It has taken some time for craft to catch hold in Finland, and Pekka Kääriäinen of Bryggeri Helsinki and Lammin Sahti has been there from the start, brewing Sahti commercially since 1985. He also organises the Helsinki Beer Festival, held in April this year. With 54 brewers on tap during the two day festival, Kääriäinen might be able to say perseverance might be paying off in a tough market.
Kääriäinen has been at what he calls has “craft brewery hobby” for 50 years and brought sahti on the market when founding Lammin Sahti in 1985. Sahti is a traditional Finnish beer, characterised by its low carbonation, and a sweetish farmhouse taste. It is filtered with juniper twigs and fermented with baking yeast resulting in a cloudy beer.
Through his offshoot brewery, Bryggeri Helsinki, he cites Bryggeri Rosé as a hybrid, fermented with white wine and beer yeasts, using hibiscus to provide the sourness.
At the Leuven Innovation Beer Festival 2019, Kääriäinen brought:
- Lammin Sahti, sahti, 7.5%.
- Bryggeri Citra, pale ale, 4.5%. hopped with Citra, Nelson Sauvin & Magnum.
- Bryggeri Supernova, double IPA, 7.8%. Lemon peel with malted wheat and rice, hopped with Columbus, Chinook, Centennial & Citra.
- Bryggeri Rosé, “Wine beer”, 8.8%. Hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Citra.
- Bryggeri Sofia, imperial stout, 9%. British style stout hopped with EKG, Challenger & Magnum.
See the other fantastic Beer Idiots interviews at Leuven Innovation Beer Festival 2019
- André Janssens of Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal, Belgium
- Pekka Kääriäinen of Bryggeri Helsinki and Lammin Saht, Finland
- Philippe Minne of Brasserie Minne, Belgium.
- Patrik Hellström of Bryggverket brewery, Sweden.
- Casper Vorting and Gitte Holmboe own Bøgedal Brew in Vejle, Denmark.
- Julien Bretheau of À Tue-Tête, Switzerland.
- Iacopo Lenci, brewmaster and owner of Birrificio Brùton, Italy
- Pim Zomerdijk of Brouwerij De Moersleutel, the Netherlands.
- Paul Herbert of UK-based Kent Brewery.
- David Cohen of Dancing Camel Brewery, Israel.
- Robin Barden of Edge Brewing, Barcelona, Spain.
- Breandán Kearney of Siphon Brewing, Damme, Belgium.
- Stephen McGirr of Wicked Weed Brewing, Asheville, North Carolina, USA.
- Vasyl Mikulin of Varvar Brew, Kyiv, Ukraine has been mixing his experimental beers.
- Botond Prischetzky, brand manager at Monyo Brewing, Budapest, Hungary
- Pia Morgenroth, founder of G’Bräu, Berlin, Germany.
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