Ölbeat 122: Top Fuel Weissmuller Wheat

Brewery: Top Fuel Beer Company
Country: Finland
Style: Hefeweizen (/Wheat Ale)
Abv: 4,7 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is cloudy golden yellow with a small white head. Aroma has yeast, banana and wheat malts. Taste lifts off with light hoppy sour and yeasty bite. Slightly sour yeasty flavour and wheat malts with a banana twist take over. Towards the end soft lemon sourness and gentle bitterness rise. Aftertaste has both sweetish yeast and dry lemon.

First thought was "what is this one trying to be?". Then the beer turned to a tasty mix of Saison and Hefeweizen. There's fruity sour yeast and wheaty banana. Nice and refreshing summer beer.

Ölbeat

This calls for a song about Tarzan. Yeah. A jungle song. Ok. An animal song. Whatever. Something simple and fun with a rock beat. 

The Presidents of The United States of America: Feather Pluckn (YouTube)

From the 1995 album The Presidents of The United States of America, the song was written by Chris Ballew and The Presidents of the United States of America.

Ölbeat 068: Top Fuel Lab Genious Porter

Brewery: Top Fuel Beer Company
Country: Finland
Style: Porter
Abv: 7,4 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with an overwhelming foam-bubbly beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, mild coffee and chocolate scent with a grassy note. Taste has a dry bitter and roasty first bite. Roasted to charred malts with bitter-sour flavours dominate. Towards the finish some salty sour espresso and dark chocolate join the palette, and there's a hoppy bite at the back of the mouth. Aftertaste has dry bitterness and roasted caramel malts.

Fine porter with surprising elements of India Black Aleish bitter and saisonish sour. The flavours actually support the leading taste of roasted malts. It's great to have a tasty porter with less coffee and chocolate flavours than usual. If porters are allowed to be slap-in-the-face fresh, this is it.

Ölbeat

Raw, honest and straight-forward 1980's Finnish rock classic, OK? By the way, that was a rhetorical question - it's more than OK:

Peer Günt: Backseat (YouTube)

From the 1986 album Backseat, the song was written by band members Timo Nikki, Teijo Erkinharju and Teijo Kettula.

Ölbeat 028: Top Fuel Hoplite Pale Ale

Brewery: Top Fuel Beer Company
Country: Finland
Style: American Pale Ale
Abv: 4,7 %
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Bottled power of Ancient Greek infantry?

Top Fuel Brewing Ccmpany has been introduced in a previous post about their Hippie Juice IPA (Ölbeat 003). Hoplite Pale Ale was actually the first beer I tasted from them. Since I didn't remember anything about the taste - just a hazy recollection that I liked it - I picked, opened and tasted it again.

What about the beer?
Colour is cloudy orange with an overwhelming white slowly lowering head. Aroma gives mild citrus and fruit. Taste starts with moderately bitter hops, joined soon with heavy grapefruit flavour and a malty backbone. Palate adds hoppy piny notes and the aftertaste has a dose of dry grapefruit.

This tasted very American, we are pretty close to West Coast Session IPA. Some harshness in the taste, but that gives the brew its edge. My memory was right: this one was and is good.

Ölbeat

There's something fresh but also something very classic in this beer. So, we'll turn towards this classic piece of rock:

Free: Wishing Well (YouTube)

From the 1973 album Heartbreaker, the song was probably solely written by singer Paul Rodgers, even though it's credited for the whole band. The album was to be the band's last before breakup. Guitarist Paul Kossoff was replaced during the album recording and is uncredited in this song, even though it is heavily labelled by his recognisable bluesy rock jamming and riffing. Rodgers has denied the lyrics to be a message to Kossoff, who was suffering from drug addiction at the time. They have also been interpreted to be a message to an unnamed friend who isn't happy about his present life but doesn't dare to chase his dreams. Being satisfied only "with feet in the wishing well" would be a genius metaphor for that state: ready to reach for the goal but only in one's dreams. Hoplite Pale Ale just asked for a classic rock tune, and this one hit my head. Sorry, guys at Top Fuel - your brews seem to make me choose only 60's to 70's songs.

Ölbeat 003: Top Fuel Hippie Juice IPA

Brewery: Top Fuel Beer Company
Country: Finland
Style: India Pale Ale
Abv: 7,2 %
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Juicy Fruit for Hippies and Friends

Top Fuel Beer Company operates in Lohja near the Finnish capital area. It's a fairly new microbrewery - started in early 2014 - and has yet a few brews available. Which is smart and customer-friendly, by the way: it's better to have couple of good brands than to have one OK with dozen drinkable or non-drinkable. Hippie Juice is the second beer I have tasted from the brewery and I'm still impressed.

What about the beer?
Colour is cloudy orange with huge bubbly white head. Aroma has a mild scent of hops and orange. Taste combines medium bitter hops with grapefruit. Nice balance. Palate gets hit with peach. Aftertaste is mostly hoppy with some sweet fruit (orange, peach, pineapple?).

Very enjoyable beer. Reminded me of sunshine, warmth and summer in the middle of everlasting dark fall in December(!) 2015. Doesn't bring chills and thrills with complexity, but ain't in any way predictable. The brewery stays as an interesting one.

 

Ölbeat

Because of the summerlike taste and the hippie-themed name of the beer, the choice was clear from the first sip:

The Mamas & the Papas: California Dreamin' (YouTube)

Released in December 1965 and from the 1965 album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, the song started the folk rock singers' success story. It gives a sample of what was to become the group's trademark: punctual vocal harmonies, this time led by Denny Doherty. The song was written by John and Michelle Phillips, the couple that formed the other half of the group. The lyrics of the song tell about the singer's longing for California's summer while having a winter walk and seeing the brown leaves and the grey sky. I longed for just Finnish summer but felt exactly same as the singer while enjoying Hippie Juice.

The song has been covered many times, the latest by Sia in May 2015. The version with Finnish lyrics (1978) is called Kalajoen hiekat and performed by Tapani Kansa. Not in any way worth linking, listening or even mentioning. (Don't.)