medium-sized white head. Aroma has bitter malts, sour citrus and an oily scent. Taste begins with sour-bitter malty bite. Bready bitter malts with some crisp citrus on the side take over. Near the finish malty-fruity bitterness grows stronger. Aftertaste has malty dryness and citrus bitterness.

Crisp and tasty hoppy Pils from Oulu. With only Magnum and Hallertau hops they got this tasty brew. Sounds way too simple, so the result comes from excellence in brewing. Great work, Sonnisaari, waiting for the next one.

Ölbeat

Looking for a song with some crisp bitterness, found George Harrison's voice. Being not so much of a fan of the Beatles, I've always liked the edge in Harrison's vocals compared to the clean boyish sounds of Lennon-McCartney. Maybe it's in my head but at least here's the song with a simple question.

George Harrison: What Is Life (YouTube)

From the 1970 album All Things Must Pass, the song was written by George Harrison.