Ölbeat 020: Hiisi Loviatar

Brewery: Panimo Hiisi
Country: Finland
Style: Barley Wine
Abv: 10,5 %
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The birdy beast from Jyväskylä

Panimo Hiisi (webpages only in Finnish), founded in 2013, is an artisan brewery in Jyväskylä in Central Finland. According to the webpages the brewery's selfish agenda is to make the kind of beer that the brewers themselves would like to drink. Hiisi brews' names are often borrowed from Finnish ancient legends like Kalevala, e.g. Loviatar is the blind daughter of the god of death Tuoni and the underworld queen Tuonetar.

This beer was part of Alko's Finnish microbrewery craftbeer selection in spring 2016.

What about the beer?
Colour is hazy mud-brown with small tan head. Aroma has a strong scent of sweet berries - strawberry & blueberry and distinctive maltiness. Taste starts with a strong combination of sweet rye and strawberry. The strawberry flavour takes slowly over. Palate adds slow hops and taste of alcohol and brings back the malty first bite. Aftertaste is bitter with berry flavours.

Hardcore experience. Extremely enjoyable beer: strong flavours and contrasts but the body keeps the combination together. A little too much of berriness, probably could have gotten a little more out of the rye, but hey, small flaws give character, overall a solid performance.

Ölbeat

The bottle label recommends the beer to be enjoyed with Savonian metal band Verjnuarmu's album Muanpiällinen helevetti. Well, no offence, I didn't, but the picture in the bottle label gave the idea:

Deep Purple: Bird Has Flown (YouTube)

From the 1969 album, Deep Purple, the song was written by keyboardist Jon Lord, vocalist Rod Evans and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. This version of the song is the original album version: a shorter re-recorded version, named The Bird Has Flown, was released as the A-side of the single Emmaretta. The song's music is driven with guitar and bass riffs and drum lines combined with Lord's haunting organ background during the chorus - this longer version ends with almost three minutes jamming and Blackmore's and Lord's solos. The lyrics are built on the phrase 'the bird has flown' referring to one's lost feeling being nothing compared to even negative or childish feelings. Well, Loviatar will certainly offer feeling to the drinker.

Ölbeat 019: Teerenpeli Julmajuho

Brewery: Teerenpeli
Country: Finland
Style: Smoked Porter
Abv: 7,7 %
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'Cruel John' looks like this in Finland

Teerenpeli, founded in 1995, is one of the oldest still operating microbreweries in Finland. Situated in Lahti in Southern Finland, the brewery started with a 60-litre boiling kettle in the original Restaurant Teerenpeli. Nowadays the yearly production is 500.000 litres of brews, and there are six Teerenpeli restaurants in five cities. The brewery has many of its brews available around the country.

This beer was part of Alko's Finnish microbrewery craftbeer selection in spring 2016.

What about the beer?
Colour is very dark brown to black with medium beige head. Aroma has roasted malts with smoked meat. First bite is semi-dry roasted malts. Smoke starts mild but quickly explodes to a campfire flavour with meaty bite. Palate adds late bitter hops and some plum. There's sweet smoky maltiness in the aftertaste.

Altogether, the marriage of smoke and malt works and makes the experience great. High quality special stout from Lahti.

Ölbeat

Smoky tone has been an inspiration for many songs, so there's plenty to choose from. Despite the temptation to pick a classic heavy rock tune I chose this acoustic track:

Ed Sheeran: I See Fire (YouTube)

From the soundtrack of the 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the was written by Ed Sheeran himself. Sheeran was asked by the film's director Peter Jackson to make a folk song to be played first during the closing credits. He wrote and recorded the song - almost the released version - during one day after watching the early screening. The lyrics of the song are attached to the dragon Smaug destroying Laketown in the end of the movie to the horror of Bilbo. I attached the song to Julmajuho not only because of similar theme but because it was the first beer from the brewery that made me see passion and inspiration - shortly: fire.

Ölbeat 018: Mathildedalin Pirske

Brewery: Mathildedalin Kyläpanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Belgian Ale
Abv: 6,9 %
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Brewed like when Grandad bought the lamp?

Mathildedalin Kyläpanimo (pages in Finnish), founded in 2014, is a village brewery in Mathildedal village in Perniö town in Southwest Finland. It was founded and is literally maintained by the villagers, who - according to the brewery's homepages - wanted to pay homage to the history of the ironworks and the village community of today. "We're a small village, but we're used to do great things together. With the same attitude and ambition we make our own beer."
 
This beer was part of Alko's Finnish microbrewery craftbeer selection in spring 2016.

What about the beer?
Colour is cloudy golden yellow with nice medium white head. Aroma has distinctive sour apple and some vinegar and yeast scent. Taste starts with lemon and fruity sour flavours. Palate gives yeast and some sweetness. Finish is sour and dry.

Sour fruitiness and yeast combine very nicely, there's body to hold to and balance between the flavor. Overall, the guys at Mathildedal have created a true and fine Belgian ale.

Ölbeat

There's pretty much funk in the union of yeast and lemon. There's also pretty solid body to build the character on. So my choice for a funky tune to match the brew is:

Kool & The Gang: Get Down On It (YouTube)

From 1981 album, Something Special, the song was written by vocalist James "J. T." Taylor and saxophonist-keyboyardist Ronald Bell. The composition is based on all the good-time-disco funk elements that the band has been known for its existence for over 50 years. The music supports the simple lyrical theme which is encouraging the non-dancing people to get on the floor. I believe that Pirske was brewed with same kind of funky joyful attitude that Robert "Kool" Bell & Co. are showing in the scene.

Ölbeat 017: De Molen Tsarina Esra

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen
Country: the Netherlands
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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The Empress of imperial porters

Tsarina Esra is shortly described as being an imperial porter, which thanks to the fullness, the richness in flavour and the warming feeling makes it perfect for cold nights. In Finland the winter nights tend to be cold, much colder than the Dutch ones, so we didn't need long marketing speeches for this one.

What about the beer?
Colour is black with tiny vanishing beige head. Aroma has coffee, roasted malts and liquorice. Taste begins with gently-heavily roasted (not burnt) malts, soon accompanied by sweetish strong black coffee and salty dark chocolate. Palate adds late hoppy bitterness and some yeast. Aftertaste is sweet and warmly alcoholic.

If there was a porter brewed by the book without any impurities or defects, but still roughly challenging its drinker to a "wishing-this-would-never-end" experience, then this would be it. Truly a royal beer.

Ölbeat

For a counterpart of a beautifully tough beer, I chose this metal ballad by two by-then-veterans of heavy rock:

Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne: Close My Eyes Forever (YouTube)

From Lita Ford's 1988 album Lita, the track was written together by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. For a result of drinking, singing and jamming the song was a success - as the usual story goes. The voices of rough raspy Ford and gloomy high-toned Osbourne make it an unforgettable duet. The lyrics have been interpreted to be about i.e. being scared of falling in or losing love, but there's no confirmed background story. When I heard the song for the first time I was caught in the chorus: "If I close my eyes forever, will it all remain the same?" Closing my eyes while sipping Tsarina Esra immediately reminded me of the song: while tasting a majestic brew I was probably asking the question in my mind.

Brewer's Choice

Nightwish: Over the Hills and Far Away (YouTube)

From the self-titled 2001 EP, the track is a cover of Gary Moore's 1987 original from Wild Frontier. The Nightwish version is a symphonic metal update: the opera-singer-trained vocals of Tarja Turunen bring the singing more in front and the arrangement by songwriter-keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is heavier than in the original. Otherwise the Nightwish version is loyal to Moore's story about a man who gets framed for a robbery he didn't commit. His alibi is spending the night with his love, who is his best friend's wife, but he doesn't want to reveal the secret and goes to jail instead. The song helped to lift Nightwish to international success, but the EP marked another turning point in the band's history: it was the last recording for bassist Sami Vänskä, who was replaced by Marco Hietala.

Ölbeat 016: De Molen Hemel & Aarde (Heaven & Earth)

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen
Country: Netherlands
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 10 %
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The dark of Heaven, the light of Earth

Hemel & Aarde is not - according to the brewery's beerography - for the fainthearted. It's brewed using "the most heavily peated malt they could find". The label says Bruichladdich, so probably the malts are from the Octomore batch. "Let's see", said the doctor.

What about the beer?
Colour is pitch black with only a thin bubble crown. Aroma gives heavily roasted malts and soft smoke. Taste has roasted caramel malts in front, some salty liquorice on the side. Palate adds slow bitter hops and peaty smoke. Finally, there's a pleasant gentle aftertaste, or rather afterburn: taste of smoke and malts stays in breath quite long.

Having had the intense campfire smoke of Rook & Vuur, this brew showed the not-so-rough-peaty (Laphroaigish) side of whisky malt brews of the brewery. But there was still some smoky dragon behind the pet lizard.

Ölbeat

Instead of putting some obvious crap like "Heaven is a Place on Earth" here - I remember even the artist although trying to forget - I chose this song with earthy power:

Disturbed: The Sound of Silence (YouTube)

From the 2015 album Immortalized, the song is a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's original from 1964 Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m. It's written by Paul Simon. Despite the later success, the song wasn't enough to help the album catch public attention and drove the duo to the edge of break-up. The song's lyrics are about people's failure to communicate with each other: "People talking without speaking /
People hearing without listening". The acoustic original has been turned into a power ballad which leans strongly to singer David Draiman's fragile but rough vocals and the mix of piano-guitar-driven background and orchestral arrangements. The band decided not to "Disturbed-stamp" the song with heavy riffs and fast tempo but chose instead to send their singer to the unknown. The result is at the same time both-feet-on-the-ground but head-up-in-the-skies.

Brewer's Choice

Alanis Morissette: Perfect (YouTube)

From the 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, the song is composed by Morissette and Glen Ballard and the lyrics are written by Morissette. The basic ballad arrangement - gentle vocals and soft almost-jazzy background - gives a strong contrast to the lyrics, which are spoken by a parent who tries to push the kids to better results and reminds them about doing it for their own damn good. Morissette has told that the song is generally about the pressures of society, which loves you as long as you are "perfect" for it. This song was the first that Morissette and her producer Ballard made ready for the album, which turned out to be one of the most successful in the 90's.