Sahti time. Finally! I've enjoyed this already a lot but now I'm reviewing it, as well. The weather is wintry. I have a couple of shots of the earlier years' editions of our Easter Sahti with much more spring-like surroundings than now. Is this a climate crisis? Help us, Greta! The Sahti looks turbid, medium-sludgy-brown. Lighter than our normal Sahtis. A moderate big-bubbled lace ring adorns the top for quite some time. Carbonation is, of course, negligible, just what the yeast has produced. This is the first time we brew with Pehkolan Mallastamo's sahtimalt. Good to see how it behaves. What I hear is that it's less powdery than the common Viking Malt's stuff. Maybe. The scent is attractive: malt, brown biscuit, ripe banana, fermented banana. Very faint clove? Not sure. Probably yes. The olfactory supply is quite old-school and traditional, which makes sense since we didn't mix any other malt here than the sahtimalt and a bit of rye. Basic stuff. Does the taste identity lead to the Easter suffering? Or to the defeat of death and the hope of salvation? Soft it is. Mmmyum 😋 Banana, yes. Both ripe or overripe and fermented. Biscuit, dough, toffee, dried apricot. Clove? Not sure. All in all, enjoyable and inspiring. The body is medium. Not miserable, nor remarkable either. Good. The end is equally malty and bananaey (is this a word?). Same same. So, here we go again; it's like I'm caught under a spell; the aftertaste's wearing black, black magic; it makes me suffer, it makes me suffer. The mouthfeel is medium, soft, smooth, marginally sticky and absolutely classical. No gimmicks. As clean as a Sahti can be. Very balanced. Gulpable, yet also heady... Successful this time. Glad I am.

Another newcomer in the "Small Beers" series. This has wild chamomile as a flavoring. The appearance is wellnigh lucid amber. The carbonation behaves well and produces a minuscule-bubbled head that reaches a mere half-finger height. The short retention maims the restrained foamy cap to a gossamer lace ring on the top. The scent is amply floral: wild chamomile is powerful in the air. Like a meadow in the midsummer. It overshadows whatever else the fragrance might have to offer. Nice but also alerting... the reason is that although the wild chamomile might smell lovely and even work reasonably in a herb tea, it certainly doesn't taste too yummy. I haven't seen anybody recommending eating wild chamomile... The tastebuds get ready for a shock. There we go. Indeed, floral and grassy wild chamomile refuses to shy away. It's bold and a tad perfumy. Somewhat fragrant. Lemon peel is the only other component I'm able to spot here, for example the grainbill is entirely camouflaged. Right. The body is thin as one can expect. The end levels off the floral taste to some extent but doesn't introduce anything else to the concoction. Chamomile, what'chu tryna feel? You sweet like honey, give me sugar, tell me, are you even real? You already know, I’ma go with the aftertaste wherever it goes. The mouthfeel is thin, floral, herbal, fragrant and slightly drying. This beer doesn't have such an astringent sensation as the daisy one had: since these two were made of the same wort divided into two, the astringency must originate from the daisy itself. Well, my verdict. All in all, not my favorite. Not even close. What I like is that the beer tastes wild chamomile. I don't pick any flaws or off-flavors here. Nevertheless, the plant itself is not appealing to my taste receptors. Too healthy. Therefore, the outcome is somewhat challenging flavorwise.

The "Small Beers" adventure continues. These beers are made of the second or third runnings of our Sahtis and almost always flavored with some traditional Finnish plants, herbs or berries. The ABV has ranged from 1.4 % to 6.4 %. This particular beer contains aromas of daisy. The ABV is a fairly low 1.7 %. The color is turbid, pale amber. A bit messy-looking. The carbonation is decent this soon from the bottling, it will certainly develop more over time. Not much but marginally anyway. A white head forms on the top and falls short of one finger. A lace ring adorns the top for surprisingly long. The scent is floral and herbal. It's daisy but I wouldn't recognize it didn't I know it. It's slightly grassy. It's somewhat like herb tea without any green or black tea. I can spot a faint crackery vibe in the shadows but otherwise the malty sphere is pretty negligible here. The taste is moderately sour and herbal rather than floral. Grassy and modestly crackery. Tastes healthy... The body is thin. The end doesn't offer anything new to the few upfront flavors. The aftertaste's crazy, but I like it, I bite back; daisies on the nightstand, never forget it; they blossom in the moonlight, screw eyes; glacial with the blue ice, I'm terrifying. The mouthfeel is thin, herbal, a tad dry and distantly drying. Even faintly astringent. Flavorwise this is not particularly appealing since daisy is not among the most tasty edible plants. However, the beer tastes what it's supposed to taste. That's the main point. I'm looking forward to trying this in the sauna.

Today's second, and the Christmas's fourth Sahti. This has been flavored with lingonberries. The appearance is really fuzzy, ruby-reflected mahogany. Carbonation is modest, just like that of the basic Joulusahti. The emerging bubble ring is even more impotent now. The nose finds rye porridge, rye flour and mashed lingonberry. A mere distant vibe of fermented banana is reminiscent of the base Sahti. Interestingly, the level of sweetness in the air is drastically lower now, obviously because of the lingonberries. I find no chocolate, nor biscuit. This is absolutely not sour but not sweet either, not even sweetish. Okay, the flavor profile is much more familiar: a tad sweet malt, dark chocolate, cacao nibs, banana, cookie and bitter caramel. Clove is absent this time. So is alcohol. Nevertheless, lingonberry is noticeable, it's not sour mash but like slightly sweet lingonberry jam. The body is medium-full. It's interesting that the lingonberry-macerated Sahti either has or gives the impression that it has a bigger body than the regular version. Not sure if the flavors and particles dissolved from the berries can boost the sensation. Maybe. I don't have any other explanation either. The finish tweaks nicely in the baseline direction and leaves the lingonberry in a minor role. The many nuances are still observable here. Let me take the aftertaste down 'cause I'm going to lingonberry fields; nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about; lingonberry fields forever. The mouthfeel is medium-full, juicy, autumnal and lip-glueing. I wouldn't necessarily call this "rustic" albeit it does show those respective qualifications, as well. Furthermore, the sensation is balanced, soft, smooth and mouthcoating. Very tasty stuff! Interestingly, the fragrance is rather different from both the base version but also from the gustatory identity of this particular Sahti. You could say that this Sahti evolves from the scent to the tastebuds up to the end, plus the body being more robust now. 🤎❤️🤎

Malty Christmas to all Pint Please folks! May the beers be with you today and forever!! 🎄🎅🏼🤶🏻🎁🍗🍻 Yesterday one homebrewed Sahti and one commercial Sahti. Today two homebrews more. Our own. This is the base version. The tint is foggy, dark brown with a ruby beam. Extraordinarily shy carbonation gives a soapy bubble ring circling the top. Soon the surface is more or less still. Sweet-leaning scent. Malt, biscuit, banana and a tiny helping of chocolate. Promising, I'm looking forward to enjoying this on the tip of my tongue. Mmmm... lovely. The basic elements are certainly there: I'm picking sweet malt, banana — also banana peel —, and a hair-thin hint of clove. Additionally, I can find exactly those flavors that we have used for the finetuning of the gustatory potpourri: strong biscuit, milk chocolate, cacao nibs and a suggestion of caramel. Alcohol is totally absent! Very tasty! 🤎🤎 The body is medium, perhaps even marginally bigger. The ending segment is intensively malty with appealing biscuit, lush banana, interestingly growing chocolate and a load of cacao nibs. Do I lose anything here compared to the actual gustatory enjoyment? Probably not, even the caramel is recognizable. It's Christmas again, Christmas again, the pots are full of porridge; now you can have, now you can have, a stomach full of aftertaste. The mouthfeel is medium to medium-full, lip-glueing, soft but not exactly velvety, but certainly smooth. It's reasonably rustic with a modern innovative twist (I wonder what it means...). The mouthfeel is also very balanced, relatively strong, intriguing. Good stuff indeed!! 🤎🤎🤎

Our own version shows an impenetrable, deep dark orange face. Looks more like mandarin pulp. Carbonation is slightly weaker than that of the commercial beer but the emerging froth is more or less equally tall. And cream hued. The retention is short also here. The nose receives marginal mango pulp. There's no sourness at all, at least not yet at the olfactory phase. Instead of lactic acid, the undertone is modestly floral. Hmmm... The mango puree is evident on the tongue. The sourness is much less powerful here albeit not absent. The difference probably is that our beer doesn't contain lactic acid but had been soured with yeast, PhillySour. It certainly produces a different profile, apparently milder and less arrogant than lactic acid. Mango is bigger and straightforward anyway. No sidesteps. The body is medium-full to full. Difficult to assess whether it's the result of the grainbill or the massive amount of mango puree applied in the brewing process. The end is mango-forward, with a reduced intensity and moderate sourness. Stays a short while in the mouth. The mouthfeel is fuller, truly nectar-like, thick and moderately tart only. Not acidic, nor puckering. Tamer and more one-dimensional than the commercial brew but also bigger and thicker. PhillySour is easy to use but didn't produce a sufficiently sour outcome this time. Next time back to lactic acid. Or both?

Another homebrew: the same base as with the clover flavored version but this contains rosehip. The color of the beer is the same cloudy orange. Carbonation is, again, restrained. A reasonable, pure white head is born on the surface, with a small-bubbled texture. Long retention, again. The nose receives the familiar orange zest and orange peel, a bit of lemon, also distinct rosehip as well as remote lingonberry. I'm glad that the rosehip becomes available as soon as at this stage. Rosehip is unmistakable on the tastebuds. It's not particularly powerful, nor suppressed either. It leaves medium-strong astringency behind, on the tongue. Additionally, I pick lemon pith, orange peel and wheat (again...). Some berries make themselves present, such as rowanberry and lingonberry, both in moderation. The body is light. It amazes me since the ABV here, as well, is not more than 1.5 %. The finish gives citruses and red berries, especially rowanberry. Let your pride sleep tonight, the cigarettes are burning down; I would show you all the craves of the rule in a rosehip revelu. The mouthfeel is light, astringent, drying and a tad dry. It's slightly mouthcoating and refreshing. Interesting! Very interesting!! I'm happy especially that the rosehip is not too shy here.

Today's specialty is my homebrew. Made of the third runnings of our Sahti (the first flushings produced Sahti, of course, the second runnings form the basis for our upcoming Sour Ale). Because of the very low malty sugar contents at this stage, the ABV is very low, too: 1.5 %. The flavoring is clover, to be more precise, white clover blossoms. The pour looks hazy orange. Appealing as compared to almost all other Small Beers that I have produced, they have looked more or less dirty brown. The carbonation is truly subdued but a white small-bubbled head emerges on the top, falling short of one finger. The retention is relatively long though. The fruity scent gives orange pulp and lemon zest, escorted by a floral note that must be clover. The gustatory supply is also fruity: orange is definitely there. I can also spot orange peel, a bit of sour passionfruit and as if a wheaty backbone, yet it isn't. Thin body but, interestingly enough, not scanty. Quite decent for this low ABV. The finish is unchanged citrusy. How'd a guy like me that'd have been fine with three, wind up with a five leaf clover? The mouthfeel is thin and zesty as well as modestly floral and marginally earthy. It's also slightly tart and moderately drying. Surprisingly palatable! I have about 12 bottles of this, the beer will work beautifully in the sauna.

Happy "Learn to Homebrew Day"! Yes, such a day indeed exists! The day was established as the first Saturday in November by the American Homebrewers Association to promote the homebrewing activity. Today's homebrew is Sahti. Give me a sign if you are surprised 🤚🏻 This brew is also our first Sahti to contain (pilsner) malt by Pehkolan Mallastamo in addition to the fairly ubiquitous Viking Malt's sahti malt. The Sahti appears turbid, medium sludgy brown. Basically no carbonation but a few soapy bubbles are born on the top, just to die immediately away. Banana and biscuit hover to my nose. Banana biscuit, as a matter of fact. Classical nuances. A wisp of chocolate brownie can be added to the list. Let me sip. Banana, biscuit and banana biscuit. Yep. Whatever. The same flavors anyway. I push my senses to the edge for a potential capture of clove. Is it there? Or am I only dreaming? I'm inclined to say yes, it's there. Or maybe. Faint brownie can also be identified, not so chocolatey anymore. If something negative should be said, it's the distant note of alcohol. I'm not surprised since this is our strongest Sahti so far, 9.9 %. We didn't specifically target a strong Sahti but it is what appeared there as a final product. The body... is the weakest link of this Sahti: it's light to light-medium. The end gears moderately dryer as if floury and fermented although the basic elements are definitely still there. The infinite flower, ever blooming; the aftertaste's fragile, eternal; the immersive shelter, ever growing. The mouthfeel is light-medium (😐), classical, slightly lip-glueing, relatively balanced and mouthcoating but also marginally drying. I'm not entirely happy with this now.

Our latest Sahti (Juhannussahti) turned out delicious. This beer is a baby of that Sahti: made from the second runnings of the Sahti wort and hopped with Tettnanger. No additional boosts applied. Neither did I add any flavoring elements. I have produced 15 "small beers" in the same method. Apart from one exception, I have always used one single herb, berry or plant as a traditional flavoring instrument, such as nettle, dandelion, spruce tip or crowberry. This one has nothing. The ABV clocks 6.4 %. It's pretty high for this kind of beer. Normally, my Small Beers have ranged  between 2.5 and 4 %. The reason why this is considerably stronger is the simple fact that I poured only 2 liters of extra wort from the mash. After boiling and fermentation, only 1.2 liters remained. This sort of beer was traditionally used as a refreshment in field work outdoors in the countryside. But in a milder form of course. The beer has various names depending on the region and village. This particular beer's name is one local variant in Pirkanmaa. Now the beer! Shows a relatively misty, raisin brown tint. Perfect carbonation. An off-white, airy head swells two fingers thick. Cute! Retention is standard and maintains a neat lacing for a while. The olfactory universe is fairly limited, except caramel that is brave. Raisin, syrup and toffee follow in considerably smaller amounts. Chocolate is first truly oppressed but raises its head determinedly when I let the beer gain a bit of warmth first. Interestingly, this should follow closely the profile of Juhannussahti 2023 but it doesn't fully do so. Why? I don't know. No additional flavor elements are being applied, except Tettnanger hops like I mentioned earlier. And still, this is different. The taste gives a nice warming sensation of alcohol although the ABV is not that high. Alcohol doesn't taste anyway, just feels there. Tettnanger is clearly recognizable: grass, whitepepper and lemon peel. The malty side is bold, somewhat bitter, distantly roasted. And again, I'm amazed how different this is from the mother Sahti. I couldn't recognize that this is a refined version of it. The body is medium-full. Whaaat??? I just don't get it: no matter what I do, I seldom get a full-bodied brew. Now that I didn't even try — voilà — the beer is much closer to fullness. Should I stop trying and just let it go? Like with the wind? Or flow? The finish doesn't really change from upfront. The aftertaste still lingers for a long time in the mouth. Lovely. The mouthfeel is medium-full, somewhat intense, definitely lip-glueing. Smooth and balanced. Slightly warming, too. And heady, I feel it... Supernice!  🤎🤎  The only problem is that I only have two more bottles left...