Ölbeat 074: Malmgård Belge

Brewery: Malmgård
Country: Finland
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark copper orange with a small diminishing white head. Aroma has sour, yeasty, spicy and sugary elements. Taste begins sour, sweet and hoppy. Spicy sour banana and funky yeast flavours dominate firmly after the start. Towards the end sweet bitterness, dry citrus flavours and a bite of alcohol get through. Aftertaste is dry with a bittersweet twist.

Delicious and versatile experience. Multiflavoured and complex beer: every sip seems to bring a new level or an another layer to the taste. There's sweet, sour, fruit, bitter and dry separately and mixed in different ways. Lovely Belgian-aleish piece of Finnish brewing skill.

Ölbeat

Finnish breweries making anything else than sahti or tasteless lager can be out of their traditional territory, but anyone not Belgian brewing this kind of beer is surely out of his comfort zone. Like Wild Cherry was when recording this song and like the white boy in the song is. Result can still be excellent:

Wild Cherry: Play That Funky Music (YouTube)

From the 1976 album Wild Cherry, the song was written by Rob Parissi.

Ölbeat 073: Oppigårds Amarillo

Brewery: Oppigårds Bryggeri
Country: Sweden
Style: American Pale Ale
Abv: 5,9 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is golden orange with a medium-sized vanishing white head. Aroma gives fresh grass, mild orange and some hoppy-bitter flavours. Taste starts with gentle bite of semi-sweet hops and malts. Strongly Amarillo-orange-flavoured, softly malty and slightly bitter trio takes over. Towards the end sour and tart lemon-grapefruit gets on top with some sidekick hop and pine. Aftertaste has grapefruit bitterness and piny dryness.

Following its name, the beer in an ode to Amarillo hops - the orange is wild and deep. The experience starts very fresh and delicate but gets angry and bitter in the end. Magnificent American Pale Ale.

Ölbeat

A great Swedish beer matches nicely with a song by a great Swedish band. While you're all expecting something from ABBA, let's make it clear to the fans, that it's very unprobable to find Dancing Queen or Mamma Mia on this blog. Instead you'll have to settle for this rocking classic from the 80's:

Europe: Rock the Night (YouTube)

From the 1986 album The Final Countdown (originally from the soundtrack of 1985 film On the Loose), the song was written by Joey Tempest.

Ölbeat 072: Ruosniemen Pikkupomo

Brewery: Ruosniemen Panimo
Country: Finland
Style: Amber Ale
Abv: 6 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is amber brown with an overwhelming bubbly creamy white head. Aroma has hay, malts and sweet fruits resembling pear and grapes. Taste begins with slightly biting bitter and malty flavours. Combination of light citrus bitterness and bready malts leads the way. Near the finish we get a tight lemon and pine punch. Aftertaste has strong bitter grapefruit and malty dryness.

Tasty and refreshing brew from this Pori-based brewery: no need to travel for a good bottle of amber ale. Simple and easily drinkable combination of malty, bitter and citrus flavours does the trick for me - special effects aren't usually necessary.

Ölbeat

The Finnish word 'pikkupomo' usually means a person, who acts like a little boss at work without the status of a superior. What comes to the song choice I just couldn't pass the boss ('pomo') part in the name, so I chose a balanced and calm track from the Boss:

Bruce Springsteen: I'm On Fire (YouTube)

From the 1984 album Born in the U.S.A., the song was written by Bruce Springsteen.

Ölbeat 071: Hiisi Iku-Turso

Brewery: Panimo Hiisi
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 9,0 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small vanishing natural white head. Aroma has thick slices of coffee, hops and some fresh grass. Taste starts with fresh and biting hoppy roasted coffee. Roasted malts take over with some coffee, chocolate and some kind of berry flavour. Towards the end hops and bitterness strike back nicely. Aftertaste is bitter, roasted and dry.

Excellent Imp which has a stiff malty body that keeps the taste palette together. Rich flavours of roasted malts and bitter hops dominate with coffee and chocolate kicking on the side. Strong and excellent brew.

Ölbeat

Don't know what the flan the guys at the brewery were thinking about when recommending Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 with this one. Of course it works - Sibelius always does - but the raw nature of the brew calls for something else than joy of life and vitality. In this case, the reason for the music choice is linked to the companion and the discussion of the tasting moment. Without forgetting the difference between the feared monster of ancient legend in Kalevala and the sad but true monstrosities of modern day politics. 

Ludicrous: Delta Male Supremacy

From the 2016 album The Stoic Ideal, the song was written by Janne Leskinen and Joni Borodavkin.

Ölbeat 070: Ballast Point Victory At Sea

Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 10 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark brown to black with a small diminishing tan head. Aroma has quality black coffee, milk chocolate, brown sugar and some alcohol. Taste begins with a roasty hoppy coffeeish bite. Rich coffee, espresso and dark bitter chocolate take over with the flavours growing and expanding till the end. Some berries, raisins and vanilla are tasted, too. Aftertaste has bitter cocoa and some alcohol.

There are surprisingly many delicious layers of flavours in the taste: coffee with and without sugar turning to espresso and back. Aroma gives sweet milk chocolate but the taste is more like bitter dark cocoa powder. Just amazing Imperial Porter.

Ölbeat

Delicious and complex dark brew needs a complex and legendary song with the same shade. The greatness is shared, the theme isn't: although the beer is almost black it's affection was quite opposite to the song. I may later regret for reserving this track but then again it's not forbidden to link a great song to more than one beer, it?

The Rolling Stones: Paint It Black (YouTube)

From the 1966 album Aftermath (US version), the song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.