Gosh, it took so late to finish the renovation work today. Now it's time to taste some Sahti! We brewed this Sahti 3.5 weeks ago, and it has rested in canisters for almost three weeks now. I'm a bit concerned about this brew for a number of reasons. The first reason is that we hadn't brewed anything for seven months since we moved from one place to another, and the facilities in our current house are inadequate due to massive renovations. And because of that, we forgot the mashout. In Sahti brewing, the mash is brought to the boiling point but not really boiled. Neither is the wort boiled unlike in beer brewing where the wort can boil for an hour or more. When we realized what had happened, we re-heated the wort and re-flushed it through the mash. The problem was that the wort that came through the mash for the second time, wasn't warm enough to be sterile. The risk of contamination grows sharply when something like that happens. The second reason is that we didn't use any juniper in the process. Sahti can perfectly well be brewed without juniper but since juniper is antibacterial, the absence of juniper contributes to the risk of contamination even more. The third reason is that the wort fermented for a bit too long. We could have simply stopped the fermentation earlier with cold crash but because of the fairly low OG, we wanted to give it more time to increase the ABV knowing well that the final product could end up being dry. And like one can already imagine, the risk of contamination increases still more. So, here I am with Sahti, not just one Sahti but actually two Sahtis that can be contaminated. The first one I'll assess today. So, this Sahti is meant for the Easter festivities. The ingredients are very basic traditional Sahti ingredients but without juniper. You could get this kind of Sahti somewhere in Eastern parts of Häme. Normally, it's thick and sweet. This Sahti colors semifoggy, medium-brown. A few big bubbles are born on the surface, just to die out fast. Looks alright. I sniff the glass. [.....] Can't be... Shh*t. Starts looking like this is not a big success. The scent is a bit floury and slightly tart, like citrusy. Not good at all. Where's the sweetness? I want banana and clove in the scent! They are nowhere, just something odd hovering to my nose. Gosh. Now a sip. Yeah right. Unpleasant. Citrus, modest flour and faint clove in the background. The worst happened. This is a failure. No can do. The taste isn't actually that bad a catastrophe as such but as a Sahti, this sucks. Let me continue bravely to the end though. The body is light. Not a winner. The finish is the same bloody stuff as upfront. I'm glad that it doesn't at least get worse. The mouthfeel is somewhat tart but definitely not puckering. It's light and unappealing but not stale. Absolutely a miss, by a good margin. Clearly flawed. Goes down the drain. All of it. I remember that I tasted a few tart citrusy Sahtis in the last Finnish Championships of Sahti brewing. They were exactly like this one. My rating now follows the same path.